political science / political freedom & security / international security

The Drone Memos collects for the first time the legal and policy documents underlying the U.S. government?s deeply controversial practice of ?targeted killing??the extrajudicial killing of suspected terrorists and militants, typically using remotely piloted aircraft or ?drones.? The documents?including the Presidential Policy Guidance that provides the framework for drone strikes today, Justice Department white papers addressing the assassination of an American citizen, and a highly classified legal memo that was published only after a landmark legal battle involving the ACLU, the New York Times, and the CIA?together constitute a remarkable effort to legitimize a practice that most human rights experts consider to be unlawful and that the United States has historically condemned.

While western media portrays the Islamic State as little more than a gang of thugs on a winning streak, ISIS is actually proposing, and implementing, a new model of nation building. Waging war to carve out a 21st century version of the original Caliphate (in theory taking the area back to the 6th century) and using a vicious brand of Sharia law by manipulating modern technology to recruit and fundraise, ISIS shows a deep understanding of Middle East politics. ISIS is not just another terror network but a formidable enemy that is very far from the "JV" status President Obama gave it. "Know your enemy" remains the most important adage in the fight against ISIS.

"For the first time in our military history, how we wage war is being built around a single strategy: the tracking and elimination of "high value targets"--in other words, assassination by military drone. Kill Chain is the story of how this new paradigm came to be, from WWII to the present; revealing the inner workings of these military technologies; introducing the key figures behind the transformation as well as the people on whom these deadly technologies have been tested; and illuminating the effects of drone warfare on our global image. This book will shed new light on the subject, from drone development in WWII and their use in the Vietnam War, to their embrace by the Bush administration and their controversial use by President Obama today. Cockburn will detail the corporate and political agendas that have effectively legitimized the once-banned practice of assassination, and the devastating effects of drone strikes gone awry"--.

"Terrorism expert Erick Stakelbeck pulls back the curtain on ISIS, the violent terrorist organization spreading death and hate in the Middle East. The rise of ISIS took the White House by complete surprise: President Obama called the group "JV," then was forced to reassess when ISIS began executing innocent American journalists. Now radicalized Americans and Europeans are joining ISIS' ranks. So who is ISIS? How powerful are they, and are they a threat to the homeland? Stakelbeck, a veteran national security reporter and a leading authority on the Middle East, has produced the definitive guide to America's most recent and most frightening enemy. "--.