Objective Troy : A Terrorist, a President, and the Rise of the Drone

Objective Troy tells the gripping and unsettling story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the once-celebrated American imam who called for moderation after 9/11, a man who ultimately directed his outsized talents to the mass murder of his fellow citizens. It follows Barack Obama’s campaign against the excesses of the Bush counterterrorism programs and his eventual embrace of the targeted killing of suspected militants. And it recounts how the president directed the mammoth machinery of spy agencies to hunt Awlaki down in a frantic, multi-million-dollar pursuit that would end with the death of Awlaki by a bizarre, robotic technology that is changing warfare—the drone. Scott Shane, who has covered terrorism for The New York Times over the last decade, weaves the clash between president and terrorist into both a riveting narrative and a deeply human account of the defining conflict of our era. Awlaki, who directed a plot that almost derailed Obama’s presidency, and then taunted him from his desert hideouts, will go down in history as the first United States citizen deliberately hunted and assassinated by his own government without trial. But his eloquent calls to jihad, amplified by YouTube, continue to lure young Westerners into terrorism—resulting in tragedies from the Boston marathon bombing to the murder of cartoonists at a Paris weekly. Awlaki’s life and death show how profoundly America has been changed by the threat of terrorism and by our own fears. Illuminating and provocative, and based on years of in depth reporting, Objective Troy is a brilliant reckoning with the moral challenge of terrorism and a masterful chronicle of our times. Objective Troy tells the story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the once-celebrated American imam who called for moderation after 9/11, a man who ultimately directed his outsized talents to the mass murder of his fellow citizens. It follows Barack Obama's campaign against the excesses of the Bush counterterrorism programs and his eventual embrace of the targeted killing of suspected militants. And it recounts how the president directed the mammoth machinery of spy agencies to hunt Awlaki down in a frantic, multi-million-dollar pursuit that would end with the death of Awlaki by a bizarre, robotic technology that is changing warfare -- the drone. Scott Shane, who has covered terrorism for The New York Times, weaves the clash between president and terrorist into a deeply human account of the defining conflict of our era. Awlaki, who directed a plot that almost derailed Obama's presidency, and then taunted him from his desert hideouts, will go down in history as the first United States citizen deliberately hunted and assassinated by his own government without trial. But his eloquent calls to jihad, amplified by YouTube, continue to lure young Westerners into terrorism resulting in tragedies from the Boston marathon bombing to the murder of cartoonists at a Paris weekly. Awlaki's life and death show how profoundly America has been changed by the threat of terrorism and by our own fears. Title page......Page 2 Copyright page......Page 3 Dedication......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Map......Page 10 Prologue......Page 11 Epigraph......Page 17 PART ONE: 2009–2010......Page 18 1: Merry Christmas......Page 19 2: You Are Still Unsafe......Page 39 PART TWO: 1990–2002......Page 56 3: He Had a Beautiful Tongue......Page 57 4: An Exquisite Weapon......Page 74 5: We Are the Bridge......Page 89 6: Totally Planning to Stay......Page 110 7: Stealthy, Agile, and Lethal......Page 129 PART THREE: 2002–2009......Page 143 8: That Was the Transformation......Page 144 9: WWW Jihad......Page 173 10: I Face the World as It Is......Page 193 PART FOUR: 2010–2014......Page 226 11: The Guy Everyone Wanted to Find......Page 227 12: The Time for Reaping......Page 252 13: A Bigger Brand......Page 284 Acknowledgments......Page 301 Notes......Page 303 A Dramatic Account Of The Cat-and-mouse Game Between The Obama Administration And Most-wanted Terrorist Anwar Al-awlaki Traces The President's Shifting Campaigns And The Evolution Of The Robotic Technology That Ended Awlaki's Life. Part One: 2009-2010. Merry Christmas ; You Are Still Unsafe -- Part Two: 1990-2002. He Had A Beautiful Tongue ; An Exquisite Weapon ; We Are The Bridge ; Totally Planning To Stay ; Stealthy, Agile, And Lethal -- Part Three: 2002-2009. That Was The Transformation ; Www Jihad ; I Face The World As It Is -- Part Four: 2010-2014. The Guy Everyone Wanted To Find ; The Time For Reaping ; A Bigger Brand. Scott Shane. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 321-377) And Index. Merry Christmas You are still unsafe He had a beautiful tongue An exquisite weapon We are the bridge Totally planning to stay Stealthy, agile, and lethal That was the transformation WWW jihad I face the world as it is The guy everyone wanted to find The time for reaping A bigger brand Afterword. An account of the cat-and-mouse game between the Obama administration and most-wanted terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki traces the president's shifting campaigns and the evolution of the robotic technology that ended Awlaki's life