How Obama Learned to Kill With Drones

Since taking office more than three years ago, President Obama has gone from “ending torture” at Guantánamo Bay to having “no qualms” about killing American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, writes Newsweek’s Daniel Klaidman. According to Klaidman’s new book, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency, Obama was at first reluctant to use of the “signature” drone strikes in Pakistan—especially, one source said, the idea of “kill ’em and sort it out later.” But over time Obama has become more and more accepting of the tactic, and this spring used the signature strikes in Yemen. Angst has prevailed in the Obama administration over the targeted killings, with the State Department’s Harold Koh wondering, “How did I go from a law professor to someone involved in killing?”