Dirty Wars

the long version

In this book the author of "Blackwater," takes us inside America's new covert wars. As he reveals, the foot soldiers in these battles operate daily across the globe and inside the United States with orders from the White House to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture, or kill individuals designated by the president as enemies of America. Funded through "black budgets", Special Operations Forces conduct missions in denied areas, engage in targeted killings, snatch and grab individuals and direct drone, AC-130 cruise missile strikes. While the Bush administration deployed these ghost militias, President Obama has expanded their operations and given them new scope and legitimacy. This book follows the consequences of the declaraion that "the world is a battlefield", as the author uncovers this important foreign policy story. From Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia and beyond the author reports from the frontlines in this high-stakes investigation and explores the depths of America's global killing machine. He goes beneath the surface of these covert wars, conducted in the shadows, outside the range of the press, without effective congressional oversight or public debate. He unmasks the shadow warriors who execute these secret wars and puts a human face on the casualties of violence that is now official policy as he tells the story of an American citizen marked for assassination by his own government. -- From book jacket.