The Assassination Complex
Inside the Government's Secret Drone Warfare Program
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About this listen
Major revelations about the US government's drone program - best-selling author Jeremy Scahill and his colleagues at the investigative website The Intercept expose stunning new details about America's secret assassination policy.
When the US government discusses drone strikes publicly, it offers assurances that such operations are a more precise alternative to troops on the ground and are authorized only when an "imminent" threat is present and there is "near certainty" that the intended target will be killed. The implicit message on drone strikes from the Obama administration has been trust, but don't verify.
The online magazine The Intercept exploded this secrecy when it obtained a cache of secret slides that provide a window into the inner workings of the US military's kill/capture operations in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Whether through the use of drones, night raids, or new platforms yet to be employed, these documents show assassination to be central to US counterterrorism policy.
The classified documents reveal that Washington's 14-year targeted killing campaign suffers from an overreliance on flawed signals intelligence, an apparently incalculable civilian toll, and an inability to extract potentially valuable intelligence from terror suspects. This campaign, carried out by two presidents through four presidential terms, has been deliberately obscured from the public and insulated from democratic debate. The Assassination Complex allows us to understand at last the circumstances under which the US government grants itself the right to sentence individuals to death without the established checks and balances of arrest, trial, and appeal.
The book includes original contributions from Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2016 First Look Media Works, Inc. (P)2016 Simon & SchusterListeners also enjoyed...
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More Bush bashing..yes, but still worth reading.
- By Dennis on 01-18-11
By: Peter L. Bergen
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Killer Elite: Completely Revised and Updated
- The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team
- By: Michael Smith
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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A top-secret US Army Special Operations unit has been running covert missions all over the world, from leading death squads to the hideout of drug baron Pablo Escobar to capturing Saddam Hussein and, in one of the greatest special operations missions of all time, helping to track down al-Qa'eda leader Osama bin Laden. "The Activity," as it became known to insiders, has achieved near-mythical status, even among the world's Special Operations elite.
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Narrator is awful
- By Vinny on 09-20-17
By: Michael Smith
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Dirty Wars
- The World Is a Battlefield
- By: Jeremy Scahill
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 24 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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From Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen, Somalia, and beyond, Scahill speaks to the CIA agents, mercenaries, and elite Special Operations Forces operators who populate the dark side of American war-fighting. He goes deep into al Qaeda-held territory in Yemen and walks the streets of Mogadishu with CIA-backed warlords. We also meet the survivors of US night raids and drone strikes - including families of US citizens targeted for assassination by their own government - who reveal the human consequences of the dirty wars the United States struggles to keep hidden.
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Non political BUT very anti-violence
- By aaron on 05-11-13
By: Jeremy Scahill
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Dark Territory
- The Secret History of Cyber War
- By: Fred Kaplan
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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As cyber attacks dominate front-page news, as hackers join the list of global threats, and as top generals warn of a coming cyber war, few books are more timely and enlightening than Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War by Slate columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Fred Kaplan.
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Best narrator - Malcolm Hillgartner
- By Greg Davis on 07-20-16
By: Fred Kaplan
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Black Site
- The CIA in the Post-9/11 World
- By: Philip Mudd
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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When the towers fell on September 11, 2001, nowhere were the reverberations more powerfully felt than at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Almost overnight, the intelligence organization evolved into a warfighting intelligence service, constructing what was known internally as "the Program": a web of top-secret detention facilities intended to help prevent future attacks on American soil and around the world. With Black Site, former deputy director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center Philip Mudd presents a full, never-before-told story of this now-controversial program.
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A lot of insight and context
- By Syrus Tam on 05-16-22
By: Philip Mudd
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Code Warriors
- NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union
- By: Stephen Budiansky
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The National Security Agency was born out of the legendary codebreaking programs of World War II that cracked the famed Enigma machine and other German and Japanese codes, thereby turning the tide of Allied victory. In the postwar years, as the United States developed a new enemy in the Soviet Union, our intelligence community found itself targeting not soldiers on the battlefield, but suspected spies, foreign leaders, and even American citizens.
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Did Vladimir Putin Steal the American Election?
- By Cynthia on 12-01-16
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Red Team
- How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy
- By: Micah Zenko
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Red teaming. It is a practice as old as the Devil's Advocate, the 11th-century Vatican official charged with discrediting candidates for sainthood. Today, red teams - comprised primarily of fearless skeptics and those assuming the role of saboteurs who seek to better understand the interests, intentions, and capabilities of institutions or potential competitors - are used widely in both the public and private sector.
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Repetitive
- By Pax S Whitmore on 07-12-16
By: Micah Zenko
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At the Center of the Storm
- My Years at the CIA
- By: George Tenet
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that has attended the post 9/11 world, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and compelling, At the Center of the Storm is George Tenet's memoir of his life at the CIA - a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency and its dealings with national leaders at home and abroad.
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Brilliant!
- By Karen on 05-05-07
By: George Tenet
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Manhunt
- The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden - from 9-11 to Abbottabad
- By: Peter L. Bergen
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the New York Times best-selling Holy War, Inc., this is the definitive account of the decade-long manhunt for the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen paints a multidimensional picture of the hunt for bin Laden over the past decade, including the operation that killed him.
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DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!
- By Betty on 05-04-12
By: Peter L. Bergen
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Nemesis
- The Last Days of the American Republic
- By: Chalmers Johnson
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing comparisons to empires past, Johnson explores in vivid detail the likely consequences of US dependence on a permanent war economy, and what it will mean when the globe's sole "hyperpower" is no longer capable of paying for the vaulting ambitions of its leaders - and becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all time. In his stunning conclusion, Johnson suggests that the crisis of a financial breakdown could ultimately prove to be the only path to a renewed nation.
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The Book Bill O'Rielly Doesn't Want You To Read!
- By Joe on 04-04-07
By: Chalmers Johnson
What listeners say about The Assassination Complex
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Carl Howard
- 11-12-16
Very frightening book
A chilling look at what our country has become since 9/11 - and how much further into the sewer of totalitarianism we are now likely to go.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Rex Michael Dillon
- 04-26-17
America, this is the cancer on your soul
Americans and others who wish to be informed on the abject failure of the war on terror and US Foreign Policy, extra judicial murder abroad, targeted assassinations and unlawful violations of 4th Amendment rights domestically, the book gives all the details on th unsustainable way the American intelligence apparatus is harming us all.
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- M
- 02-07-17
Excellent alternative to radio on long drives
I thought this review was optional but then it requires twenty words to submit, oh.
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- Bettina Whitley
- 08-25-16
Drone Warfare
After reading this truly enlightening book, its blatantly apparent why we are losing our longest war, our country's assets and what few allies we had in the world. The President has been disingenuous with us and the Military Industrial Complex is leading us down the primrose path.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Felicity C Brackett
- 06-02-17
Powerful
It's a must-read for any person concerned with knowing the truth about American interventionism abroad.
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- Sarp
- 12-23-16
Disclosing what everyone knows but does not talk about
It's a well written overview of the secret assasination programs ran by western governments... On first glimpse.
However, it is much more than that:
When you actually sit down and think about it -- which, the book makes a good job of; it is not so much about pointing the finger at administrations and playing the blame game; rather, It's more about "How do you adapt to the new definition of terror, in this era?l"
+ What are the correct definitions of "terror" and "terrorists"? How do you distinguish the good and bad?
+ Once you establish the good and bad, which methodologies should be used to fight?
It's clear that the 20th century definitions of liberty, justice and democracy no longer work in this century, with the current global dynamics.
Does it make sense trying to pursue these "ideals", all the while constantly chasing loopholes to tackle the new era's dynamics?
It amy sound like an oversimplification; however, it is rather simple:
What we are seeing is technology advancing much quicker than the law.
New technology emerges, gets utilised, law always lags behind -- valid for all areas, including warfare.
Once "packaging" is improved, everyone gets used to it, objections cease to exist.
We just need more time.
All whistleblowers do is to draw attention to this process.
Once the lawnakers catch you, blown whistles will be rendered obsolote.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Garrett Tuggle
- 02-12-18
Biased overview of US military use of drones
Fairly biased but lots of good information. The afterword was very opinionated but the message is conveyed.
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- TibHip
- 05-11-16
well put together
a must read/listen for if more peek l people knew the the truth this scum leading this country would all be in jail. Makes me sick to be American with leaders like this.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Hans P. Heinrich
- 05-15-16
Somewhat repetitive. Could have been shorter
Chapters seemed to rehash the same material. Delivery was good, but overall the middle drifted before an ending that deserves more examination
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1 person found this helpful
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- Quatragrammaton
- 08-08-16
good information for people new to Deep State stuf
enjoyed the book as something to introduce to people who think the government is good.
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