Obama's Drone Warfare

Drone strike increases.  This data only extends to partway though 2011. 

President Obama came into office promising a turn away from the Bush Administration's policies in the War on Terror, but once elected, has kept (or expanded) almost all of the Bush policies.  One area he has expanded is the use of unmanned aircraft (drones) to kill people the administration suspects might be terrorists.

In a further step, this spring the Obama Administration asserted that it had the right to kill US citizens without any judicial oversight, if it felt they might be involved in terrorism (you might remember Senator Rand Paul's filibuster about this).  Apparently, the US military has already killed four Americans outside of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tonight, Obama plans to give a speech justifying his "targeted killing" strategy--in other words, explain why he thinks is okay for the US to have ongoing air wars in more than half-a-dozen countries (some with the host government's permission, some without).

Politically, this should be interesting.  The "Neo-Cons"--the group that pushed to invade Iraq in 2003, such as former VP Dick Cheney--all like his strategy.   The progressives that voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, however, claim to be anti-war.  So how does he sell them on this idea?