The 2009 Peace Nobel Prize laureate, Barack Obama, is said to have told aides, after U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki had been killed in Yemen in an American drone attack, “Turns out I’m really good at killing people,” and “Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.” The quote can be read in a new book by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Double Down: Game Change 2012. As the Huffington Post knows, the context of the quote is,

“Obama didn’t need to run through this preamble. Everyone knew the litany of his achievements. Foremost on that day, with the fresh news about al-Awlaki, it seemed the president was pondering the drone program that he had expanded so dramatically and with such lethal results, as well as the death of Bin Laden, which was still resonating worldwide months later. ‘Turns out I’m really good at killing people,’ Obama said quietly, ‘Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.'”

After Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud had been killed last Friday in an American drone strike in Waziristan, Pakistan, it is feared that proposed peace talks between the Pakistani government and Pakistan Taliban are getting more difficult. Since 2004, CIA had conducted 378 drone strikes in Pakistan (a strong ally of the U.S.), 326 of which were “Obama strikes”. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2,528 and 3,648 people were killed in the strikes. Between 416 and 948 were civilians and among those 168-200 children. Another 1,125-1,1545 were injured.

5 November 2013 @ 7:40 am.

Last modified November 7, 2013.