From: US debates between civil liberties and war on terror

James Cartwright, a retired general who was until two years ago deputy chair of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Tuesday that “I am worried that we have lost the moral high ground” as a result of excessive use of drone strikes. “We risk being in a position where we are generating more problems than we have solved,” he said. … “The drone strikes are the face of America to many,” he said.

Critics of Mr Obama say while he has toned down some of the rhetoric about the “war on terror”, he has continued its policies.

Jeremy Scahill, the author of a new book and film, Dirty Wars, on America’s use of covert methods to track down and kill alleged terrorists, says Mr Obama largely gets a free pass for pursuing policies that infuriated Mr Bush’s critics. “Unfortunately, a lot of liberals have checked in their consciences at the door – that is not very healthy for our democratic process,” he said.