President Obama’s speech on Thursday was the most important statement on counterterrorism policy since the 2001 attacks, a momentous turning point in post-9/11 America. For the first time, a president stated clearly and unequivocally that the state of perpetual warfare that began nearly 12 years ago is unsustainable for a democracy and must come to an end in the not-too-distant future.
“Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue,”? Mr. Obama said in the speech at the National Defense University. “But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. It’s what our democracy demands.”?
As frustratingly late as it was — much of what Mr. Obama said should have been said years ago — there is no underestimating the importance of that statement. Mr. Obama and his predecessor, President George W. Bush, used the state of war that began with the authorization to invade Afghanistan and go after Al Qaeda and others who planned the Sept. 11 attacks to justify extraordinary acts like indefinite detention without charges and the targeted killing of terrorist suspects.
While there are some, particularly the more hawkish Congressional Republicans, who say this war should essentially last forever, Mr. Obama told the world that the United States must return to a state in which counterterrorism is handled, as it always was before 2001, primarily by law enforcement and the intelligence agencies. That shift is essential to preserving the democratic system and rule of law for which the United States is fighting, and for repairing its badly damaged global image.
Every few years the NY Times screws up and they publish an editorial that I actually agree with, at least in part. Yeah, there are some points where I disagree. But broadly speaking they are, astonishingly, right.
Trumpism is not a philosophy or a movement. It's a cult.
This. The FBI will slip up again and let a deranged killer commit some heinous act and there will be calls from all corners of "why oh why didn't we invade whatever cesspool the miscreant crawled out of before they killed our children?" And then we'll have to be careful or we could be back to square one.
Good points above. Talk is cheap. This guy got the Nobel Peace Prize and promptly set about following the Bush policy of bomb first and ask questions later. We shall see.
Trumpism is not a philosophy or a movement. It's a cult.
As I recall, Nixon said similar things about Vietnam when running for President in 1968.
Come to think of it, Obama said similar things about Iraq and Afghanistan when running for President in 2008.
The truth that people seem not to fully grasp with these things is that war is just one more big government program, and it's just as hard to dismantle as any other big government program.
Q: “Do you have funny shaped balloons?”
A: “Not unless round is funny.”
TennPaGa wrote:
What Obama has specialized in from the beginning of his presidency is putting pretty packaging on ugly and discredited policies. The cosmopolitan, intellectualized flavor of his advocacy makes coastal elites and blue state progressives instinctively confident in the Goodness of whatever he's selling, much as George W. Bush's swaggering, evangelical cowboy routine did for red state conservatives.
That reminds me of the great Bush line that went something like this:
Some people say I have swagger. Well, in Texas we have a word for that--it's called walking.
***
I'm sure that Obama's words have the same effect on the ears of urban metrosexuals that W.'s words had on the ears of rednecks. FDR's words probably had a similar effect on communists.
Q: “Do you have funny shaped balloons?”
A: “Not unless round is funny.”
