Has President Obama's Policy To Fight Terrorism Been A Success?

Mark Thompson, Time: The Jury’s Out on Obama’s Terror Fight

His claim of success could collapse if there's another 9/11-scale attack

If you said on Sept. 12, 2001, that there wouldn’t be another major terror attack on U.S. soil over the next 15 years, most Americans wouldn’t have believed you. Yet, that’s just what has happened. Following the deaths of 2,996 people on 9/11, there has been a flurry of terror attacks—the biggest one killing 49 at an Orlando nightclub in June—but nothing like the horror visited on New York City, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

Politicians like to take credit for pretty much anything, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that President Obama defended his counter-terrorism record in a speech Tuesday. It is likely to be the last major speech on national security of his presidency.

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WNU Editor: The entire Middle East is in conflict .... the Afghan government is not winning the war against the Taliban .... and many parts of Muslim North Africa are now in the grips of insurgencies that show no signs of  ending. This is an Islamic civil war .... a conflict that goes back centuries .... and in this mix the U.S. is involved in every fight .... directly or indirectly .... which has made many sides in this huge conflict vowing revenge against the United States. Will there be another major terror attack on the U.S. in the future .... I would not bet against that .... the anger and hate is certainly out there. Would I blame President Obama for such an attack .... even if it should happen today .... I would say no. There is only so much that one can do ..... and sometimes ... like 9/11 .... the enemy is incredibly lucky.

What Will Be President Obama's Legacy On Drone Strikes

Image: Flickr/U.S. Navy

The Hill: Obama outlines hopes for legacy on drone strikes

President Obama on Thursday said he hoped to leave behind a formalized process for conducting drone strikes and releasing information to the public, a peek into his aspirations to confront an issue over which he has been dogged by human rights advocates.

In remarks at the University of Chicago, Obama acknowledged that “there wasn’t enough of an overarching structure” behind the secretive targeted drone program early in his term.

But by the time a new president takes office next year, he said, stiff rules will be in place for conducting strikes and holding the government accountable.

“My hope is that by the time I leave office, there is not only an internal structure in place that governs these standards that we’ve set, but there is also an institutionalized process whereby the actions that the U.S. government takes through drone technology are consistently reported on an annualized basis," he said.

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Update: Obama Must Lift the Fog of Drone War (Daniel R. DePetris, National Interest)

WNU Editor: Will the next U.S. President follow President Obama's drone policy/strategy .... I am willing to bet that he or she will not. They will impose their own rules of engagement, and Congress will do what they have always done since 9/11 .... they will sign onto it. As for President Obama's legacy .... I am willing to bet that this will be buried and forgotten long after he has gone from the White House.

The Pentagon Is Growing Frustrated With President Obama

Washington Times: Obama pushes military frustration to highest level in decades

President’s overly cautious, centralized style irking Pentagon

Key lawmakers from both parties say frustration with the White House among the top military officers is at its highest level in decades, the product of President Obama’s cautious approach to the wars in Syria and Iraq and an indecisive inner circle of White House advisers who, critics say, have iced the Pentagon out of the policymaking process.

“There’s a level of dissatisfaction among the uniformed military that I’ve never seen in my time here,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain in an interview. “For some of us who are a little older, let’s go back and read the Pentagon Papers — what the administration is doing is the kind of incrementalism that defined much of the Vietnam conflict.”

WNU Editor: I suspect that President Obama is also frustrated with the Pentagon.

The Next U.S. President Is Going To Be Facing Three Wars

President Barack Obama meets with his national security advisers in the White House Situation Room on Saturday to discuss strategy in Syria. Chief of Staff Denis McDonough is fourth from right. Pete Souza/White House

Greg Jaffe, Washington Post: After vowing to end two wars, Obama may leave three behind

President Obama’s decision to expand the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Syria is a reflection of the conflicting pressures on a commander in chief who doubts that military force alone can end the conflicts in those countries, but who also feels compelled to act in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe and a growing threat to the United States.

The president on Friday said that he was sending about 50 Special Operations troops to northern Syria to work with Kurdish and Arab fighters battling the Islamic State. The deployment, though small, marks the first full-time deployment of U.S. forces to the dangerous and chaotic country.

The troops will be accompanied by more U.S. attack planes, based across the border in Turkey, and plans for more joint raids — led by Iraqi counterterrorism forces — to capture and kill Islamic State leaders.

WNU Editor: The U.S. is also involved in many other smaller conflicts .... from providing assistance in the war against Boko Haram, trying to stabilize places like Somalia, and to waging a war against all terror groups and their affiliates worldwide.

U.S. Navy Stretched Trying To Handle Both China And Iran At The Same Time

The Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Bridge, center, prepares to conduct a replenishment at sea with the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, left, and the guided missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill, right, in the Arabian Gulf, March 6, 2012. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class James R. Evans

Navy Strains To Handle Both China And Iran At Once -- Aol Defense

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: Coping with China and Iran at the same time is stretching the Navy thin, and it will soon have to choose which theater to prioritize, warned Peter Daly, the recently retired admiral who now heads the prestigious US Naval Institute.

The Obama administration's new strategic guidance said the US would boost its presence in the Pacific as it drew down in the Middle East, but subsequent statements have qualified that as a "pivot to Asia." The first problem is the force isn't truly fungible: it's mainly ground troops coming out of Afghanistan and Iraq, while the Pacific requires mainly ships and long-range airpower. The second problem is that Iran isn't cooperating.

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My Comment: For as long as I can remember, the U.S. has always had a policy and the infrastructure to be able to handle two major conflicts at the same time. However .... with budget and resources being cut ..... coupled with 10 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan .... this ability to handle more than one major crisis is not realistic .... a situation that Pentagon planners are probably figuring out right now.

President Obama Shifts Away From Afghanistan

President Obama in the Situation room. Wikipedia

Charting Obama’s Journey To A Shift On Afghanistan -- New York Times

It was just one brief exchange about Afghanistan with an aide late in 2009, but it suggests how President Obama’s thinking about what he once called “a war of necessity” began to radically change less than a year after he took up residency in the White House.

Not long before, after a highly contentious debate within a war cabinet that was riddled with leaks, Mr. Obama had reluctantly decided to order a surge of more than 30,000 troops. The aide told Mr. Obama that he believed military leaders had agreed to the tight schedule to begin withdrawing those troops just 18 months later only because they thought they could persuade an inexperienced president to grant more time if they demanded it.

“Well,” Mr. Obama responded that day, “I’m not going to give them more time.”

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My Comment: A sobering look at President Obama's Afghan strategy .... and one that I am not surprised to read about. This is a must read post.