Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Better Than Bush

Inspite of what you are hearing from the insane right and insane GOP, President Obama is doing a better job against international terrorism that Bush/Cheney ever did. Somehow Shrub got the reputation of being tough on terrorism but the actual results left a lot to be desired.
Over the weekend, Vice President Biden made much needed statement on the effectiveness of the the Obama administration's counter-terrorism efforts: "There has never been as much emphasis and resources brought against al-Qaeda. The success rate exceeds anything that occurred in the [Bush/Cheney] administration."
In the Washington Post today, David Ignatius considers looks at the accuracy of the claim.
The Karachi raid [that led to the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar] is part of a broad offensive that has sometimes been overlooked in the partisan squabbles over whether the Obama administration should be giving Miranda warnings to terrorist suspects. "The real action has been pounding the hell out of al-Qaeda and its allies around the world," the official argued.
The numbers show a sharp upsurge in operations against al-Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan since Barack Obama took office.... All told, according to U.S. officials, since the beginning of 2009, the drone attacks have killed "several hundred" named militants from al-Qaeda and its allies, more than in all previous years combined. The drones have also shattered the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, which has been waging a terror campaign across that country. [...]
[S]urely the country can agree, looking at the evidence, that Obama has been no slouch in pursuing what he said in his inaugural address was a "war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred."
While it is true that President Obama hasn't gone Rambo on the Taliban and personally dropped into the mountains of Afganistan loaded for bear he has done more against international terrorism than his predecessor. The GOP continue to obsess over the handling of the 'skivvy bomber' and whether he should have been Mirandized and scream that Obama is weak on terror, the opposite is actually true. Obama is being tough on terrorism.
I guess we can take some comfort in the fact that the current GOP obstructionism doesn't reach into the area of national security. While they can filibuster everything that the country needs they have no way to filibuster the anti terrorism campaign being run by the President.

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