Obamas Anti-Terror-Bilanz

„If Obama had made any mistakes – such as leaving Libya, Syria, Yemen and Iraq in chaos – you wouldn’t know it from his presentation. You would certainly have no hint that the terrorism problem has gotten far worse under his watch. Recall that when he came into office Islamic State and the Syrian Conquest Front (al-Qaeda’s official Syrian affiliate) did not exist, Iran’s proxy militias did not have free run of Iraq or Syria, and America had not suffered the terrible terrorist attacks at Fort Hood, San Bernardino, the Boston marathon, or Orlando. (…)

Obama was just as slippery in claiming credit for domestic security: ‚No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland,‘ he said. That’s true, I suppose, if you are talking strictly about a 9/11-type operation planned from abroad and executed by imported killers. But even if the San Bernardino, Fort Hood or Orlando killers weren’t acting on orders from foreign terrorist organizations, they were certainly inspired by them, and in particular by Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Major Nidal Hasan was in repeated contact with AQAP’s Anwar al-Awlaki before his shooting rampage which left 13 dead at Fort Hood. Foreign terrorist groups have learned that they can circumvent a lot of our border security by radicalizing people who are already here.

Obama knows all this, and yet he refuses to acknowledge it even as he goes out of office. He gives little evidence that he has learned much during his tenure; instead, he continues to cling to the same certitudes that have guided his policy no matter how often they have been at odds with reality. In failing to adjust his a priori ideological convictions to the demands of the real world, he is setting the worst possible example for his successor.“ (Max Boot: „Obama’s Failed Terror War“)