Obama's Foreign Policy and Defense Report Card, Part 1: Terrorism

Last week CenterMovement.org columnist Adele Wick issued a report card evaluating President Obama’s performance on domestic issues. Report card punditry is fun, but we also seriously hope our evaluations encourage fair-minded thinking. In that spirit we invite you to join us in the comment section of this report card, as well as after Adele’s “Taking Stock” .

The low grades Adele gave President Obama on domestic policy seem a result of two unfortunate tendencies in the Obama Administration. The first was to hand over leadership on domestic issues to Congressional Democrats, which predictably resulted in legislation enfeebled and corrupted by special interests. The second was a surprising ideological rigidity – surprising because Obama campaigned as someone open to bipartisanship. In contrast, these two malevolent tendencies were either absent or much less pronounced in foreign policy, an area in which the President deserves significantly higher marks. This column will focus on one aspect of foreign policy and national defense: counter-terrorism.

The Bush Administration waged a “war” on terrorism as if world public opinion did not matter, an extremely wrong-headed notion. As with struggles against an insurgencies, winning the contest for hearts and minds is the most crucial battle in the fight against Islamist extremism. Common sense suggests that the more people hate the United States in the Islamic World, the more terrorists the Islamic World will produce. According to Pew Research, in almost every corner of the globe, including and especially in Muslim nations, hatred for the United States reached new highs during the Bush years.

There are those who say that the United States will never be loved in certain parts of the world, but this notion only states the obvious and sets up a false dichotomy. It is not a question of whether America will be loved or hated, but rather one about the proportion of people around the world who will variously love and hate the United States. Will the burning hatred of the United States turn every Muslim village into a terrorist factory, or will relatively few radicals form around isolated hate-filled and charismatic Imams? Will the United States have enough friends in the Muslim world to recruit spies and informants, or will we be reduced to observing from satellites, which are almost useless without human intelligence? Will governments in the Middle East feel free to cooperate with the United States, or will anti-American political pressures make anything but highly secretive and / or superficial cooperation impossible?

In the so-called “war” on terror, these questions matter a great deal. Conservatives attacked Obama for his “apology tour.” While one might quibble with some of the language Obama used as he traveled abroad, the tour was absolutely necessary as part of a campaign to repair the image of the United States. Grades are always relative, and in this most important area of restoring American prestige, the Obama Administration deserves an “A” compared to the previous administration’s “F.”

Conservatives, who smell blood in the water politically, have been attacking Obama as weak on terrorism in light of the failed Christmas Day airline bombing. But as Bush’s Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff admitted on CNN, the “system” that failed was the one built up at enormous expense since 2001 by the Bush Administration. Yes, current Secretary Janet Napolitano neglected to review the “system” and for that the Obama Administration takes some responsibility. But it is absurd to blame Obama for a small failed attack while Bush gets credit for “keeping us safe,” with the worst terrorist attack in American history occurring on his watch. Conservatives need to be reminded that they are supposed to believe in bipartisanship in matters of national security.

Obama is also being faulted for trying terrorists in civilian courts and releasing detainees who find their way back onto the battlefield, but these are both Bush-era practices as well. During the Bush years, no detainee was ever tried in military court. The policy seems to be to try the prisoners that the United States has the evidence to convict, and keep the others locked up. Admittedly, the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is problematic, because instead of showcasing American justice, it may feature American interrogation practices, including torture. Just how this will play out remains uncertain.

Probably President Obama’s biggest mistake in the fight against terrorism was to seek s special prosecutor to investigate the CIA for any illegal instances of torture during the Bush years. The President seems to have permitted partisanship to reverse his wiser initial decision not to risk undermining CIA operations with a perceived witch hunt. Spies and undercover operations are America’s first line of defense against terrorists. Leon Panetta, a politician without a strong background in intelligence or military affairs, was probably a poor choice to head the CIA. America needs a powerful, competent and confident CIA now more than ever. Obama tried to reassure his spy agency with a speech he gave at Langley. It would be more reassuring still if he ordered his Attorney General to call off the dogs.

Another factor lowering the Obama Administration’s grade is the lack of sufficient attention to homeland defense, including port, border and industrial security, which represents a continuation of Bush-era negligence. The best defense is a good defense, but the United States remains extremely vulnerable. Homeland defense needs to be reconsidered broadly, thoroughly and urgently.

On offense against terrorism, President Obama has been appropriately aggressive. He has focused American military resources in Afghanistan, where they are most needed. Obama was criticized for delaying the deployment of US forces, but news analysis of Obama’s decision in Afghanistan showed an American President taking a remarkably clear-headed, exhaustive and objective assessment of an enormously complex problem (See this important story: ). One gets the sense that he will approach the failed Flight 253 bombing the same way. Let us hope so.

President Obama’s Grade on Terrorism : B

(To be continued)