"Conservatives keep saying that Obama doesn't really believe we're at war; that he sees terrorists as mere criminals, not the epic evil-doers that they really are. But here's the irony: It's precisely because he doesn't see the terrorist threat as quite so epic that al Qaeda is falling apart.
And I've been saying al Qaeda is no real threat to America for a long time:
"To understand why, it helps to understand that al Qaeda is one of the weakest enemies America has ever faced. In their day, the Nazis and communists each ran a great power. (In the case of the communists, two). What's more, during the Depression, vast numbers of people across the globe—including some of the most famous intellectuals in the United States and Europe—believed the fascists and communists could build societies that were more prosperous and dynamic than their democratic competitors. Barely anyone has ever believed that about al Qaeda. Not only have the jihadists never controlled a powerful country, but no one really believes that if they did it would be anything other than a basket case. To millions of people, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia once offered compelling visions of modernity; Taliban Afghanistan never did.
"At the end of the day, all jihadist terrorists can really do is kill. [And even then, they can't kill very many people, and certainly not many U.S. troops in combat - J]. But the more they kill, the more they alienate their fellow Muslims."
And here's some evidence that a U.S. policy of CTFD (Calm The F*** Down) is working:
"Now Obama, by pledging to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and close Gitmo, and by eschewing torture—in other words, by not overreacting to the terrorist threat—is cutting al Qaeda's throat. Although the U.S. government is still not exactly loved in Muslim nations, it is hated less. Between 2008 and 2009, according to Gallup, approval of U.S. policies rose 23 points in Tunisia, 22 points in Algeria, 19 points in Egypt, 17 points in Saudi Arabia and 13 points in Kuwait. In Indonesia, according to the Pew Research Center, approval of the U.S. rose 26 points. And not coincidentally, al Qaeda's slide seems to be accelerating. Between 2003 and 2009, according to Pew, support for Osama bin Laden has dropped 34 points in Indonesia, 28 points in Pakistan, 28 points in Jordan, 20 points in the Palestinian territories, 16 points in Lebanon and 13 points in Turkey. In Indonesia and Pakistan, much of the decline has occurred in the last year alone. Bin Laden is having so much trouble demonizing the United States that his last audio tape focused on climate change."
Here's the upshot:
"The dirty little secret of the 'war on terror' is that America is winning. We began winning during George W. Bush's second term, when al Qaeda's violence began corroding its support among Muslims, and we're doing even better under Barack Obama, because the U.S. now presents a less menacing face. The best chance al Qaeda has is another American overreaction of the kind the GOP demands: reckless military attacks by the United States or Israel, mass profiling of Muslims, a return to torture. Perhaps Obama's Republican critics do take the terrorist threat more seriously than he does. I'd rather take it less seriously, and win."
I would only add that the Muslim world never has to love us. Lots of eurofags don't love us, but they don't put bombs in their pants trying to kill us either; they sit in cafes and complain about us. No, all we need is to tone down the hysteria a few notches, to reduce the flow of terrorist recruits and donations. That's good enough. That's victory.
Obama Outsmarts the Terrorists
By Peter Beinart
February 5, 2010 The Daily Beast
URL: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-05/the-dirty-secret-of-the-terror-war/
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