I'm very glad he said this, wish this speech had come sooner. But I applaud his courage and determination to change the policy of perpetual war.
From The New York Times:
President Obama’s speech on Thursday was the most important statement on counterterrorism policy since the 2001 attacks, a momentous turning point in post-9/11 America. For the first time, a president stated clearly and unequivocally that the state of perpetual warfare that began nearly 12 years ago is unsustainable for a democracy and must come to an end in the not-too-distant future.
“Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue,” Mr. Obama said in the speech at the National Defense University. “But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. It’s what our democracy demands.”
Mr. Obama said the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which was passed after Sept. 11, 2001, must be replaced to avoid keeping “America on a perpetual wartime footing.” He added: “Unless we discipline our thinking and our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don’t need to fight, or continue to grant presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states.”
He did not say what should replace that law, but he vowed: “I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further.” Mr. Obama’s speech covered the range of national security, counterterrorism and civil liberties issues facing the United States since 2001.
TARGETED KILLINGS
For the first time, Mr. Obama admitted to ordering the death of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, and to the unintentional deaths of three other Americans, including Mr. Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, in drone strikes.
Mr. Obama announced important shifts in the policy of using unmanned drones to kill citizens of other countries, in the territory of sovereign nations, without any public, judicial or meaningful Congressional oversight. From now on, the Central Intelligence Agency and the military will no longer target individuals or groups of people in countries like Pakistan based merely on the suspicion that their location or actions link them to Al Qaeda or other groups allied with the terrorist network. Those attacks, referred to as “signature strikes,” have slaughtered an untold number of civilians and have become as damaging a symbol of American overreach as the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
5 comments:
Who will "hold their fire" first? Will the other follow that lead? There is the matter of Dar al Islam and Dar al Harb, and passages of the Quran state that there will be perpetual war until the entire world is Dar al Harb. There is nothing on this planet worse that religious zealotry, IMO.
"There is nothing on this planet worse that religious zealotry, IMO."
I agree.
And I'll add that there's nothing on this planet more despicable than to indict an entire group of people for the murderous and hateful behavior of a small but destructive group within it.
Of all the Muslims I've been acquainted with here and in California, not one of them, nor any in their families I've met, condones the murderous fanatics within their group.
I'm a nonbeliever. I personally don't understand how people can be led to believe they should murder and destroy in the name of any god.
But Steven Weinberg, a Nobel Laureate in physics explains it perfectly:
"With or without religion, good people will do good, and evil people will do evil. But for good people to do evil, that takes religion."
Infidel753 has a great link up today that covers the issue of religion and how it spawns fanatics.
On balance the Presidents remarks were IMO perhaps among his best.
As to zealots of all stripes I agree with you both.
Having said this, it does seem there are far more murderous vile zealots in the religon of Islam that have no respect for those who do not worship their Allah than any other in our modern era.
The President is correct. The people, if you can call them people must be rooted out and destroyed. In the name of civilized society.
People, meaning the zealot terrorists.
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