Is Obama Rethinking His Position on the War on Terror?

I am not one who usually recommends reading The New York Times, but when it publishes an article critical of the Democrats, the Democrats are usually doing something right. Yesterday, the front page of The New York Times online edition posted an article entitled “Obama's War on Terror May Resemble Bush's in Some Areas”. Apparently, after a few weeks of sweeping Executive Orders changing the way our country deals with terrorists, it seems that the Obama Administration is coming to the conclusion that the Bush Administration had it right in how it fought the War on Terror.

For instance, in recent confirmation testimony, Obama nominees have endorsed:

• continuing the C.I.A.'s program of transferring terrorist suspects to countries without legal rights;
• indefinitely detaining terrorist suspects without trial even if such suspects are captured far from a war zone;
• the arguments proffered by Bush's legal team to shut down a lawsuit by a former C.I.A. detainee under the “state secrets” doctrine; and
• leaving the door open to resuming the military commission trials.

In a surprising turn, Leon Panetta, the nominee for C.I.A. Director, stated that if the recently approved interrogation techniques prove insufficient in getting a detainee to divulge details of a suspected imminent terrorist attack, he would ask for “additional authority.”

This is definitely not what we heard during Obama's first week in office. Perhaps clearer heads have prevailed. Or, better yet, intelligent heads have prevailed. I think that once the people actually responsible for fighting this war took the time to think about it, a stark realization set in that we will not only be unsuccessful in fighting the terrorists if we completely abandon the tactics employed the last seven years, but we'll put our country at a greater risk for an attack. That is the last thing the Obama Administration wants on their watch, especially after seven years of no attacks under the Bush Administration.

However, I caution everyone who holds this issue in high importance to not assume that all is well in the land of Washington. These pronouncements are not a wholesale return to the Bush Administration's stance and it remains to be seen what will actually be done when another attack occurs or a plot is uncovered. Clearly, the Bush Administration's handling of the War on Terror was not perfect. Perfection can never be attained. But George W. Bush did keep us all safe from another attack after September 11th and no one can dispute that. Hopefully, President Obama will be able to claim the same feat.