In 2008, Obama
talked about taking out bin Laden
as part of a strategy to end the war on terrorism.
No, I'm not talking about a poll bump for President Obama. He very well might
get one, but this poll bump is on the question "Who is winning the war on terror? The United States? Or the terrorists?"
The results are dramatic: a new SurveyUSA poll shows 60% of Americans believe we are winning, up from 41% in August 2006. Just 18% think the terrorists are winning.
Obviously, terror is a tactic, not an enemy, so literally speaking, the notion of a "war on terror" doesn't really make sense. But if you assume it means the effort to eradicate the people who attacked us on 9/11 and who hope to attack us again, the killing of Osama bin Laden is a watershed moment, and it marks the beginning of the end of that effort.
During the 2008 campaign, President Obama repeatedly said that the war on terror began in the AfPak tribal regions and that it will end in the AfPak tribal regions. Citing Robert Gates, he made that point in both of the presidential debates that dealt with foreign policy (the first and second). Check out this portion from the second debate:
QUESTION: Should the United States respect Pakistani sovereignty and not pursue al Qaeda terrorists who maintain bases there, or should we ignore their borders and pursue our enemies like we did in Cambodia during the Vietnam War?
OBAMA: Katie, it's a terrific question and we have a difficult situation in Pakistan. I believe that part of the reason we have a difficult situation is because we made a bad judgment going into Iraq in the first place when we hadn't finished the job of hunting down bin Laden and crushing al Qaeda.
So what happened was we got distracted, we diverted resources, and ultimately bin Laden escaped, set up base camps in the mountains of Pakistan in the northwest provinces there.
They are now raiding our troops in Afghanistan, destabilizing the situation. They're stronger now than at any time since 2001. And that's why I think it's so important for us to reverse course, because that's the central front on terrorism.
They are plotting to kill Americans right now. As Secretary Gates, the defense secretary, said, the war against terrorism began in that region and that's where it will end.
Note that last sentence. Taking out bin Laden wasn't part of a strategy to extend the "war on terror." It was part of a strategy to end it. And to end it in victory.