T. Becket Adams explains in the Washington Examiner why President Obama’s farewell address didn’t tell the entire story about terrorism in the United States over the past eight years.
President Obama isn’t wrong when he says no terrorist group has pulled off a foreign-directed attack on U.S. soil under his watch, but that claim is heavily caveated to obscure the reality of terrorism in America.
“Because of the extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform, and the intelligence officers, law enforcement, and diplomats who support them, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland these past eight years,” the president said during his farewell address in Chicago.
He added, “Although Boston and Orlando and San Bernardino and Fort Hood remind us about how dangerous radicalization can be, our law enforcement agencies are more effective and vigilant than ever.”
Technically speaking, Obama’s claim regarding attacks on the homeland is not wrong. Since his first inauguration in 2009, no foreign terrorist organization has planned and launched a successful attack on the U.S. from abroad.
But there’s obviously a lot more to the story, as survivors from San Bernardino, Fort Hood, Orlando, Boston, etc. will tell you.
The president’s remarks are worded carefully for a reason.
As noted elsewhere by the Washington Examiner: “By framing the issue in these very specific terms, Obama can position himself as the victor in the ongoing war on terror, while also avoiding mentions of the fact that there have been several major terrorist attacks in the U.S. during his presidency.”