Obama Defends His Antiterror Strategy in Arguments Aimed at His Successor President draws contrast between his ideas and those of Donald Trump By Carol E. Lee
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-defends-his-antiterror-strategy-in-arguments-aimed-at-his-successor-1481072025
President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his strategy for combating terrorism, despite the emergence on his watch of the Islamic State group and the expansion of the conflict in Syria.
Mr. Obama, in a national-security speech delivered just weeks before he leaves the White House, repeatedly drew a contrast between his ideas and those of Republican President-elect Donald Trump while making a case for why his successor should adhere to his approach, which was shaped by his early decision to scale back America’s military presence overseas. Mr. Obama also pointed to his administration’s ban on torture, including waterboarding, and to his longtime effort to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“We have to take a long view of the terrorist threat, and we have to pursue a smart strategy that can be sustained,” Mr. Obama said at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. “We can get these terrorists and stay true to who we are.”
Mr. Obama said the clearest evidence his strategy has succeeded is that “no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland, and it’s not because they didn’t try.”
Attacks in Europe have rattled Americans, as have several apparently Islamic State-inspired shootings in the U.S. Mr. Trump campaigned on being tougher on Islamic State and suggested the vetting of Muslims in the country.
A Trump transition spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment on Mr. Obama’s speech.
While he didn’t mention Mr. Trump by name, Mr. Obama had a clear message for his successor on foreign policy. He argued for using diplomacy before military power, pointing to the deal with Iran to restrain its nuclear program, which Mr. Trump has said is deeply flawed.
He also said the U.S. doesn’t impose religious tests and that “protecting liberty” is something the U.S. does for all Americans, not just some. Mr. Trump has proposed curbs on immigration by Muslims.
On closing Guantanamo Bay, one of Mr. Obama’s earliest and unfulfilled promises, Mr. Obama said the “politics of fear” has kept the facility open and that until Congress changes course on its refusal to allow the transfer of detainees to U.S. prisons, “it will be judged by history.”
“And I will continue to do all I can to remove this blot on our national honor,” Mr. Obama said.
Matthew Levitt, who was deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Treasury Department during the George W. Bush administration, said that beside Mr. Obama’s digs at Mr. Trump, “the speech was most interesting for what it left out: any real answer to the fact that terrorist threats are worse now than when he came to office, according to most intelligence officials.” CONTINUE AT SITE
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