US: When Obama Wants Us To Forget His Flops

Hearing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulate Syria this past Monday for having commenced the destruction of its chemical weapons in record time was a bit surreal. Was this the same Kerry who, less than a month ago, deemed the Syrian regime’s actions “heinous” and promised to hold Bashar al-Assad accountable? Foreign affairs officials are truly experts at swallowing their pride.

This time around, however, this bitter brew went almost unnoticed. In part, this is because Americans are preoccupied with the shutdown, which has paralyzed their administration for a week now. Above all, it is because the sheriff resurfaced in two bold commando operations, demonstrating to the world that he is always there, like during the bin Laden raid, and as if by miracle, this erases the humiliation of the U.S. at being restrained to sheepishly follow the path being carved out by Russia’s Putin.

An Amazing Response

“America does not take strikes when we have the ability to capture individual terrorists — our preference is always to detain, interrogate and prosecute them.”

This was Obama’s response last May to those who accused him of using — and abusing — drones to pursue and kill America’s enemies at the risk of collateral damage on civilians finding themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. While he was sending Navy SEALS to Tripoli to disarm and capture Abou Anas al-Libi, the suspected organizer of the 1998 bombings, which left 244 dead in the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, the American president gave an amazing response to his critics.

It was an operation undertaken with professionalism and efficacy, like that which had successfully led to bin Laden’s death. Delta Force, composed of 10 men, arrived in Tripoli last week from an American base in Sicily. At 6:30 a.m., the morning of Saturday, Oct. 5, driving three cars and a minibus, they surrounded al-Libi’s Hyundai on his return from the mosque; he was behind the wheel. One of the commandos broke the window and ordered him in Arabic to get out of the vehicle, while pressing a revolver — complete with a silencer — to his forehead. A second commando injected him with a paralyzing drug. They carried him to the minibus, which took off at full throttle. The operation lasted no more than three minutes; the terrorist appeared to have been driven to a helicopter, which brought him to the USS San Antonio, an American naval ship cruising off the Libyan coast.

One Success Out of Two

Other Navy SEALs belonging to Team 6 — the bin Laden operative — had less success in the attempted Oct. 5 raid in Somalia. They went to an oceanside villa to capture a Kenyan named Ikrima, who was suspected of being one of the masterminds behind the Nairobi mall attack, which left nearly 70 people dead at the end of September. This time, however, the commandos, who had disembarked from two small boats were hit back with strong resistance. After an hour’s fight, they had to give up.

One out of two: Obama will be content with this during these times of political and press difficulties, even if the rule goes that success abroad does not compensate for domestic failures. This is especially true if Congress, after paralyzing the administration, blocks the ability to borrow for the United States. The president has a week to reign in the problem and redeem himself in America’s eyes. This is much more important than a daring raid.