Obama Is Showing His True Colors

The new U.S. foreign policy takes shape in the fight against terrorism.

The joy of Americans after the news of Osama bin Laden’s death is understandable: They wanted him dead or alive and have been searching for him for the past 10 years. Bin Laden was shot dead in his hideout, settling the question of where and how to bring such a mass murderer to justice. The International Criminal Court in the Hague would have been the right place for it.

For the U.S. and the rest of the world this is, indeed, good news, although it does not mean the end of the battle with al-Qaida. President Obama indicated in his carefully crafted speech, that terror groups will launch further attacks — or might vow to do so now more than ever. The Taliban already announced revenge.

Everybody has to be prepared. The al-Qaida of today consists of many individuals that are difficult to monitor. These terror cells do not obey orders of one single commander, but have gained autonomy. Lone terrorists, like the one recently in the Frankfurt airport, belong to a new breed of terrorists that act on their own account.

Bin Laden was a symbol: For many people in the Arab world, he was an idol. For many in the West, he was evil personified. Obama acted very cleverly in reaffirming that the U.S. does not fight against Islam and will never do so. Once more, he tried to correct the sticking impression of George W. Bush’s legacy that the U.S. is fighting a religious war or a clash of cultures.

Obama risked a lot with the persecution of Osama bin Laden; he acted intelligently and won. He listened to his advisors, who told him that the treads emanated from Pakistan. The U.S. president shifted the foreign policy focus from Iraq to Afghanistan and, even more so, to Pakistan.

This new unified approach in U.S. politics, known as AfPak, not only led to an increase of 30,000 to 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, but also expanded their presence in Pakistan and in the frontier region between the two countries greatly. Obama decided to build a private army led by the CIA with a strong Afghan participation and ordered drone attacks putting the collaboration between the CIA and the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence, on a new footing.

Therefore, with Obama’s politics, the line between intelligence and armed forces is gradually blurring. This is also shown in terms of staff: CIA Director Leon Panetta is to become U.S. defense secretary and current Iraq commander David Petraeus will take over the spy agency — a development that could possibly lead to problems.

Bin Laden’s death comes in handy for Obama’s domestic policy issues too — right in time for the elections in 19 months. He showed with this move that he can take stern action. Even if Obama did not kick up his heels like a cowboy, he continued with his search for bin Laden.

If he, like in Libya, is cooperating with the U.N. and not only looking for a coalition with the willing, then, in reality, he has implemented what he promised during the election campaign.