Barack Obama’s Failed PR Campaign against Terror

Does the terror network al-Qaida have a hand in the game? Or was it only a less professional copycat? Or was it a one time thing? The fear remains. Because Sweden’s capital Stockholm just missed a blood bath. The attack, which only cost the lives of the suicide-bombers, could have had devastating consequences according to experts.

Payback for the Mohammed caricature and anger over Sweden’s military involvement in Afghanistan are the motives of the bombers as stated in a threatening message. The wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq serve for militant groups, like the lasting fight between Israelis and Palestinians has served for years now, as pseudo-justification for their actions. It would be naive to believe that the attacks would stop as soon as all of these conflicts came to an end. Extremists will forever find a new cause, in order to move against the hated West.

And, of course, there are some points to be won against militant Islamists with a Mideast solution in a PR war. For that would then take away the ammunition for the propaganda against the alleged “Muslim and Arab enemies” of America and Europe. Barack Obama also knows this. For him the PR front in the war against al-Qaida is especially important. Shortly after his inauguration as U.S. president, he affirmed his great respect for Islam. And Obama made the solution of the Mideast conflict a top priority. That aside, until now all efforts have been shattered; it depends on him, personally.

It is, of course, a difficult, boring task to achieve peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. A task whose accomplishment would warrant a Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, Obama has had one of those for the past year. For the U.S. president, it is grounds for self-criticism: “Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was,” stated Obama, correctly, about the Nobel Prize given to the Chinese human rights activist. The Nobel Prize, given to Obama in October 2009, was somewhat an award for hope, which he instilled in many — at least temporarily — and for the new peace which he brought to U.S. foreign policy after years of hardcore announcements by the leadership circle of George W. Bush.

And the Nobel Prize was a leap of faith in Obama’s noble plans: from the disassembling of all nuclear weapons to peace in the Middle East. Looking back, he has done more or less nothing since then. And the opportunities appear to be dwindling, given his domestic political problems, which the president must deal with. Also, if Obama were to make any non-Nobel Prize worthy moves in the field of foreign policy, and implement them in the near future, his foreign policy still wouldn’t be worse than that of his predecessor.

Obama’s goodwill gestures in regard to nuclear weapons agreements with the Iranian government go unanswered. Russia and China acted together to harden sanctions against Tehran. Washington tried to resolve the affair with Moscow over the U.S. missile defense system. A successful agreement on the START treaties, toward the reduction in strategic nuclear weapons, could have united people. Obama couldn’t even get it through Congress.

If the early end of the military presence in Iraq leads to more stability in Mesopotamia, it has yet to be proven. The commitment was so very unpopular in the U.S. that Obama could have done nothing to take it further.

In Afghanistan, the Nobel Prize-winning Obama has lengthened the war. The alternative would have been a hasty retreat, with the risk that the revived Taliban regained power. For Afghanistan there is no quick solution; the same goes for the Middle East. At least, not right now, since Obama’s domestic opponents will block it. As to the phenomenon of terror, against which Bush announced a so-called “war,” the world holds its breath.