not be judged to contradict the above tenets. We may be able to prevent our successors from doing something worse. All right, the foregoing verges on satire, we admit. The absurdity of it all invites satire. One final thought: some of our better pundits regard Obama policy pronouncements as, variously; demagoguery, lying, and double speak. They are all those things. However, something crucial is almost uniformly missed, and it is that those pronouncements are rooted in the ideology revealed first in Hillary Clinton’s 2009 speech. Accordingly, it is possible for Obama et al. to blithely claim success and acknowledge failure at the same time. The War on Terror is over but violent extremism is worse than ever. Failure to deal with it in reality, however, cannot be Obama’s fault. We have won the War on Terror long since because we say we have. Because we have said it, it must be incontrovertible. What obtains now does not exist because we did not really win that war. Our advanced consciousness tells us that we now see the problem clearly and have moved to a more effective way of thinking about it. (It is unfair to say that this amounts to obscuring the problem or defining the problem down, or pretending that it doesn’t exist.) If the entire world thought the way we do the problem would be effectively removed. Inasmuch as it is just a matter of time before others think as we do, it is by no means illogical to pronounce the War on Terror over. Indeed, it is necessary and righteous.
* As for terrorists, never use an adjective in front of that word. If fact, don’t use the word “terrorist” at all. It is an inexact label freighted with judgments we have no business making (like thinking of terrorists or terrorism as inherently evil). Terrorism is a physical act, not a human quality or disposition. We must deal with those who commit acts of terror in the same manner as other criminals (or, rather, persons who commit acts against the law; “criminal” is also a demeaning label) and, otherwise, engage with them in the same manner as we engage with foreign countries (see above). * ‘Free elections’ create a legitimate Democracy. The newly elected regime is then free to establish whichever political/religious system it fancies. * We must affirm U.S. public opinion against foreign military engagement by pointing out the unfortunate consequences of past U.S. military acts and by assuring the world that war never solves anything. If our righteous government is compelled to commit military acts abroad in order to maintain its political advantage at home, this should
Dr. RACHEL EHRENFELD is the director of New York based Centre for Democracy, and author of several books and more than one thousand scholarly papers and articles.