Failed Iraq and Afghan wars drove Obama toward a rebranded smarter war on terror

Evidence

His presidency began with much optimism and concluded with the bitter realization that Obama did not put an end to the war on terror launched by his predecessor, but mutated, modernized, and marched it forward. With a fresh new face, rhetorical smoke signals, and the pacifying effect afforded by his racial identity and strategic deployment of progressive ideas and language, the war on terror was craftily pushed forward for another eight years under the Obama administration, and Islamophobia swelled right alongside of it. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 329 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Obama claimed that his policy was a shift to the realist tradition of great power geopolitics. As he put it, “The truth is that my foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional bipartisan realistic policy of George Bush’s father, of John F. Kennedy, and in some ways of Ronald Reagan.” Yet, as we saw above, during Bush’s second term the neoconservatives were also gravitating toward this position because of the failure of their approach in Afghanistan and Iraq. Soon after taking office, Obama deployed 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, expanded the war into Pakistan (through the “Af-Pak” strategy), tried to pressure Iraq into granting an extension of the US occupation (which failed), carried out drone attacks and “black ops” in Yemen and Somalia, and participated in the NATO war on a former ally in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 501 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Failed counterinsurgency forced Obama back to counterterrorism and drone warfare — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 432; Obama’s rebranded war on terror kept drone and special-forces targeting against Muslims — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 507; The Iraq War’s failure forced Bush to abandon regime-change plans and adopt counterinsurgency (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Obama’s presidency mutated and advanced rather than ended the war on terror #corroborates (0.95) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 329
• Obama legitimized and expanded the war on terror, not reversed it #corroborates (0.95)
• Obama continued the War on Terror with rhetoric rather than swords #corroborates (0.90) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 296
• Obama’s realist framing masked a continuation of Bush-era imperial warfare #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 501
• Obama continued the War on Terror through rhetorical seduction. #corroborates (0.90)
• Obama’s conciliatory rhetoric masked continued drone and surveillance warfare #corroborates (0.90) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 299
• Obama’s defense guidance continued the War on Terror via drones and special forces #expands (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 433
• The Obama era shifted the war on terror narrative toward homegrown Muslim threat. #expands (0.80)
• Homegrown terrorism panic let Obama continue Bush-era war policies #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 499
• Obama revived the al-Qaeda threat despite its near-extinction to salvage failing counterinsurgency #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 584