Gene Healy Says Obama Is Avoiding the Debate on Terror He Promised To Have
A year ago Friday, President Obama took a break from waging perpetual war to warn Americans that "perpetual war … will prove self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways." The post-9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUFM) "is now nearly 12 years old," Obama proclaimed, and "this war, like all wars, must end. … That's what our democracy demands." He, for one, welcomed this debate: "I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF's mandate." Actually, writes Gene Healy, the Obama administration hopes to keep "welcoming the debate" until it goes away. Wednesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the AUMF made that clear — if just about nothing else.