Obama Ends 4 Wars (at once)

Barack Obama

February 2, 2009: Barack Obama ended four wars during his first week as president. With just a few words and strokes of his pen, the president ended the war on terror, the war on Islam, the war on science, and the war on women.

In his first executive orders, Obama effectively dismantled the elaborate structures that supported the Bush administration’s “war on terror.” On January 22, he ordered the closure of the Guantanamo prison and a halt to the much-criticised military commission trials.

He closed secret CIA prisons, required that the Red Cross have access to detainees and mandated that interrogations of detainees — whether by the military, the CIA or anyone else  — comply with the rules laid out in the Army Field Manual.

By giving his first televised interview to Al Arabiya, a channel watched throughout the Arab world, Obama made it clear that the US  isn’t at war with Islam itself. “The Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives,” he said.

“There are extremist organisations — whether Muslim or any other faith ... that will use faith as a justification for violence. We cannot paint with a broad brush a faith as a consequence of the violence that is done in that faith’s name.  

Our administration (will) be very clear in distinguishing between organisations like al-Qaida —  and people who may disagree with my administration” in legitimate ways.

War on science

Obama also ended the undeclared Bush administration war on science. In his inaugural speech, he promised to “restore science to its rightful place.”

Reversing years of Bush administration disregard of scientific evidence on global climate change, Obama ordered the Transportation Department to set new fuel-efficiency standards and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to rethink its Bush-era refusal to allow states to impose anti-pollution standards more stringent than federal ones.

The undeclared war on women? Also over. Obama reversed the “Mexico City policy,” which prohibited recipients of US foreign-assistance funds from providing abortions or even providing information about abortions.

Some estimate that as many as 500,000 women worldwide have died since 2001 as a result of botched abortions, many of which might have been prevented if the Mexico City policy hadn’t pushed abortions and abortion counselling underground in many countries.

The “war on terror” was practically a gift to Osama bin Laden: Our detention and interrogation policies fuelled far more terrorism than they prevented. Obama’s job is just beginning.  Still, not bad for a week’s work.

Brooks is a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.