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Opinion
Jeffrey Goldberg

Obama's Stronger on Terror Than He Sounds

To acknowledge that Obama's rhetoric has not inspired awe, is not to say that the president’s actual handling of the crisis should, at this point, be declared a catastrophe.
Obama's rhetoric in Estonia may not have inspired awe. 
Obama's rhetoric in Estonia may not have inspired awe. 

Question: Who said this about the war on terror? "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the -- those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

Answer: Not Barack Obama, but the president he replaced. Three years into the American-led war on Islamist terror, George W. Bush acknowledged the obvious: The U.S. can do serious damage to the forces of Muslim terrorism, but it cannot fully eradicate the phenomenon.