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| President Ronald Reagan |
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| President Barack Obama |
Full Title: Presidential Policies on Terrorism: From Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama by Donna Starr-Deelen
In her book, international law scholar Donna Starr-Deelen provides a well-researched, highly informative history of terrorism in the U.S., and its probable future. One of her primary questions explores the accuracy of the contention by George W Bush that everything changed after 9-11. While not minimizing the tragic gravity of this attack, she queries whether it, in itself, undermined the solid political structure built after WWII by the UK and U.S.
Perhaps this observation by George W. Bush proved a bit too simplistic. Might those bombings have served as a pretext to justify military force which had been held, for some while, in abeyance? A further point addressed by Ms. Starr-Deelen involves the fact that the 1787 framers of the U.S. Constitution were writing within a framework far different from that in which we live today.
Indeed, the current capacity to kill soldiers and civilians alike by bombs dropped by “drones” in the form of planes operated by remote control would have seemed as alien to them as the idea of life on other spheres of the universe. In the same sense, these framers could hardly have guessed the extent of the latitude allowed to a president to deploy his executive privilege in times of emergency.
Donna Star-Deelen, already well-qualified in the study of international policies and relations, was living in Washington D.C. during the 9-11 onslaught. Hence, while she retains objectivity, she reflects the essence of those thoughts and feelings felt and experienced during its aftermath. As she points out, those in authority dictate the course of the lives and potential deaths of those forced to accept their edicts, merely by being citizens or subjects in an area where these leaders are free to exert control.
Having chronicled terrorism and counter-terrorism in detail, her final chapter evaluates the efforts and consequences of decisions made during the presidency of Barack Obama. When he was inaugurated on January 20th 2009, many Americans, especially those who felt marginalized by the existing political system, enjoyed a renewed sense of hope, perhaps akin to that surge of courage which flowed from the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy. Just as Kennedy was the first Catholic to be elected to this office, Barack Obama was the first African-American.
The changes he promised during his inaugural address were absorbed with joy, going some way towards erasing the cynicism bred by the policies of George H. W. Bush, and then his son, George W. Bush. Even Bill Clinton, while striving for justice on multiple levels, had disillusioned a large number of his constituents by his drawing out of the debate regarding his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, via a series of specious legal contentions. (Indeed, the word “Clintonesque” has entered the English language as representing an “everything but” liaison.
Still, there are issues which seem bound to remain unresolved after Obama’s second and last term of office in 2016. Practices conducted beyond American shores are being committed on grounds of “enhanced interrogation”. The extent of this enhancement will, in all probability, never be fully revealed. Still, it is well-known that American agents, especially those deployed by the CIA, have authorized or participated in activities which cross the ambiguous zone from interrogation to torture. One example is “water boarding” evoking images of surfing and kayaking, while in truth it entails the holding under water of someone resisting questions likely to subject them to further prosecution or death, to the point where the person questioned feels a legitimate fear of drowning.
Ultimately, Obama has found his administration far more shackled by previous errors and controversies than he anticipated. This has prevented him, to some degree, from adhering to his original hopes and pledges. Thus, a feeling of over-all let-down and anxiety pervades America as the 2016 election approaches.
To summarize, this book is a superb research tool for anyone studying this period, as well as the general reader wishing for a deeper understanding of the struggles which have haunted the political system since the beginnings of terrorism.
