And not before time. Obama is removing an important excuse for intemperate and brutal actions used by the Bush administration. Dick Cheney, looking enervated, was pushed off in a wheelchair. We can shelve away our copies of "1984" for now.
President Obama yesterday eliminated the most controversial tools
employed by his predecessor against terrorism suspects. With the stroke
of his pen, he effectively declared an end to the "war on terror," as
President George W. Bush had defined it, signaling to the world that
the reach of the U.S. government in battling its enemies will not be
limitless.
Remember color-coded alerts? Remember trying to trace the names of front companies running those rendition planes? President Obama signals a change in language and philosophy.
"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our
safety and our ideals," he said. ". . . And for those who seek to
advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we
say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you
cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."
