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‘America Must Always Lead,’ Obama Tells West Point Graduates Obama Warns U.S. Faces Diffuse Terrorism Threats
(about 9 hours later)
WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Obama on Wednesday tried to regain his statesman’s mantle, telling graduating cadets here that the nation they were being commissioned to serve would still lead the world and would not stumble into military misadventures overseas. WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Obama tried once more to articulate his vision of the American role in the world on Wednesday, telling graduating cadets here that the nation they were being called to serve would seek to avoid military misadventures abroad, even as it confronts a new set of terrorist threats from the Middle East to Africa.
Speaking under leaden, chilly skies, Mr. Obama delivered the commencement address at the United States Military Academy. Speaking at the commencement of the United States Military Academy, Mr. Obama disputed critics who say his cautious response to crises like Syria’s civil war and Russian aggression toward Ukraine had eroded America’s leadership in the world. Those critics, he said, were “either misreading history or engaged in partisan politics.”
“America must always lead on the world stage,” he said. “But U.S. military action cannot be the only – or even primary – component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.” But for a president who has promised to take the United States off a permanent war footing, Mr. Obama painted an unsettling portrait of the world, 13 years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The nation, he said, had, in effect, traded Al Qaeda in Afghanistan for a more diffuse threat from extremists in Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Mali, and other countries.
Under pressure from critics who say the United States has been rudderless amid a cascade of crises, the president said that those who “suggest that America is in decline, or has seen its global leadership slip away – are either misreading history or engaged in partisan politics.” A day after announcing that the last American soldier would leave Afghanistan at the end of 2016, Mr. Obama told a new class of Army officers that some of them would be sent on murkier missions, helping endangered nations deal with their own terrorist groups.
A day after announcing that the last American soldier would leave Afghanistan at the end of 2016, the president told this latest class of Army officers that the United States faced a new, more diffuse threat in an arc of militancy stretching from the Middle East to the African Sahel. In the only new policy announcement of the speech, he called on Congress to finance what he called a Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund, with up to $5 billion to provide training in these operations to vulnerable countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, all neighbors of Syria.
Mr. Obama singled out Syria, which he said had become a dangerous haven for terrorists, some linked to Al Qaeda. While pledging to strengthen American support for the opposition, he did not discuss expanding the C.I.A.'s covert training program for the rebels by bringing in the military, which is being debated inside the administration. “We have to develop a strategy that matches this diffuse threat; one that expands our reach without sending forces that stretch our military too thin, or stirs up local resentments,” Mr. Obama declared. “We need partners to fight terrorists alongside us.”
The president did announce a counterterrorism partnership, funded with up to $5 billion, to help train countries in the Middle East and Africa to carry out operations against extremists. The president has spoken before about the threat from terrorism, most notably in a speech last May at the National Defense University. But on those occasions he had taken pains to note that the threat was on a lesser scale than the Sept. 11 attacks and could be dealt with “smartly and proportionately.”
“Today’s principal threat no longer comes from a centralized Al Qaeda leadership,” Mr. Obama said. “Instead, it comes from decentralized Al Qaeda affiliates and extremists, many with agendas focused in the countries where they operate.” On Wednesday, his language was more ominous: “For the foreseeable future,” he said, “the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism.”
Mr. Obama’s speech, which was weeks in the drafting, was a wide-ranging rebuttal to critics who say he has yielded American leadership in a world tossed by storms, from Syria’s civil war to Russia’s incursions in Ukraine. Mr. Obama singled out Syria, which he said was becoming a haven for extremists,  a situation that his critics have attributed in part to his own unwillingness to take more aggressive action. While pledging to strengthen American support for the opposition — something he has done several times before — the president did not discuss expanding the C.I.A.’s covert training program for Syrian rebels in Jordan, perhaps bringing in the military, an option that is being discussed inside the administration.
But it was also meant to reject arguments that the United States should retreat from its post-World War II centrality in global affairs. Mr. Obama instead called for a middle course between isolationism and overreach, citing the international coalition he had mobilized to counter Russia’s aggression in Ukraine as an example of how to use American muscle without putting its soldiers at risk. A senior administration official said after the speech that the White House was consulting with Congress about ways to expand the military’s role in counterterrorism operations. But he declined to say whether the administration had decided on a bigger Pentagon role in Syria and noted there were other ways to help the opposition.
West Point, with its 1,064 cadets in dress uniforms, offered a grand backdrop for Mr. Obama to present his foreign policy blueprint. But his theme was very different than in 2009, when he came here to announce that the United States would send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Mr. Obama sought to present Afghanistan as a mission all but completed and described a world filled with threats that require a more targeted American response. Little in Mr. Obama’s tone suggested he had dropped his reluctance to get involved militarily in Syria, a position that has not changed despite three years of war and a death toll above 160,000.
“I made a decision that we should not put American troops into the middle of this increasingly sectarian war, and I believe that is the right decision,” Mr. Obama said. “But that does not mean we shouldn’t help the Syrian people stand up against a dictator who bombs and starves his own people.”
Weeks in the drafting, the president’s speech was meant to be a wide-ranging rebuttal to critics who say he should have done more to curb the bloodshed in Syria or stop Russia’s takeover of Crimea. But it also rejected arguments that the United States should retreat from its post-World War II centrality in global affairs.
Mr. Obama instead called for a middle course between isolationism and overreach, citing the international coalition the United States had mobilized to counter Russia’s aggression in Ukraine as an example of how to use American muscle “without firing a shot.”
“America must always lead on the world stage,” the president said. “But U.S. military action cannot be the only — or even primary — component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”
West Point, with its 1,064 graduating cadets in full dress uniform, offered a grand backdrop for Mr. Obama’s foreign-policy blueprint. But he got a subdued reception under leaden skies and chilly wind, which left family members of the cadets, many in shirt sleeves and sundresses, shivering in the stands of the football stadium.
One line that did bring a burst of applause, mainly from parents, came when Mr. Obama told the graduates they might be the first class since 2001 not sent to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was a very different theme than in 2009, when he came here to announce the United States would send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
Mr. Obama presented Afghanistan as a mission all but fulfilled and described a world of threats that require a more targeted and varied American response. He also repeated a call for the United States to be more transparent about its counterterrorism operations — something on which it has made scant progress since last year.
“When we cannot explain our efforts clearly and publicly, we face terrorist propaganda and international suspicion,” Mr. Obama said. “We erode legitimacy with our partners and our people; and we reduce accountability in our own government.”
The president once again pledged to be more open about America’s secret wars, saying that drone strikes “like those we’ve carried out in Yemen and Somalia” need to be explained publicly to counter militant propaganda. He did not mention Pakistan, which for a decade has been the epicenter of America’s drone wars, but where the United States government still considers the strikes, carried out by the C.I.A., a covert action. But he reiterated a vow to transfer the drone strikes and other counterterrorism operations from the C.I.A. to the Pentagon, a pledge he made a year ago, but which has been unfulfilled because of turf fights and congressional resistance. 
Mr. Obama has been deeply frustrated by the criticism of his foreign policy, which during his first term was generally perceived as his strong suit. He has lashed out at critics, whom he accuses of reflexively calling for military action as the remedy for every crisis.Mr. Obama has been deeply frustrated by the criticism of his foreign policy, which during his first term was generally perceived as his strong suit. He has lashed out at critics, whom he accuses of reflexively calling for military action as the remedy for every crisis.
On a trip to Asia last month, Mr. Obama described his foreign policy credo with a baseball analogy: “You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run.” But, he added, the overriding objective is to avoid an error on the order of the Iraq war. On a trip to Asia last month, Mr. Obama described his foreign-policy credo with a baseball analogy: “You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run.” But, he added, the overriding objective is to avoid an error on the scale of the Iraq war.
In private conversations, the president has used a saltier variation of the phrase, “don’t do stupid stuff” – brushing aside as reckless those who say the United States should consider enforcing a no-fly zone in Syria or supplying arms to Ukrainian troops. In private conversations, the president has used a saltier variation of the phrase, “don’t do stupid stuff” — brushing aside as reckless those who say the United States should consider enforcing a no-fly zone in Syria or supplying arms to Ukrainian troops.
In the speech, Mr. Obama described an array of priorities, ranging from the Iran nuclear negotiations to a new global climate change accord, which he said would occupy his final two-and-a-half years in office. At West Point, a 212-year-old institution on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River, Mr. Obama struck a loftier tone, quoting Dwight D. Eisenhower on the folly of war and John F. Kennedy on the need for peace based on “a gradual evolution in human institutions.”
He also spoke of the need for the United States to look eastward to Asia, promoting his long efforts to negotiate a trans-Pacific trade agreement and pledging to defend American allies in the region in their territorial disputes with China in the South and East China Seas. Mr. Obama said the Iran nuclear negotiations and a new climate-change accord would be among his top foreign-policy priorities for his final two and a half years in office, noting tartly that a deal on climate change will be a stretch “if a whole lot of our political leaders deny that it is taking place.”
He said the United States had successfully isolated President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. To make his case for the United States as the ultimate guarantor of an international order, the president drew on the example of Russia and Ukraine. Far from conceding the episode was a setback, he said American leadership in putting together an international coalition and imposing sanctions had thrown President Vladimir V. Putin on the defensive.
“In Ukraine, Russia’s recent actions recall the days when Soviet tanks rolled into Eastern Europe,” the president said. “But this isn’t the Cold War. Our ability to shape world opinion helped isolate Russia right away.” “This mobilization of world opinion and institutions served as a counterweight to Russian propaganda, Russian troops on the border and armed militias in ski masks,” Mr. Obama said.