We Won! Now Can Someone Tell the Terrorists?

Eugene Robinson declares victory; PJ O'Rourke thinks that's stupid
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 28, 2013 12:46 PM CDT
We Won! Now Can Someone Tell the Terrorists?
President Obama speaks at the National Defense University at Fort McNair, during a speech in which he asserted that al-Qaida is "on the path to defeat," May 23, 2013.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

In his much-celebrated speech last week, President Obama said that "this war, like all wars, must end," and that al-Qaeda is "on the path to defeat." Well, PJ O'Rourke at the Weekly Standard has a word for that kind of thinking: "Stupid." His take? "This war, like all wars, must end when someone wins it," he quips, and al-Qaeda is "on the path to Boston and London and any number of other places."

But Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post doesn't think those apparent lone-wolf attacks justify ongoing war. Yes, we'll probably suffer more attacks from Islamic radicals, but "what distinguishes their crimes from other senseless acts of violence? Put another way, what would the reaction have been if Adam Lanza … had yelled, 'Allahu akbar'?" Al-Qaeda is in shambles, and while Obama was wise enough not to declare victory, "columnists aren't obliged to be so circumspect: it is time to declare victory and get on with our lives." Click for O'Rourke's full column, or for Robinson's. (More Eugene Robinson stories.)

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