Obama Brags About Bin Laden Killing, Threatens Iran

Comments Appear Aimed At Proving He's as Big a Hawk as Potential 2012 Opponents

In comments that were surprisingly bellicose even for the current political environment, President Obama bragged loudly about the number of people he’s killed today, urging hawks who don’t think he’s hawkish enough to “ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al-Qaeda leaders who’ve been taken off the field.”

He could’ve also advised them to ask thousands of Pakistanis, Afghans and Iraqis as well, or the Anwar al-Awlaki, the US citizen he assassinated earlier this year, but the point was already made: an Obama Administration kills lots of people, and they’re pretty sure that’s what voters are in the market for.

Moving beyond that, Obama went on to more familiar hawkish territory, trotting out his usual “all options are on the table” threat against Iran, comments which appear timed to resonate through the Republican Jewish Coalition Conference, which itself centered on potential Obama foes bragging about how quickly and on how little pretext they’d attack Iran.

“Today Iran is isolated and the world is united in applying the toughest sanctions that Iran has ever experienced,” added Obama, saying his administration had done more to unite the world against Iran than the Bush Administration had.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.