Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, launched America’s so-called “war on terror” to defeat groups that he insisted wanted to “establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia.” But Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq was so controversial that it fractured the global consensus to fight terror, with the Guantánamo Bay detention center and the rendition and torture of suspects coming to symbolize the war’s excesses.
奥巴马的前任小布什发动了所谓的“反恐战争”以打击他所坚称的意在“建立从西班牙一直延伸到印度尼西亚的极端伊斯兰帝国”的组织。但布什对伊拉克的入侵和占领引起了巨大争议，甚至破坏了全球反恐战争共识，关塔那摩湾监狱以及对嫌犯的引渡和虐待无不象征着这场战争的过犹不及。