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President Obama Defends His Counter-Terrorism Policy In His Last Major National Security Speech

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New York Times: Obama, in Major National Security Speech, Defends Counterterrorism Legacy

TAMPA, Fla. — In his final planned address on national security as commander in chief, President Obama said on Tuesday that for eight years, his administration protected the nation against major terrorist attacks from abroad while adhering to American values and the rule of law.

“No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland,” Mr. Obama said to loud applause in a large military hangar here. “And it’s not because they didn’t try. Plots have been disrupted. Terrorists have been taken off the battlefield. And we’ve done this even as we’ve drawn down nearly 180,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The speech was intended as a valedictory answer to years of criticism from conservatives that Mr. Obama’s break with many of President George W. Bush’s policies — ending the torture of terrorism suspects and withdrawing most American ground forces from Afghanistan and Iraq — had left the country vulnerable. And many liberals have complained that Mr. Obama had betrayed his 2008 campaign supporters by acting too much like Mr. Bush in continuing and even expanding some policies, such as targeted killings using drones.

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