Obama had promised to end Bush's hawkish foreign policy and the "war on terror's" detention and interrogation regime.
Image by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
But in the beginning of his fifth year as president, Obama's record has been surprisingly similar to his predecessor's in those areas.
Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
1. Democrats fought George W. Bush’s troop surge in Iraq in 2006.
Image by Hans Deryk / Reuters
Obama copied it in Afghanistan in 2009.
Image by Charles Dharapak / AP
2. American deaths in Afghanistan have skyrocketed since Obama took office.
Image by Steve Ruark / AP
Actually, the death tolls in Afghanistan under each administration look like this:
3. President Obama's drones and special operators are working down "kill lists" of suspected terrorists.
Image by Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
Obama even put Anwar al-Awlaki — an American citizen — on such a list.
Al-Awlaki was killed under secret authorization from the justice department in 2011.
4. Drone attacks have risen sharply under Obama.
Image by Photo: EPA
In 2011, a teenage American citizen, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, was taken out in a drone strike without a trial.
Via: cdn.theatlantic.com
5. In Pakistan alone, the administration has launched more than 300 drone strikes.
Via: thenewstribe.com
Pakistani civilian casualties due to these strikes are as high as 800 according to international estimates.
Image by AFP / Getty Images
6. Obama promised to end the Bush-era torture interrogation practices.
Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
But last year the U.N. released three damning reports detailing torture in Afghan facilities under Obama's security watch.
Image by Andrew Burton / Reuters
7. Obama was unable to deliver on his pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which Bush had also said he would close.
Image by John Moore / Getty Images
"We may not be so different, you and I."
Image by Courtesy of the Bush Center, Houston Texas.
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