Obama stretches terror definitions in national security speech, claims 'no large-scale attacks on the United States' since 9/11

In a long-awaited speech at the National Defense University, Barack Obama claimed that the nature of international terror attacks threatening the United States has changed since Sept. 11, 2001, with 'no large-scale attacks' on America occurring since then.

But his definition of 'large-scale attacks,' his speech made clear, doesn't include the 2013 Boston Marathon attack that wounded hundreds, the 2012 Benghazi terror attack that injured dozens and killed four, and the 2009 attack at Fort Hood that killed 13 and injured 30.

All those attacks had the potential to leave far more American bodies in their wake than they actually did.

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Obama declared America at a 'crossroads' in the fight against terrorism, but seemed to adopt a definition of 'large-scale' terror attacks that ignored the Boston Marathon and the shoe bomber's attempt to kill hundreds on a U.S.-bound aircraft

The death toll from Major Nidal Hasan's November 10, 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood Army post was 13, but Hasan shot 45 people in all

The Benghazi attack is generally thought of as a terror attack on U.S. soil, although U.S. diplomatic outposts are not technically sovereign American territory.

'Today, Osama bin Laden is dead, and so are most of his top lieutenants,' Obama said. 'There have been no large-scale attacks on the United States, and our homeland is more secure.'

Obama allowed that more recent attacks were acts of terror, but grouped them into a lesser category than the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, northern Virginia, and central Pennsylvania.

'Now make no mistake: our nation is still threatened by terrorists,' he told a largely military audience. 'From Benghazi to Boston, we have been tragically reminded of that truth. We must recognize, however, that the threat has shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on 9/11.'

Chaos erupted in Boston on April 15 as two bombs were detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and maiming 264

'Today,' he added, 'the core of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is on a path to defeat. Their remaining operatives spend more time thinking about their own safety than plotting against us. They did not direct the attacks in Benghazi or Boston. They have not carried out a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11.



Obama did not mention the Fort Hood attack in this group, which the Obama administration maintains was an act of 'workplace violence.'

But the president did seem to acknowledge that Major Nidal Hasan, the 39-year-old Army major who opened fire on his fellow servicemen and women at Fort Hood, was a 'deranged or alienated individual.'

Army Maj. Nidal Hasan (L), a Muslim, shouted 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is great' - before opening fire on 45 people at Fort Hood. Richard Reid (R), tried to bring down a Paris-to-Miami flight with a bomb in his shoe.



'Deranged or alienated individuals – often U.S. citizens or legal residents – can do enormous damage,' he said, 'particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad. That pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood, and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.'

Hasan reportedly yelled an Islamist slogan, 'Allahu Akbar,' before shooting 45 people.

Obama mentioned the Fort Hood shooting only once, despite its status as more deadly than the Benghazi or Boston attacks.

He also did not mention the 2001 shoe bombed, Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner in an attempt that could have killed hundreds.

Also missing from the president's assessment were numerous conspiracies to attack the U.S. in plots that would have left hundreds of more casualties if they had been successful.

Including the shoe bomber attempt, an Ohio State University professor has collected a list of 52 such plans since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Buildings burned after terrorists attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The White House has been under pressure to disclose how its public talking points blamed the attack on an anti-Islam video, instead of acknowledging it as a terror attack

That list, collected and explained in a 523-page book by John Mueller, the chair of National Security Studies at Ohio State's Mershon Center for International Security Studies, is titled 'Terrorism Since 9/11: The American Cases.'

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about whether it make a difference to the president’s larger argument if terrorist targets merely hundreds instead of thousands.

Obama's speech also argued in favor of this week's declassification of information about drone attacks that have killed four American citizens, while also allowing that the drones targeted terrorists who 'posed an imminent threat to the American people.'

Anwar Awlaki, the president said, 'helped oversee the 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices on two U.S. bound cargo planes. He was involved in planning to blow up an airliner in 2009.'

On May 1 the U.S. government released three photos of terror suspects in the Benghazi attack, more than seven months after it occurred. The release came as Congress and media outlets put more pressure on the Obama administration to clarify the timeline of who edited its talking points, which were sanitized from the CIA's original assessment

'When Farouk Abdulmutallab – the Christmas Day bomber – went to Yemen in 2009,' Obama confirmed, 'Awlaki hosted him, approved his suicide operation, and helped him tape a martyrdom video to be shown after the attack. His last instructions were to blow up the airplane when it was over American soil.'

'The use of force' he said, 'must be seen as part of a larger discussion about a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy.'

In an expected move, Obama lastly called on Congress 'to lift the restrictions on detainee transfers' from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.