News Analysis: As 9/11 anniversary approaches, Americans resume debate over anti-terror wars

WASHINGTON, Sep. 9, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- For those Americans who annually direct their attention to the pre-September 11 discussion about national security, chances are: They will still feel left in the dark, perhaps more so than ever.

This uncertainty results from the undefined use of forces for undefined ends.

There is a consensus now that the Bush-era's "war on terror" has come to a dead end. There is a common feeling that President Barack Obama's attempt to chart a new course of counter-terrorism strategies is raising more questions than he can possibly answer.

A DIFFICULT SHIFT

A widely-accepted conclusion regarding former President George W. Bush's anti-terror strategy is that the Iraq war proved to be a great mistake.

President Barack Obama opposed the Iraq war as a presidential candidate. When he took office in January, he moved fast to withdraw troops from Iraq and shift the focus to Afghanistan.

He already sent 21,000 additional troops there and changed the U.S. military and civilian leadership in that nation.

Yet the problem remains that the situation in Afghanistan has barely improved, despite the fact that Obama is pouring more war resources into it and Americans are paying an increasingly high price.