Senior Obama administration officials call for an escalation of U.S. operations in Yemen...

We are told that, when Barack Hussein Obama was running for President of the United States, Obama made more than 500 campaign promises during the campaign...

In "Barack Obama: The War We Need To Win" (Counterterrorism Fact Sheet: Obama'08), we were told that Obama, if elected, would be busy

3. DRYING UP SUPPORT FOR EXTREMISTS

“America must show – through deeds as well as words – that we stand with those who seek a better life. . . . As president, I will make it a focus of my foreign policy to contain and roll back the tide of hopelessness that gives rise to hate.”

Even the best military, intelligence, and police work in the world won’t beat al Qaeda if we cannot stop the organization from rebuilding every time we break their network and kill their leaders. From Africa to Central Asia to the Pacific Rim, nearly 60 countries stand on the brink of conflict or collapse. These failed states are the perfect incubators for extremism and terror. Barack Obama will work to combat hopelessness around the globe and dry out the rising well of support for extremism...

• Launch a Public Diplomacy Effort. World opinion of the United States has fallen significantly since September 11. According to the Pew Global Attitudes Survey, 80 percent of citizens of predominantly Muslim countries have solidly negative views of the United States. Barack Obama will launch a coordinated, multi-agency program of
public diplomacy...

But, alas: A new poll of Arab public opinion finds a significant drop in views of President Obama from a year ago!

On February 27, 2010 (a Saturday, by the way), we were told that Obama signs Patriot Act extension without reforms

President Obama signed a one-year extension of three sections of the USA Patriot Act on Saturday without any new limits on the measures that many liberal groups and Democrats said were necessary to safeguard American civil liberties.

Wasn't there some campaign promise about that?

Oh, yes: [No. 179: Revise the Patriot Act to increase oversight on government surveillance].

And then we were also told, in "Barack Obama: The War We Need To Win" (Counterterrorism Fact Sheet: Obama'08), that Obama would be very busy

4. RESTORING OUR VALUES

“We cannot win a war unless we maintain the high ground and keep the people on our side. But because the administration decided to take the low road, our troops have more enemies. Because the administration cast aside international norms that reflect American values, we are less able to advance our values. When I am president. . . . we will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary.”

Barack Obama would restore America’s standing, reputation and authority in the world.

As president, Obama will:

• End the Use of Torture and Extreme Rendition. [No. 175: End the use of torture] and [No. 176: End the use of extreme rendition]

But wait...oh no! Obama's a back door man? [Just like Bill Clinton, apparently!]

Who knew???

Obama's rendition shame?

In the wake of newly released CIA memos providing further disturbing details on the CIA's overseas secret prisons programme for "terror suspects", the Obama administration is sneaking some far-reaching and dubious changes to US treatment of terror suspects through the back door.

Remember when Obama told everyone that his very first act as our president would be to

• Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. [No. 177: Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center]

Sorry, folks: it's still open for business as usual!

And who could forget about these nasty little buggers:

• Eliminate Warrantless Wiretaps. [No. 180: Restrict warrantless wiretaps]

As recently as last April, Salon wails about

The criminal NSA eavesdropping program

...the Obama DOJ -- exactly like the Bush DOJ in the case before Judge Taylor -- refused to offer legal justifications to the court for this eavesdropping. Instead, the Obama DOJ took the imperial and hubristic position that the court had no right whatsoever to rule on the legality of the program..it's thus no surprise that media accounts tie the Obama administration to the cover-up of this program at least as much as the Bush administration.

So, here we are, now being told that the CIA sees increased threat from al-Qaeda in Yemen

For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, CIA analysts see one of al-Qaeda's offshoots - rather than the core group now based in Pakistan - as the most urgent threat to U.S. security, officials said.

The sober new assessment of al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen has helped prompt senior Obama administration officials to call for an escalation of U.S. operations there - including a proposal to add armed CIA drones to a clandestine campaign of U.S. military strikes, the officials said.

MY, HOW TIMES DON'T CHANGE...