WH advisor says al Shabaab attack is proof of Obama's success

While most would probably view this weekend's terrorist attack in Kenya as proof that al Qaeda is indeed not "on the run" as President Obama once proclaimed, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Monday that the attack proves that the president's counter-terrorism policies are working.

(Image: AP)

The Hill reports the dizzying spin:

“The fact of the matter is we’ve actually had a very aggressive effort to go after al Shabaab in Somalia, both through direct U.S. counterterrorism efforts, but also through support for AMISOM, the international force, including Kenya, that has pushed al Shabaab out of a number of its strongholds in Somalia,” Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president. “And, frankly, I think it was that pressure on al Shabaab that, in terms of their own professed motivation, led them to pursue an attack against Kenya.”

Rhodes also vowed that the administration would investigate claims that American citizens were among the attackers. Al Shabaab is known to seek to recruit disaffected Somali refugees, notably in Minneapolis.

"We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about efforts by al Shabaab to recruit Americans or U.S. persons to come to Somalia," Rhodes said. "So this is an issue that has been tracked very closely by the U.S. government, and it’s one that we’ll be looking into in the days ahead."