President Obama is often portrayed as an "anti-war" candidate, now and during the 2008 election. He is clearly no such thing, as his willingness to take unilateral action against the leader of a country which is no threat to anyone outside its own borders (just like Iraq) demonstrates.
Yes, he was critical of the Iraq War but only because he preferred imperialism “not just through military force, but through the force of our ideas; through economic power, intelligence and diplomacy.”
And “[W]hat I have said continuously is that in light of the problems that we’re having in Afghanistan, in light of other security threats that we have out there, non‑proliferation issues, Iran, what we’re doing with respect to China, what we’re doing with respect to North Korea, it is important for us not to be single‑minded about Iraq.”
His supporters and detractors at home may be confused by his stance - that's probably a good thing, it shows he reacts to the situation, not to political dogma or opinion polls - but people in the League of Arab States are not confused. They see him the way they see everyone in the US government, as this AP photo shows:
Being president is a thankless job. In Egypt he was criticized for doing nothing and Sharia fans look to be in control. In Libya he is bombing people and he is called a neo-con.
