Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a director at New America and Professor of Practice at Arizona State University. He is the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad."
(CNN) -- Quick: Which U.S. president has authorized wars of various kinds in seven Muslim countries?
If you guessed Barack Hussein Obama, you are correct.
Many did not think it would turn out this way. Early on in his presidency, on June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a widely anticipated speech in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, which was billed as the start of a "reset" with the Islamic world.
President George W. Bush was, of course, widely reviled among Muslims for his invasion of Iraq and the prisons at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.
Many Muslims hoped that the first African-American president, who had opposed the Iraq War as a candidate, would be quite different than his predecessor.
In Cairo, Obama declared, "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition."
President Obama's 'War on Terror 2.0'
The U.S. military has begun using Apache helicopters, like the one pictured here, against ISIS targets in Iraq. Click through to see some of the other U.S. assets used in the war against ISIS.
Photos: U.S. military assets used against ISIS
In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force, fighter jets fly over northern Iraq as part of coalition airstrikes in Syria on Tuesday, September 23. The United States and several Arab nations have started bombing ISIS targets in Syria to take out the militant group's ability to command, train and resupply its fighters.
U.S., Arab nations attack ISIS in Syria
Obama: This is not America's fight alone
Crucially, Obama also said in the Cairo speech: "We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people."
Those who listened to the President's speech mostly heard that he was extending an olive branch to the Muslim world and largely ignored the fact that during the same speech he had also made a rather robust defense of the American war on al Qaeda and its allies.
A similar dissonance happened a few months later when the President went to Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. The jurors who awarded the prize (and many who voted for him in 2008) seemed to have conflated Obama's opposition to the Iraq war with his presumed opposition to war in general.
The President was surely the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize to use the opportunity provided by his acceptance speech in Oslo to explain his philosophy of just and necessary wars.
At Oslo, Obama said, "I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism; it is recognition of history, the imperfections of man, and the limits of reason."
As it turned out, Obama was one of the most militarily aggressive American presidents in decades, authorizing military operations of various kinds in seven Muslim countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and, now, Syria.
The bombing of Syria is the first time the United States has mounted a full-scale war since World War II without any one of the following
-- A U.N. resolution authorizing force.
-- As part of a NATO operation.
-- An Arab League resolution in favor of military action.
-- A specific U.S. congressional authorization for war in another country.
-- The invitation of the host country to conduct military operations as we have recently seen in Iraq, where the Iraqi government has been begging for U.S. military intervention.
Do the thought experiment where George W. Bush had gone to war in another Middle Eastern country without the cover of a U.N. resolution, or of a NATO operation, or of Arab League approval, or of a specific congressional authorization. The howls of protest from American liberals and the Muslim world would surely have been deafening.
Instead there have been no protests. That's partly because of the adept manner with which the Obama administration assembled a Sunni coalition of the willing -- Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE and Bahrain — to help with the airstrikes.
How Obama came to launch strikes in Syria
But it partly must be something to do with the fact that so many of his critics, and even his supporters, regard Obama as some kind of peacenik.
In fact his record shows him to be anything but:
Consider that he mandated a threefold increase in the number of American troops in Afghanistan, from 30,000 soldiers at the end of the Bush administration to 90,000, a surge of troops that played a critical role in blunting the Taliban's momentum, which had gathered strength in the final years of Bush's second term.
Consider that under Bush there were 48 CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. Under Obama there have been 328, which have killed some two-dozen al Qaeda commanders, according to a count by New America.
Consider that under Bush there was only one CIA drone strike in Yemen. Under Obama there have been 99 drone strikes and 15 airstrikes, which have killed more than three-dozen of the group's senior operatives there.
Obama is also the first American president to authorize the assassination of a United States citizen, the New Mexico-born al Qaeda operational commander Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen in a drone strike in 2011.
The same year Obama initiated the alliance that overthrew the Libyan dictator, Moammar Gadhafi.
Obama has also waged an effective covert war in Somalia against the al Qaeda affiliate based there, Al-Shabaab, whose leader, Ahmed Godane, was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month.
And Obama, of course, also authorized the risky U.S. Navy SEAL mission that killed al Qaeda's founder, Osama bin Laden, in 2011 in Abbottabad, a city deep inside Pakistan.
This is not the record of someone who is afraid to use American power, as his critics would have it, but rather a president who is comfortable exercising American hard power even in a country like Syria, where he has launched a war without the kinds of specific international or congressional authorizations other presidents have sought since World War II.
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F/A-18 jets and other aircraft used in strikes against ISIS were launched from the USS George H.W. Bush, a 103,600-ton aircraft carrier seen here in April as it transits the Strait of Hormuz.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, operating in international waters in the North Arabian Gulf, launched some of the 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles used against ISIS targets in Syria. The ship has a displacement of 9,589 tons and carries a crew of 370.
U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors saw their first combat during strikes on ISIS targets in Syria, the Pentagon said. The single-seat, twin-engine stealth fighter has a top speed of almost 1,500 mph. Here, a Raptor performs during the Australian International Airshow in March 2013.
EA-6B Prowlers are among the U.S. aircraft that took off from the USS George H.W. Bush during recent attacks on ISIS. The Prowler is used to support attack aircraft by jamming enemy radar and communications and obtaining tactical intelligence. Here, a Prowler -- seen at bottom -- flies in formation with an E-2C Hawkeye in June 2004.
The workhorses of the American fighter fleet, F-16s, have been used in several strikes against ISIS. An F-16 fighter is seen here over the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in 2006. F-16s can travel 1,500 mph, or Mach 2, at altitude.
On September 22, the United States fired 47 Tomahawk missiles against targets in Syria. Tomahawks are long-range subsonic cruise missiles used to take out high-value or heavily defended land targets. They were first used in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Here, the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) launches a Tomahawk cruise missile in 2011.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, operating in the Red Sea, launched Tomahawk cruise missiles against ISIS targets in the first of three waves of attacks that began on September 22. The ship has a displacement of 8,373 tons and carries a crew of 370. It is part of the U.S. 5th Fleet.
A F-15E Strike Eagle from the 391st Fighter Squadron takes off in July during a mission at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. The F-15E Strike Eagle can carry more than 23,000 pounds of payload for air-to-ground and air-to-air combat. The plane has been in the Air Force inventory for three decades and is expected to be operational until at least 2035.
The Air Force's B-1B Lancer bomber was introduced in the 1980s to carry out nuclear missions. The plane was adapted for conventional weapons missions in the 1990s and has flown in combat over Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Here a B-1B flies above Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn in February 2011.
A U.S. Navy jet is refueled in flight after airstrike missions in Syria on September 23. In addition to bombing ISIS, the United States has also taken action -- on its own -- against another terrorist organization, the Khorasan Group. U.S. President Barack Obama described Khorasan members as "seasoned al Qaeda operatives in Syria."
This photo, released by activists in Idlib, Syria, on September 23, shows what they say is the aftermath of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS.
Another aftermath image from the Idlib activists.
Obama, speaking at the White House on September 23, addresses the ISIS airstrikes. "The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone," Obama said.
The USS Philippine Sea, a guided-missile cruiser with the U.S. Navy, launches a Tomahawk cruise missile from the Persian Gulf during an attack on ISIS positions on September 23. The U.S. Navy released this photo and several others following the airstrikes.
U.S. sailors stand on the bridge of the USS Philippine Sea while Tomahawk cruise missiles are launched toward targets in Syria on September 23.
The USS Arleigh Burke, a guided-missile destroyer with the U.S. Navy, launches Tomahawk missiles in the Persian Gulf on September 23.
An F/A-18C Hornet prepares to take off from the flight deck of the USS George H.W. Bush, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, before conducting strike missions against ISIS targets on September 23.
Tomahawk missiles fired by the USS Philippine Sea fly in the air above the Persian Gulf on September 23.
Two more U.S. fighter jets prepare to take off from the USS George H.W. Bush and conduct airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria.
This before-and-after image, provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, shows what is purported to be an ISIS command center that was targeted by airstrikes in Raqqa, Syria.
The Defense Department also released this before-and-after image of a purported ISIS finance center in Raqqa.
