Barak Obama
In 1979 President Jimmy Carter made the wrong decision about the Shah of Iran and America lost an important ally in the Middle East. I’m terribly afraid Barak Obama is about to make his own mistake and the result for America’s interests in the Middle East, no America’s global interests, will be even more devastating.
There’s been plenty of talk about a smooth transition to democracy in Egypt. Our political leaders are asking Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step aside and make changes that they believe the Egyptian people want. But there’s an uncomfortable truth here and I’m not sure the Obama Administration is up to dealing with it. The situation has degenerated to a point that it’s not really about democracy, at least for now. Right now it’s about keeping the peace and keeping the tyrants out.
Mr. Mubarak took control in 1981 after former President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic extremists for signing a peace treaty with Israel. Mr. Mubarak invoked emergency laws which gave him dictatorial power. He’s held that power ever since. In the past 30 years Egypt has been a relatively stable country. But Mr. Mubarak’s government has been guilty of many abuses. One such instance – the beating death of a young man at the hands of Egyptian police – is reportedly what kicked off the protests that have torn the country over the past couple of weeks.
Still, he kept the peace and an American presence in the Middle East. Now all that is threatened. This is not about what kind of government the Egyptian people should have. They have the right to whatever government they want. But the pressure-cooker environment of civil unrest is not conducive to good governance. Rather than calling for smooth transitions, the United States should be doing what it can to keep the peace and calm the situation. Once that is done, we should aid the Egyptian people in selecting their leaders and the form of government they desire.
Some may say we have no right to be that involved. I respectfully disagree.
Hosni Mubarak
Whether we like the way Mr. Mubarak ran his country or not, he was our ally. The relationship between the United States and Egypt was broadly based on Egypt keeping the peace with Israel and being a friend to the U.S. In return, the United States provided billions in military and economic aid. It might have been a deal with the devil, but it was a deal with a devil we knew. Now plenty of other demons are poised to take the reins not only in Egypt but throughout the Middle East.
While we focus on Egypt, Yemen is on fire, Jordan is tumultuous and Tunisia is undergoing a transformation unprecedented in the Arab world. Doors are opening to any group or nation that can tell the people what they want to hear. We can be certain that the Iranians and leaders of the various Islamic sects seeking to spread their theocratic governments are looking for their openings. Mr. Obama should be sticking his foot in that door.
The most likely route for the Unites States in Egypt is through the military. The Egyptian military has benefitted greatly from our training and material aid. But that means allowing the current government to continue its crackdown. And that is not something that sits well with America’s sense of right and wrong. I’m not sure Mr. Obama, or much of the U.S. population has the stomach for that. I certainly don’t like it, even if I can see the need for it.
It is my hope that behind the scenes U.S. diplomats are laying down a hard line for the Egyptian government and whoever is deigning to take control. We need to make it clear that we expect obligations to be fulfilled and the rights of all people respected. We need to be unequivocal about our resolve to fulfill our obligations to all the players in the Middle East, including Israel. Somehow I am less than convinced this is the tack Mr. Obama’s Administration is taking.
From the day he took office Mr. Obama has shown a distinct lack of respect for America’s allies and a willingness to kiss up to her enemies. From travelling to Latin American countries to be lectured by tyrants, to bowing to foreign leaders to hosting a state dinner for a communist dictator, Mr. Obama has displayed a stunning ignorance of the reality of global politics and America’s place in the world. He has projected an image of weakness that the world’s bullies are happy to exploit.
Mr. Carter was viewed as a weak and ineffective leader. A deposed Shah, the Ayatollah Khomeini and an overrun embassy were the results. The possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran under the direction of a Holocaust-denying madman is the legacy of Mr. Carter’s Administration. I shudder to think what Mr. Obama’s legacy will be.
I don’t think it’s any accident that the Iranians released their American hostages shortly after Ronald Reagan became president of the United States. Where is Ronald Reagan when you need him?
What alarms me so much is the meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt. Now Obama is trying to push Mubarak out ASAP. If he does, and things get worse, Obama will share much of the blame. And the CIA warned Obama in 2010 that the Egyptian government could fall. Obama says intelligence agencies failed him. What a crock.
I am afraid of what might happen in Egypt once a new government is in place. In Mubarek we know what we have, but it is concerning when we see that the Muslim Brotherhood is likely to take his place. We seem to be committing a grave error here and I feel that Israel is quite upset at Obama right about now also. He is alienating our allies by trying to appease our enemies.
Call me a simpleton, but Ron Paul is making more and more sense all the time. There is no denying the foreign policy stance that our founders took. I’m not suggesting a knee-jerk, shrill, go native and block out all global activity. But I am suggesting that we get out of the business of meddling. Get strong, lead by example and protect ourselves when necessary. Beyond that… let’s take care of ourselves first..
This whole interfering thing hasn’t been working out so well. Then again, our left is working with the Islamofacists as well. I have to say that this is incredibly scary.
While there are hundreds of thousands protesting, millions more are remaining silent. All of the research I have looked at, indicates the majority favors Sharia law. It is hard to believe that any form of Western style Democracy would remain long in the Middle East.
I can certainly understand the desire to stay out of the problems in the Middle East. To a certain extent I share those feelings. However, the reality of the situation is that we are there and have been there for years. We can’t simply pull out now and expect to be untouched. Many, if not the majority, of factions looking to seize control have as part of their objectives the destruction of the United States. To simply pull out now and leave it to our former allies to fight it out would be detrimental to our own security and potentitally fatal to our friends in that region.
” I shudder to think what Mr. Obama’s legacy will be.”
The world could turn inside out. If it does it will be the fault of Obama and others of the liberal mindset. For America and the rest of the world, the best thing that could happen would be a military coup. If radical Muslims get control and the rest of the secular but Muslim countries begin to fall, we will be heading for the New Dark Age.
One thing is for certain, Michael– we can count on Obama to side with our enemies.
From the State Department, the legacy of confusion and indecision; from the Intelligence apparatus, the legacy of misinformation and unintelligence; from the Executive, the legacy of rhetoric for rhetoric’s sake.