Failed Foreign Policy

This week Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with his Russian counterpart and today even made a trip to Russian President Putin’s home in Sochi. The Russians have been laughing at us for the last few years once President Obama made his famous open-microphone remark to Putin-Puppet and former Russian President Medvedev. You remember that remark…the one where Obama said once the 2012 election was over he would be able to do whatever he needed to ease the Missile defense woes of the Putin Regime.

You know; the missile defense network that is in place to help protect the west from Russian aggression.

Of course the Obama chuckleheads have been under the impression that Russian aggression is a thing of the past – Tell that to Crimea and Ukraine. It’s just hard to believe that there might be someone on earth who honestly believes this current administration has even the slightest clue as to how to handle anything when it comes to foreign affairs. Just look at their track record.

Shortly after Obama comes into office there is a student uprising in Iran that could have tilted the balance of power there and overthrown the Iranian government putting the U.S. in a position to influence the future of Iran. What does the White House do – Wait for it – NOTHING. Nothing done by a new president who could have immediately set a high mark but instead dropped the ball and left thousands of students and revolutionaries out-to-dry (i.e., executed and imprisoned).

Then there’s Obama’s first Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “Reset” button with the Russians in 2009. We should have known this would be a failure when the button actually had the Russian word for “Overcharged” on it rather than the planned “Reset.”

You would think the State Department might have one fluent Russian Speaker – I mean at least ONE!!

Then President Obama exercises his delusions of grandeur and gives the OK for a SEAL Team strike on Osama bin Laden’s family rather than just bomb the tar out of the terrorist leader’s home. So, for this stroke of the President’s Ego, several of our finest were risked and we lost a Top Secret Helicopter. THEN the Pakistani Doctor who helped our Intell folks find OBL’s actual location gets left behind and is jailed by the Pakistanis……You Know, our allies.

Then there’s the Chinese takeover of several atolls in the Spratly Islands. The Spratly Islands are a set of reefs, atolls, and small islands in the South China Sea that is both strategic and oil-rich. They have been disputed property between China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia for years. Until the Obama Regime took command the balance of power in this strategic region had been kept mainly by the U.S. Navy to maintain the peace and allow for free use of international shipping lanes. Since 2009 the Spratly Islands have been highly militarized by the Chinese as they have been dredging and building up the islands with airstrips, piers, and other permanent structures. Ahh…..who cares about freedom of navigation?

Next is the Arab Spring. Remember how that was supposed to create peace, stagnate Islamic extremism, and allow for greater freedoms while cooling extremist terrorism………How’s that working out?

Of course then there’s:

-          -ISIS

-          -Benghazi

-          -Crimea

-          -Ukraine

-          -Fighting alongside the Iranians in Iraq and against them in Yemen

-          -Fighting again in Iraq

-          -Trading five terrorists for a traitor

-          -Failed Iranian Nuke Deal (be honest, there is no deal)

-          -Allied Arab leaders not coming to DC this week even at Obama’s request

There isn’t one significantly positive foreign policy item the President can hang his hat on – AT ALL.

Al Qaeda is still alive, ISIS is not the junior varsity, Russia is stronger than at any time since the cold war, our European Allies are extremely leery since the NSA leaks, and the prestige and clout of the United States and the office of the President has gone to absolute zero with all the failed “redlines” and all the ambiguously diluted “Let me be clear on this” statements made in the last six years.

Just Sad, and that’s just his Foreign Policy; unfortunately it’s also our foreign policy.

19 more months to go…….

Bill

Is the Presidential Spine Ever Arriving?

Maybe it was because I was raised at a time when an ultimatum by the President of the United States meant something and carried considerable weight. Or perhaps it is because as the United States of America we should strive to be as strong as possible and be leaders in the world. Apparently President Obama is not in that same path of belief.

Regardless of which President you talk about, none of the preceding Presidents in history have provided the shallow, confused, and just overall weak leadership President Obama has consistently and steadfastly exhibited. Today, when faced with two tremendous situations in Israel and Ukraine the President makes a five minute statement that was embarrassing to say the least. Of course it would be surprising if any world leader even paid much attention to his comments on much of anything at this point in his presidency.

Pertaining to Israel the President stated the same talking points as Secretary of State John Kerry did yesterday on the Sunday Morning Talk Shows. Of course that was after Kerry’s open-mike gaff where he stated the case that many already fear the administration has. President Obama said that the Israelis have every right to protect themselves and to destroy the tunnels Hamas has used to attack them. THEN he went on to say that now is a time for cessation of hostilities and for Israel to retract to the 2012 borders and allow for diplomacy.

Of course just a few days ago when both sides agreed to a cease-fire Israel did so while Hamas Terrorists continue to fire rockets into Israel. Now Obama wants Israel to stop their operations which will only result in allowing Hamas to regroup as it always has in the past. Let me spell it out this failure of an administration. Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are sworn to Israel’s destruction making them the equivalent of what Al Qaeda is to the United States.

Many people do not understand, but for us in the United States, and more to the point those of us in Texas, this would be the equivalent of Al Qaeda Having possession of Galveston Island, firing rockets into Texas, hiding in schools and hospitals, and using women and children as human shields all while being forced by the world community to suck it up and deal with it.

Of course with the current White House Administration, that sort of appeasement would not be too hard to believe; however, for those of us in Texas I think we would prefer to handle this a little differently; just as we are already having to on the Texas Mexico border.

So the President makes one of his grandiose statements basically saying the Israelis have the right to protect themselves; HOWEVER, now it’s time for them to stop. As ridiculous as that was, then he turns to the utter tragedy that is the downed Malaysian Airliner.

First he rightfully identifies the Russians as being directly and indirectly responsible for this incident. That was honestly well done and should be acknowledged as such. Then he states that Putin must do the following: stop the tampering of the wreckage site, grant access to international investigators, and provide for the dignified return of the bodies of these victims. All in all that was excellent…..then he blew it.

Unfortunately the President reduces the toughness of his initial indictment of Russian responsibility by then issuing yet another of his fruitless “Red Line” statements just as he has in the past and declaring that that if the Russians persist in this current direction they will continue to isolate themselves and risk a penalty that will cost them greatly……….HUH?

What does that mean? Probably nothing which is about the same thing as when he stated that there would be a dire consequences for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should he use Chemical and Biological weapons. By the way, NOTHING happened when the Syrian President allowed the use of Chemical weapons….TWICE!

Clearly Vladimir Putin is not afraid of the stupendously ignorant drivel that disguises itself for foreign policy emanating from this President and his administration. Of course what did we expect from a community organizer and self-promoter who is more concerned with campaigning, fundraising, and which club to use from 100 yards out than he is that actual running of the country?

It is pathetic that at a time when the world needs strong leadership the United States is led by such incompetence.

God Bless those in harm’s way and the families of Flight 17,

Bill

Iraq….An Attempt at a Scorecard!

Okay, I am going to try to explain some of the complexities of the war(s) in Iraq. There are so many an intricacy in this situation that it barely makes sense much less even seems possible - So I’ll try anyway!! I am going to try to make a little sense of it, or at least expose the unsettling complexity and nearly impossible positive outcome of any involvement there.

Before I start I think it is important for me to confess that I was one of those who thought our involvement in Iraq was a bad idea when we invaded in 2003. Not because I thought the situation with Saddam Hussein didn’t warrant some sort of action, but because I knew that there would be no easy answer to the question of what’s next once Hussein was removed as leader of Iraq, and I was concerned for the number of veterans who would be returning from that conflict with lifelong disabilities – Mental and Physical.

When you look at the Middle East you must understand that while these countries have ancient names, they are not of ancient geographical origin. The countries that are found in the Middle East were drawn up following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. Unfortunately, these borders were based on geographical boundaries and not along the true ethnic homelands of the peoples involved. They were based on borders that would benefit the victorious nations of Europe as they began to rule these nations as colonies or as puppet regimes.

Since we are discussing Iraq we can start there. Iraq includes three specific cultural groups; the Kurds to the north, the Sunnis in the middle, and the Shiites in the south. What is the difference between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam? Well about 1300 years ago or so these two factions disagreed over who should be Muhammad’s successor and they still haven’t worked it out. That may be a little simplistic, but it’s all we have time to talk about here as this blog is already going to be way too long.

Now comes the tricky part.

The Kurds actually inhabit a loosely defined area known as Kurdistan that falls into portions of Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Armenia, and Syria. They have their own language and culture but unlike many elsewhere in the Middle East, there is not one specific religion considered Kurdish. While most are a Muslim base, many are Christian as well as other religions including Judaism. These folks live in the northern portion of Iraq and make up about 20-25% of the Iraqi Population.

The Shia Muslims are the minority portion of the Islamic world, but they make up approximately 60% of the Iraqi populace and reside mostly in the southern portions of the country. The Sunni Muslims make up the majority of the world’s Muslim population, second only to Christianity in numbers; however, in Iraq they only constitute 15-20% of the population and live in the mid-regions of the country. Even though the Sunnis are the minority in Iraq, until the 2003 invasion they had been the ruling sect of since Iraq has been independent. To do this they used brutal coercion and intimidation to reign over the Kurds and Shiites.

Many folks have questioned the reasons that we did not go after Saddam Hussein following the Gulf War in 1991. Simply put, the allies needed the use of staging points and bases in Saudi Arabia and the Saudis would not go along with Desert Storm had Hussein been removed. The Saudis were concerned that the removal of Hussein might come with the installation of a Shiite regime which in turn might invite the Shiite-led Iranians into Iraq and the Saudis wanted a Sunni buffer between them and Iran.

A decade later, following the 2003 invasion and the subsequent overthrow of the Hussein regime, the power vacuum in Iraq became apparent and the cultural rifts and ancient divisions between the long ruling Sunnis and the Shiites came painfully to the surface.

With the 2011 pullout of US and allied troops in Iraq, a huge leadership void emerged and was all too quickly filled with the influence of the Iranian government. Then, following the subsequent Arab Spring and the Civil War in Syria, the real complexities of the Middle East have now come in to play and the current administration has absolutely no clue how to deal with it. Then again, neither have any of the previous administrations since the colonial influences began to fail in the Middle East.

In the last few weeks, news of a Sunni faction called ISIS or ISIL has come to light in the press with news of their control over cities like Mosul and Tikrit; cities where many US troops gave their lives to secure. These ISIS extremists also have ties to Al Qaeda which is bad; however, they are also part of the rebels that are fighting the Shia government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – our enemy. But how can the enemies of our allies, the Iraqi government be the same people fighting a Syrian government seen as our “Enemy,” AND be a part of the Al Qaeda the President swore was decimated while he ran for office in 2012 – DOWN RIGHT PUZZLING?

But now it gets even more complex. The ISIS uprising in Iraq has been around since last year and briefed as far back as August of 2013 by US Intelligence Sources. So now the President has ordered 300 Special Forces troops into Iraq to train up the Iraqi army; however, he has refused them air support. But that’s fine as that bit of assistance is being picked up by Syrian Air Force and Iranian drones - BRILLIANT. 

Then this week the President announces that he wants to give $500 million to the Syrian rebels (mostly Sunni) to help fight Assad’s forces. Rebels that include the same ISIS troops who are working to fight the Iraqi army he is sending 300 troops to train. Seems rather counterproductive doesn’t it?

Don’t worry, the President says they will vet these rebels - but how? Are they going to be carrying an ID card to show what part of the rebel army they are in? Nah….we’ll just take their word for it. After all, that’s how their buddies in Iraq got the US equipment that we left for the Iraqi Army!

Let us not forget the Kurds in the north, they wished for autonomy in 1991 but were refused as the only way to get Turkish assistance in enforcing the no-fly zone over Iraq during the 1990s was to ensure that there would be no Kurdish independence. Now the Kurds have a chance to be free and possibly have a country of their own. They have been relatively silent and have gone into self-preservation mode as far as this current round of fighting has gone.

In summary, what is completely lost on the last few administrations is that fighting in the Middle East is not just about the geographical entities involved, but also about cultural, religious, and regional entities that might or might not be diametrically opposed in any given country, AND how these entities of all shapes and sizes might or might not be colluding with each other regardless of whether they are a nation, a culture, or a military sect.  Confusing isn’t it?

In short, we are trying to help the rebels that are opposed to the Syrian government; the same rebels who are part of Al Qaeda and fighting the Iraqi government we are also supporting; the same Iraqi government who is allied with the Syrian and Iranian governments we oppose and have sanctions against. AND we’ll train the Syrian rebels in Jordan so that Jordan can get involved and become unstable like the rest of the area.

I hope this has removed your confusion on being baffled by the mysterious entanglements of the complex intricacies of this region of the world. The one thing I take from it all is that since there is no way to know who is helping who and who is actually opposing who, then there is no reason to try and make any long term plans in this region. The Middle-East is a region of conflicting political, religious, and ideological beliefs inhabited by a majority of folks who are divided based on overlapping geographical methods who will take up arms to settle almost any disagreement. There are some sophisticated peoples in the region, but overall they do not have enough authority, nor do they have adequate support, to exert Westernlike-Civilized control.

There!! That was pretty simple…right?

Bill

Syria is Signaling the END!

Most folks have shown little care about the current civil war in Syria, it has worried me mightily. We must pay attention now.

For over a year we have heard the Obama Regime make one strong but ineffective statement on Syria after another. Rather than take the lead and take a real stand that the world will respect, our leadership in Washington has kicked the ball down the road and not taken care of an issue that is a real national defense crisis for America…FOR ALL OF US!!

Tonight word has come out of Damascus (the capital of Syria) saying that Syrian President Assad has armed warheads with weaponized Sarin gas. For those who do not know, Sarin gas is one of the scariest chemical weapons ever created by man. It is 500 times more deadly than Cyanide and can kill a man in less than ONE MINUTE!

That’s right, for over a year we have drawn lines in the sand, attempted to set up various sanctions that the UN Security Council has vetoed, and accomplished exactly NOTHING on this issue. And when I say we, I mean the Obama Administration including Secretary of State Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice.

Now, the leadership of the flailing Syrian government has armed their troops with one of the deadliest substances ever created. This regime has been involved in terrorism throughout the Middle East and the world so it is not out of the realm of possibility that it could use these weapons as a last strike against any and all of Assad’s former allies and enemies including those in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Turkey as well as any number of other nearby targets. But while the use of these weapons is unconscionable to think of, what might be worse is who could get a hold of the unused cache of Sarin weapons that might be left over following the end of this war.

Think this is an unreal fear to have, well consider this; during the Libyan civil war there were multitudes of weapons given to Libyan rebels and where are they now? I don’t know, you don’t know, and guess what, no one else knows either – including the Obama Administration. So once the Syrian civil war is over and these Sarin weapons are left outstanding, anyone have any idea whose hands they might end up in? Neither does anyone else.

The only difference between me and the government is I think Americans should know about it and the Obama administration wants to keeps it as hidden as possible, “Nothing here to see….Move along!!”

This is one of the times when the U.S. Military is needed to be the “Big Stick” President Roosevelt talked about. Not to end another county’s civil war, but to keep Americans safe. We don’t need another failed nation-building project, we need to show the world that when we “Speak Softly” and say simmer down that’s what we mean and that any perceived threat will bring out the “Big Stick!”

God Speed to our Service Members,

Bill