Col. Ralph Peters: The Triumph of Failure - Obama’s Disastrous Foreign Non-Policy

 When an American president evidently dislikes our national heritage, distrusts capitalism and despises Israel, we might expect a troubled foreign policy. But the consistently naïve, occasionally vicious and thoroughly incompetent set of confused initiatives masquerading as a foreign policy under this administration amount to a catastrophe.

It takes a sort of genius to get the entire world completely wrong.

The simplest way to critique the Obama administration’s inept overseas efforts is just to list the failures. Set aside the tawdry efforts of this timid president to portray himself as the bold commander-in-chief who all but dispatched bin Laden with his bare hands (were the SEALs even there?). There’s enough of a mess without that stolen valor:

Iran: We’ve spent four years talking. Tehran’s spent four years pursuing nuclear weapons. When brave Iranians challenged their oppressors in the street, begging for “hope and change,” our president cowered in silence, protecting his cherished “strategy” of negotiations with a regime that kills Americans and wants all Israelis dead. The ayatollahs’ thugs crushed the uprising.

Predictably, negotiations failed. Now we’re told that sanctions are the answer. But there’s zero chance that Iran’s leaders will abandon their nuke program. If they did, their domestic authority would collapse. (I believe that this administration has privately accepted that Iran will get nukes.)

Israel: An election-eve military exercise can’t compensate for four years of disdain. As our president made clear in his iniquitous Cairo speech, he regards Israelis and Palestinian terrorists as, at best, morally equivalent. Obama deems Israel not an ally, but a nuisance. Want to understand this man’s antipathy to Israel? Study the sermons of the president’s old Chicago pastor, which mirror the Muslim Brotherhood’s view of the world.

Libya: While the Bush administration failed to plan for a post-Saddam Iraq, the Obama gang refused to plan for a post-Khadafy Libya. Turning the situation over to leftists in the State Department — who prefer local thugs to US Marines — Obama slighted the secular elements who reflect at least some of our values. Now al Qaeda’s embedded in a country where it never had a presence. And four Americans are dead.

Egypt: Our president has shown more understanding toward the Muslim Brotherhood now ruling Egypt than toward Israel’s truly democratic government and Prime Minister Netanyahu. And we’re still subsidizing the Egyptian military.

Via: New York Post

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U.S. Move to Give Egypt $450 Million in Aid Meets Resistance

The Obama administration notified Congress on Friday that it would provide Egypt’s new government an emergency cash infusion of $450 million, but the aid immediately encountered resistance from a prominent lawmaker wary of foreign aid and Egypt’s new course under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The aid is part of the $1 billion in assistance that the Obama administration has pledged to Egypt to bolster its transition to democracy after the overthrow last year of the former president, Hosni Mubarak. Its fate, however, was clouded by concerns over the new government’s policies and, more recently, the protests that damaged the American Embassy in Cairo.

The United States Agency for International Development notified Congress of the cash infusion on Friday morning during the pre-election recess, promptly igniting a smoldering debate over foreign aid and the administration’s handling of crises in the Islamic world.

An influential Republican lawmaker, Representative Kay Granger of Texas, immediately announced that she would use her position as chairwoman of the House appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign aid to block the distribution of the money. She said the American relationship with Egypt “has never been under more scrutiny” than it is in the wake of the election of President Mohamed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“I am not convinced of the urgent need for this assistance and I cannot support it at this time,” Ms. Granger said in a statement that her office issued even before the administration announced the package.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking at a meeting of the Group of 8 nations in New York, said on Friday that the world needed to do more to support the governments that have emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings, including those in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

Via: NYT

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Poll: Approval of Obama foreign policy drops 12 Points Since last week

Approval of President Obama's handling of foreign policy has taken a beating since last month, according to a new NBC/WSJ poll taken after violence erupted last week in Egypt and Libya. 

The poll found approval among registered voters dropped to 49 percent, down from from 54 percent a month earlier, NBC's FirstRead reports. The fall was steeper among independents, going from 53 percent in August to 41 percent. Even support among Republicans dropped eight points -- from 19 percent to 10 percent.

NBC did not immediately release results about Mitt Romney's foreign policy approval. The full poll results are scheduled to be released Tuesday evening. The survey was conducted in the days following the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, from Sept. 12 through 16.

Via: Politico

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ANTI-ISLAM FILMMAKER DONATED MILLION DOLLARS TO OBAMA CAMPAIGN

Blame the movie.

Blame the movie.

Blame the movie.

Even though "the movie" was on YouTube for months prior to the collective indignation of thousands of Middle Eastern Islamists all coming together on the eleventh anniversary of September 11th  (through a wild coincidence, no doubt), we are being told by our government and our media overlords that we must blame the movie.

You see, if we blame the movie for the burning of our foreign outposts and the brutal murders of four Americans (including our Libyan ambassador who was reportedly raped), we won't blame the burners and the looters and the murderers and the rapists.

You see, if we blame the movie for the Middle East burning, we won't blame the Islamists who are doing the burning and looting and raping and murdering.

Which means we won't further connect the dots and blame Obama's failed Middle East policy; the Obama Doctrine of backing away from the region and allowing events to unfold as America stands idly by -- as the Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood grab hold of power in Egypt, a country that was once our largest and closest ally.

Blame the filmmaker.

Hunt him.

 Out him.

Demonize him.

Burn the straw man!

Via: Breitbart

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David Limbaugh Column: Liberal Media Might As Well Wear Obama Buttons

The liberal media gave the ceaselessly political President Obama a pass for campaigning instead of performing his presidential duties when they were most needed, while they castigated Mitt Romney for being political when he was the only one of the two acting presidential.

To be sure, Obama is a political candidate for re-election to the presidency, but do we have to remind ourselves — as he often reminds us — that he also currently holds that office and that it includes duties that supersede his political activities?

After remaining silent for hours after the attacks in Egypt and Libya, Obama called a news conference to issue a brief statement on the matter and, in response to the first question, turned on his heels and walked off. Yet the liberal media, feigning outrage over Romney's alleged political exploitation, are neither curious nor critical about Obama's refusal to answer questions about the attacks, such as whether he considers them an act of war and what responses he is considering.

Via: Newsbusters

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Pentagon Denies Reports of No Live Ammo for Marines

A Marine spokesperson at the Pentagon denied reports that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition in a statement to Fox News Thursday.

Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told the outlet: “The ambassador and RSO (Regional Security Officer) have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. No restrictions on weapons or weapons status have been imposed. This information comes from the Det Commander at AMEMB (American Embassy) Cairo.”

The statement came in response to open-source reporting that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition.

Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”

Time magazine’s Battleland blog also reported Thursday that “senior U.S. officials late Wednesday declined to discuss in detail the security at either Cairo or Benghazi, so answers may be slow in coming.”

If true, the reports indicate that Patterson shirked her obligation to protect U.S. interests, Nightwatch states.

“She did not defend U.S. sovereign territory and betrayed her oath of office,” the report states. “She neutered the Marines posted to defend the embassy, trusting the Egyptians over the Marines.”

Via: WFB

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GOP Rep. on Egypt, Libya Situation: Obama ‘Built That’

(CNSNews.com) – Representative Jeff Landry (R-La.) suggested the Obama administration bears some of the blame for the current crises in Egypt and Libya because it pursued policies that helped both regimes rise to power, adding that President Barack Obama had “built that.”

“In light of the recent developments, if the president were to come back and demand that the amount of money that's in that CR [continuing resolution] for Libya and Egypt be stripped out, that would be tremendous leadership because,  remember, the regimes that are in place in those two countries came under his policies – he built that, okay,” Landry said at a press conference on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the anniversary of 9/11, there were violent demonstrations at the U.S. embassies in Egypt and in Libya where, in the latter, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three embassy personnel were killed

Via: The Daily Caller

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AMBASSADOR MURDERED, OBAMA GOING TO VEGAS FOR FUNDRAISER

Let's recap. Yesterday, riots broke out at American embassies in Egypt and Libya. The American ambassador and three other American officials were murdered. Their bodies were dragged through the streets to a cheering mob. This all happened on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, with the ridiculous pretext that throngs of muslims in two different countries were simultaneously offended over a stupid film no one knew existed. In Libya, at least, the murder of our diplomatic personnel is tantamount to an act of war. Yet, for Obama, the campaign must go on. 

This morning, the White House announced that Obama will continue with today's campaign schedule. He leaves this afternoon for Vegas, to attend a fundraiser for his reelection. Those mourning the loss of their loved ones, who died in service to their country, will take little comfort in the knowledge that, as President, Obama is so committed...to his own reelection. 

I realize there are less than 60 days to the election and that the race remains extraordinarily close. No campaign wants to cancel events in the final sprint of a very competitive election. But, the job of President has responsibilities that sometimes mandate that you have to suspend campaigning while the nation recovers from such a shocking attack. 

It is simply unseemly to carry on with a glitzy fundraiser in Vegas, of all places, while the crisis is still unfolding and before we've even fully notified the families of the Americans who died. America deserves better from its leaders. 

Via: Breitbart

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