Recently, Vice President Biden told a Jewish group in Florida that U.S. credibility around the world was at stake if Congress disapproved the Iran deal.
Not true. Only Barack Obama’s credibility and legacy is at stake. And the world already has doubts about Obama’s competence. The dysfunction in Washington, D.C., is fully a result of Obama’s inability to lead.
Remember, shortly after Obama was elected, he went on his first world apology tour in 2009. Obama bowed to a Saudi King: the only American President to bow to an Arab Royal! Obama’s penchant for apologizing for America’s greatness and exceptionalism begged our enemies to spring into action. And they did.
The so-called Arab Spring brought cries of freedom, fair elections, and democratic values . . . from Westerners, not Arabs. How did the Arab participants view the Arab Spring? We can answer that question by the dearth of Arab leaders leading the charge toward Democracy.
The Arab Spring, if it ever was a legitimate attempt to break the bonds of military and religious political straightjackets, strangled mid-east countries. Even those countries that were able to overthrow the existing regime could not fill the vacuum that followed. Instead, numerous factions, often based on tribal considerations, fought each other to ultimate national failure: witness Libya.
In Egypt, former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down after eighteen days of demonstrations during the so-called 2011 Egyptian revolution. Mohammed Morsi, a leader in the criminal terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood backed by even more radical Islamo-Fascist fundamentalist groups, was elected as President in 2012: an election the Muslim Brotherhood had foresworn during the Tahir Square demonstrations.
Immediately, Morsi began consolidating power, illegally changing the Egyptian Constitution, moving from a secular government to a government under Sharia law. As a result, the Egyptian military ousted President Morsi, declaring a new beginning of the political process in Egypt.
The Syrian revolution spawned the Islamic State, aka ISIS or ISIL. President Obama called for the resignation or ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even calling for a bright red line across which Assad would bring the wrath of the United Stated States. Assad gassed Kurds and President Obama folded like a cheap lawn chair: so much for a bright red line.
The Syrian revolution, much like Libya, was not about democratic aspirations but about prevailing. It boiled down to Sunni vs. Shite: Saudi Arabia and Sunni States supported the Sunnis; Iran supported Assad via Hezbollah. President Obama restricted United States involvement in the Syrian conflict, authorizing the recruitment and training of fifteen hundred irregular fighters; a year later, less than fifty had been recruited. Only five still remain.
As a result of President Obama’s foreign policy incompetence in Syria, Saudi Arabia was so offended that it refused a rotating seat on the United Nation’s Security Council. As a consequence of his failed foreign policy, President Obama lost Libya, Yemen (Obama’s role model for the Middle East), Iraq (which President Bush won before President Obama lost it), Syria, Tunisia and Egypt.
Now President Obama has struck a deal with Iran that guarantees Iran a nuclear weapon while assuring Iran that inspections can be controlled by Iran. The deal also releases $150 billion impounded assets to Iran. The deal also requires the United States to assist Iran if required, which could mean that the United States and Iran could join forces against Israel in the event of an Israeli attack on Iran. President Obama has stabbed Israel in the back.
Over two hundred Generals and Admirals penned a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to reject the Iran agreement as flawed, writing that it threatened national security. Retired Generals and Admirals from every branch of service signed the letter.
Under President Obama’s foreign policy, what we are seeing is the decline and destruction of nation states into tribal and sectarian units, based on religious cults and Islamo-Fascist philosophy. Descending into tribalism in the 21st century is a reflection of the unsophisticated Arab culture. Witness the ISIS decapitation of prisoners, ISIS capture and exploitation of sex slaves, the wanton destruction of religious symbols: this is the basis of Mohammed’s Arab barbaric culture.
One of the characteristics of the Arab empire was the enslavement of conquered peoples. Captured men were slaughtered while women and children were enslaved. Muslim troops were specifically brutal toward non-Muslim religious institutions. Christians were particular targets: convert or die. History repeats itself through ISIS, a force created by Obama’s reckless exit from Iraq.
Obama is still tweaking his Middle East policy: too little too late. Obama wanted to be a president who made a difference. He achieved his goal. The Middle East is worse off than it ever was under the Obama administration. President Obama’s crowning achievement is helping pave the Iranian road to possession and ownership of nuclear weapons, and increased the probability of not only World War III but also a nuclear World War III.
Obama’s legacy is assured. He will be known as the American version of the British Chamberlain: “peace in our time,” which invited World War II. Appeasement and capitulation are Obama’s legacy.