President Obama's Foreign Policy in the Middle East

The Obama foreign policy doctrine in the Middle East has proven
to be an utter disaster.

It’s impossible to deny the hope and the possibility for peace that President Obama was going to deliver to the Middle East especially after his impressive speech in Cairo, Egypt on June 14, 2009. However the Middle East, the rest of the world, and Americans are beginning to realize that being a good orator does not amount to results.

President Obama’s war in Libya, in which ABC reports around $900 million of US tax dollars have been spent is just the latest example of another foreign policy disaster.  The recent events in Libya have left the administration in denial, hiding or both.   Instead of coming clean and acknowledging the terrorist attack on American soil, the Obama administration tried to deflect blame to a spontaneous out of control mob.  The President’s ambassador to the UN Susan Rice spent September 16^th moving from Sunday cable show to Sunday cable show blaming the violence on a protest. 

I was more than shocked to see this reaction from the administration.  Immediately upon hearing of the news of an attack on the anniversary of 9/11 that consisted of heavy weapons, RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and coordinated indirect fire on a safe house, I knew this was a sophisticated planned attack with al Qaeda being the main suspect.

The administration’s response was a complete injustice to the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens (the first Ambassador to be assassinated since 1979) and the three other military veterans killed trying to defend American soil.  As we now know the administration knew within the first 24 hours al Qaeda carried out the attack.  However this was Obama’s war; he politically did not want to look bad.  The administration tried all it could to avoid the political ramifications of radical terrorists taking control and filling the power gap left when the Obama administration spent millions removing Muammar Gaddafi.  They tried to sweep this incident under the rug and blame an anti-Muslim video that I guarantee little to no people in Libya even saw. Obama did not want to seem weak and acknowledge the second terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 (the first being MAJ Nidal Hasan’s murderous shooting spree in Fort Hood, TX in 2009).

The administration’s response to this incident in Libya has been nothing but an embarrassment. 

The rest of his foreign policy is being exposed as he cannot hide behind the killing Osama bin Laden for much longer.  Below are further examples of his Middle Eastforeign policy failures. 

-He has continued to foolishly embrace the radical Muslim brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere.

-The war in Iraq that he supposedly ended… ask the people in Iraq if that war is really over?   Iran’s influence has spread enormously in that country since Obama’s sudden cut and run withdrawal.

-He failed to meet with foreign leaders this week while visiting the UN, but found time to appear on ABC’s The View as “eye candy.”

-He has continued what can only be described as a disgruntled relationship with our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

-He has failed to address a massive increase in green on blue killings in Afghanistan.  And now more than 70% of all American Soldiers killed in Afghanistan have come under his watch.  He has also irrationally announced our withdrawal date to our enemies. 

-Even the Presidents biggest success, killing Osama bin Laden has led to military Special Operations organizations (who normally remain very neutral) express their grave concern for the release of tactics, procedures and other information about the raid.  Not to mention that the announcement of bin Laden’s death only hours after the assault let every terrorist in al Qaeda and the Taliban know they better be on the move and start covering their tracks.  A lot of actionable intelligence found at bin Laden’s compound most likely became compromised. 

President Obama cannot hide behind Osama bin Laden’s death for long.  The American people need to wake up and understand his lack of leadership and foreign policy credentials. 

His inexperience in foreign relations can be summed up when then candidate Barack Obama in 2008 said he would sit down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the man who denies the Holocaust, denies 9/11 and wants to wipe Israel off the map).  President Obama’s lack of knowledge then has just been replaced with his incompetence now.