Obama’s Foreign Relations Failure

The president’s recent apologies, projection of blame, and reluctant statements of damage control provide a timely display of his failure to competently lead the United States on the foreign relations and national security fronts and can only hurt his chances for reelection.

President Obama’s notorious list of achievements last Tuesday, September 11 included the snubbing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he denied the Prime Minister’s request for a meeting, then accepting David Letterman’s request for an appearance on his TV show, and finally an apology to Islamists who were angry about a low-budget, 14-minute movie trailer that mocks Islam and Mohammed and was posted on YouTube by a private American citizen. Obama’s statement was issued as Islamic Egyptian demonstrators removed the American flag from the consulate in Cairo and replaced it with an Islamic flag.

The statement of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, that absolutely had to have been authorized by the president, was published online and went as follows: “The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.” It would be interesting to know if the Obama Administration could cite one example of their condemnation of those who wish to offend the religious feelings of Christians or Jews. Considering the administration’s faith-infringing healthcare mandates and threats against the tax exempt status of Christian churches who would dare to teach against such things as same-sex marriage and homosexuality, or to voice political concerns about liberal leadership, it seems that Team Obama is in the business of religious offense as much as anyone.

The administration contends that the embassy statement was issued before the embassy was breached and before it became clear that the ambassador and other Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Libya had been killed, but this seems to change little about the administration’s standing for the objective American onlooker. It does stand as further proof that apologies and appeasement from our government does not effectively curtail violence or murder against our American officials and citizens. In the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, four diplomats were killed: U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, State Department officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

The Obama Administration also contends that the president only learned about and verified the murders in Libya by Wednesday morning, the day after his initial statement. If this point is true, it doesn’t speak well of the administration’s intelligence gathering abilities and concerns, especially given that Mitt Romney issued a statement specifically about the killings a day earlier on Tuesday, the day they occurred.

In his statement, Romney said, “I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” This is an accurate statement. At the time of Romney’s statement, Obama had not yet denounced the attacks on U.S. embassies, and based on the timing and content of his initial statement of apology, he obviously at least had knowledge that the attacks were in progress. The Obama campaign’s next response, with the help of his loyal mainstream media “journalists,” was to criticize Governor Romney, accusing him of bringing politics into a tragedy and “launch[ing] a political attack.” It is true that there rightly are some political implications for the coming presidential election, with respect to Obama’s poor response to this tragedy, but Romney was simply expressing the reality of the situation in his statement and stepped up to speak presidentially when our serving president refused to do so.

Only late Wednesday morning, after being shamed by Romney, did Obama finally offer stronger language condemning what he referred to as an “outrageous attack.” So, not only did our president first condemn the free speech of American citizens instead of the murderous actions of terrorists against Americans, but he also criticized his political opponent before condemning the terrorists. In a recent interview with Telemundo, Obama also said of Egypt, “I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider them an enemy.” This guy’s all over the place, and it is not going unnoticed by protestors in Egypt and across the Middle East.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Friday went on to say that “This is a fairly volatile situation, and it is in response not to United States policy, obviously not to the administration, not to the American people. It is in response to a video, a film, that we have judged to be reprehensible and disgusting – that in no way justifies any violent reaction to it.” What a way to offer inaccurate information and speak out of both sides of your mouth, Mr. Press Secretary. Obama must have taught you well!

The story of Obama’s lack of leadership in this situation doesn’t end there. U.S. Marines have indicated that the State Department has not authorized them to carry live ammunition as they go, in shockingly small numbers, to attempt to defend U.S. embassies in the Middle East. There is also strong evidence that the State Department had warnings going back to September 4, 2012 from Egypt’s General Intelligence Service that a jihadi group was planning to launch terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Cairo. This information is based on a report from last Tuesday by Egypt Independent, in which they cite a secret letter obtained by Al Masry Al-Youm. The Media Research Center has also uncovered that Obama skipped an intelligence briefing just one day after our embassies were first attacked, and the mainstream media remains silent.

The anti-American protests and violence in the Middle East has now spread to over 20 countries, and most Americans likely understand that a YouTube video might serve as a timely excuse for terrorists, or even for the Obama Administration, but it’s just insanity to believe that it was the real source of this unrest. It’s difficult to believe the administration’s stance that the blood-thirsty protestors’ anger is not directed toward American policy, the American people, or Obama as the demonstrators continue to chant “Death to America” and “Death to Obama.” Breitbart.com may have said it best in their statement that “…I’m pretty sure that the Islamists burning down consulates and killing Americans do a better job of defaming Islam than a film someone makes about the faith.” The violent enemies of our country are rapidly becoming emboldened as they see American weakness from the top office of our leadership. May God once again smile on America as he restores real leadership to our nation that will be recognized throughout the world.

Photo credit: terrellaftermath