Liberalism, Obama, and Learning

Carter says Hamas isn't a terrorist organization.

Few seem to remember it now, but in March of 2007 Iran showed how “friendly” it could be towards Western powers when it seized, at gunpoint, 15 British sailors and Marines as they were inspecting Iraqi ships.  According to a Washington Post story at the time:

The capture appears to be deliberate retaliation at a time when Tehran is under mounting pressure at the United Nations, from international financial institutions and even in Iraq, U.S. officials and Western diplomats said.Iranian officials charged that the British Royal Navy personnel had illegally entered Iranian waters, Iranian state television reported Friday night.

But British officials insisted that the eight sailors and seven marines were in Iraqi waters when they were seized in the Persian Gulf.

A similar incident happened to the English in 2004 as well.  Iranian President Ahmadinejad made it sound like he was doing England a favor when he released the sailors from the 2007 incident:

“On the occasion of the birthday of the great prophet (Muhammad) … and for the occasion of the passing of Christ, I say the Islamic Republic government and the Iranian people — with all powers and legal right to put the soldiers on trial — forgave those 15,” he said, referring to the Muslim prophet’s birthday last Saturday and Easter, next Sunday.

“This pardon is a gift to the British people,” he said.

Most recently, we had Iran take an Iranian-American journalist hostage.  Roxana Saberi was arrested and quickly convicted of espionage (this was after the Obama goodwill tour of 2009).  She was later released.  And in another sign of positive relations towards the American people, North Korea recently arrested two American journalists (Laura Ling and Euna Lee), working for Al Gore and quickly convicted them of spying and sentenced them to 12 years of hard labor.  Where are the Liberals on this point?  North Korean prisons make Gitmo look like Club Med.

British sailors and their "new friend" in Iran.

So where has all of this Cairo goodwill gotten Obama, exactly?  North Korea has set off a nuke (and plans another test in the near future), it appears as though the Iranian presidential election was stolen and citizens are being shot in the streets there, and the corrupt regimes there are up to the same things as always.

The Liberal approach towards foreign policy seems to be put down your guard and hope you don’t get hit in the face.  In fact, former President Jimmy Carter is now calling for Hamas to be removed from the terrorism watch list.  Maybe Carter is feeling chummy with that renegade group because they helped foil an assasination attempt against him?

Obama has laid himself wide open towards getting a foreign policy lesson with all of his friendliness.  He tried to portray it as a change in tactics from the G.W. Bush administration.  In Cairo Obama praised Muslims for such important things as inventing algebra while not speaking about the oppression against Christians, Jews, women, gays, and all those other “special interest groups” that he seems to pay so much attention to in the U.S.  Well, maybe not gays as he declined to back away from defending the Defense of Marriage Act but you can’t win ‘em all I suppose.

It’s almost like President Obama was given a new pet (Iran, North Korea, etc.) and his parents told him to be careful because it’ll bite but he instead thinks he knows better and decided to cuddle up with it and instead of love gets mauled.

He looked the part at least.

Had Obama gone to Cairo the way Reagan went to West Berlin and held a firm line with the promise of rewards if he was first shown the hand of friendship he would have put himself in a much stronger position down the road.  As things stand right now, he laid his cards out on the table and now will be easily taken advantage of by dictatorial countries that only care about the money America sends them for their oil (of course no new oil drilling ideas have been put forth by Obama).

So now Obama has put himself in a very awkward situation regarding Iran… deal with Ahmadinejad who, if not illegitimately elected is at least damaged goods and, in doing so, validate the Iranian presidential elections or refuse to deal with him and be accused of not “extending a hand” as he said he would do in Cairo.

It wouldn’t have been that difficult… all Obama had to do when he was in Cairo was be cautious and firm with the Middle Eastern leaders instead of fawning all over them.  Sadly, it was a missed opportunity and one of the most important speeches ever by a sitting U.S. president was, instead, pissed away on feel good theatrics.

Related posts:

North Korea Gets Tough Love, Iran Gets Some Love
Obama’s Jimmy Carter Style Not Making Friends – Surprised?
What Does Obama Believe?
What Liberals Will Say If the Iranian Government Falls
Obama and International Institutions: How’s That Working Out?
Staying Quiet on Iran Paid Off (Not)!