BHO Encouraging Qaddafi Return to Terrorism

A quarter century ago, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi served as the Osama Bin Laden of the time. Brazenly sponsoring acts of terror against the US and other Western countries, he was responsible for the deaths of many Americans. Ronald Reagan described him in these terms, “…Qaddafi was an unpredictable fanatic. He believed any act, no matter how vicious or cold-blooded, was justified to further his goals.”

Any head-of-state embracing the recently released convicted killer in the Pan Am flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland would have been offensive to those of us who remember the wave of terror attacks against the US that culminated in 9/11. But for Qaddafi, who sponsored the killings, to publicly embrace Abdel Baset al-Megrahi upon his release is even more disturbing, especially when one considers how the Libyan leader had been distancing himself from terror against the US for decades.

After Qaddafi sponsored the bombing of a Berlin night club in an attack targeting US servicemen, President Ronald Reagan ordered the bombing of military targets in Libya that included the leader’s compound. Though he didn’t renounce terrorism at that point, he was humbled to say the least. He retreated to the desert, living in a tent as a Bedouin after he realized how vulnerable he was to American military power.

Following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi almost immediately volunteered to give up his age old pursuit of nuclear weapons and renounce terrorism. Though the dictator hadn’t been a prominent director on the terrorism stage since Reagan nearly obliterated him, he had never given up his pursuit to make Libya a nuclear power. US willingness to stand up to those who threaten or attack us convinced him.

Though it was a long, slow process, Qaddafi was clearly retreating from sponsoring or embracing terror and had come a long way in the process of bringing his country to a respectable status. Then this. The embrace of a convicted terrorist on camera for all the world to see.

Talk about turning back time! How did this happen?

Just last year, then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice paid an historic visit to the north African country and announced the relationship between Libya and the US “has been moving in a good direction for a number of years now.” Now the dictator of 40 years honors the convicted killer of innocent women and children in an obvious show of respect for the murderer and his crime.

Weak-kneed liberals won’t understand how this happened, but bullies and dictators can only be controlled when they know there’s a real danger of their being defeated. Reagan’s flexing of American muscle sent Qaddafi to ground, hiding in his desert tent surrounded by his camels and goats. He popped his head up once in a while to rail against the US, but didn’t show it long for fear of having it shot off. Bush II made a believer of the Libyan leader when the US overthrew Hussein. For all of Qaddafi’s bluster, he always knew he didn’t stand a chance against us if we ever made up our minds to take him out. So he opted for self-preservation by turning from his evil ways that had made him our enemy for so long.

All of the respect built over the past three decades may now be fading fast as President Obama grovels at the feet of two-bit dictators around the third world, bows to foreign kings, and even denigrates our country abroad. Obama claims his foreign policy will result in better relationships with countries around the world. However, Qaddafi’s reversal and renewed support of a known terrorist lends credence to the hypothesis of the President’s critics–that demonstrating weakness will only embolden those who wish to do us harm.

After all, since Obama took office, Qaddafi has not only watched the US President wreak havoc on respect for America in the world, but he’s seen previously controlled tyrants slap the world’s most powerful country square in the face and get away with it. The Libyan dictator must have wondered why he’d acquiesced on the weapons of mass destruction issue when Kim Jong-Il’s nuclear tests and missile launches earned him nothing more than a slap on the wrist. And Qaddafi likely regretted turning his back on his terrorist allies when he watched Obama ignore those who stood and died in an effort to bring democracy and freedom to the world’s best known state sponsor of terror.

In short, he’s lost the respect for the US that previously encouraged him to give up his evil ways and tow the line that had begun to earn Libya a place among lawful nations.

Thanks to President Obama and his feeble foreign policy, we may once again suffer at the hand of a Libya that aids and abets those who seek to destroy us.

The results of Olive Branch Foreign Policy

You’ve read it here before, but the President just refuses to believe his Jimmy Carter-styled approach to foreign policy isn’t working.  Obama, and most other liberals, just may never get it–despots respect strength, not capitulation.

When one of the first things out of his mouth upon taking office was to tell the world that we will close down the detention center at Gitmo and would no longer practice harsh interrogation tactics that saved American lives, our enemies had to be heartened.  This communicated to the world, including those who wish to kill American citizens, that we are no longer fully committed to defeating our enemies.  Though the terrorists hang our men from bridges, decapitate them, and drag their bodies through their streets, Obama wants to serve them tea and make them as comfortable as possible.  Anything less, he considers human rights abuses. 

Iran and North Korea don’t respect this, they laugh at it.

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s promised consequences for North Korea’s antagonistic actions over the past couple of months amounted to nothing more than a resolution that can’t be enforced, the Communist rogue nation did as many of us expected and ramped up its rhetoric.  As I type, the US Navy is trailing a N. Korean flagged ship suspected of violating UN Resolution 1874, but we have no authority to board, inspect, or stop the ship and Kim Jong-Il has declared any such attempt would be considered an “act of war.”  Japanese intelligence officials are now reporting the totalitarian regime is planning to launch a long range missile at Hawaii on the 4th of July.  Obama’s olive branch has done nothing to alleviate the threat N. Korea poses to the international community.  If anything that threat is now more deadly than ever before!

Then there’s Iran.  Following the rigging of that country’s latest election by the ruling clerics, a massive pro-Democracy, pro-freedom movement was spawned.  A movement the US would have proudly proclaimed its support for at any previous point in history, but not now.  After 30 years of anti-American policies and rhetoric, 30 years of supporting terrorism targeting American interests, 30 years of identifying the US as “The Great Satan,” throngs of Iranian citizens have taken to the streets (placing their lives in peril) to demand change that would almost certainly be more prone to ally with the US than the current Islamic theocracy that rules the country.  In deference to that greatest of human rights advocates, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, the President won’t even express support for the pro-freedom movement taking place, because he doesn’t want to “meddle” in Iran.

 It’s absolutely unbelievable that this President refuses to express even token support for a repressed people, now standing up to demand freedom.  What happened to the Democratic Party of JFK who, in his inaugural address, stated “To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves…”  Right now the Iranian protesters would probably be satisfied with less than our “best efforts,” just some moral support might go a long way to encourage them to keep up the pressure and tear down the wall of radical Islam that has separated them from the freedoms we enjoy for these past 30 years.  Just a few words of encouragement, any show of support would be welcome.  But they get nothing, nothing but appeasement of the radical clerics who preach the duty of Muslims is to destroy Israel and the US.

In spite of the President’s continued attempts to assuage the tension between the US and Iran’s rulers, the Iranian radical clerics blamed the US for inciting the protests by “meddling” in Iranian affairs.  And today, Obama’s hands-off, mouth-closed approach paid off with Khamanei’s declaration of an impending crackdown if the protests continue.  So the olive branch Obama continues to offer has done nothing to improve our relations with Iran.  Nothing.

It’s time for Obama to admit he was wrong.  His apology tour and his offer of dialogue have not made our enemies respect us.  We become weaker each time he extends an olive branch, and our enemies become stronger.

If offenders permit, US will enforce UN resolution

From NewsMax.com

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Friday it is prepared to confront ships believed to be carrying contraband materials to North Korea but will not try to forcibly board them, in accordance with new U.N. sanctions.

*emphasis mine

The resolution the Obama administration finally wrangled out of the UN Security Council calls for “U.N. members to inspect all N. Korean cargo if there is information that provides reasonable grounds to believe the cargo carries nuclear or missile-related items” and “U.N. members to inspect vessels, with the consent of the flag state, on the high seas, if there is information that provides reasonable grounds to believe the cargo carries nuclear or missile-related items,” according to Breitbart.com.

The Newsmax article goes on to quote Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to say the US, in cases of ships refusing inspection, will attempt to convince the nation whose flag the ship flies to divert it to an appropriate port to be inspected.  If that can’t be accomplished the US still won’t use force, but will “shine a spotlight on it.”

In other words, the administration will tell the public what it suspects the ship to be carrying, who its owner is, and “other things.”  That’s it.  Obama plans to tattle on those who don’t comply–those who supply the Communist rogue nation of North Korea with the means to destroy the world.  The most powerful Navy in the world will have its hands tied as it watches ships carrying forbidden cargo into N. Korean ports.

However, Rice calls on other nations to “uphold their obligations to inspect in their territorial waters.”  So, the administration that blames America for all the wrong in the world is calling other nations to do what it refuses to do.  What leadership!  Those nations shouldn’t expect any extra help from the US either.  Rice admits we won’t be deploying additional ships to the region to enforce the UN mandate.

She readily admits that she expects N. Korea to challenge the sanctions, but says the administration is “very pleased” with the UN resolution.  Words.  Nothing more.  An unenforceable resolution is nothing more than written rhetoric.  A dog with all bark, no bite. 

Yet she expects Iran to “take a message from how the U.N. responded to North Korea’s actions.”  Believe me they will.  Hardline President Ahmadinejad was dubiously re-elected yesterday, and I’m sure he gets the message loud and clear.  If Iran continues to pursue weapons of mass destruction, Obama will tell on him.  No substantive action will follow.  Ships loaded with the means to manufacture those weapons will be asked, “may we please board your ship?”, refuse, and sail safely into Iranian ports so Ahmadinejad can pursue his dream of annihilating Israel.

The Obama administration calls resolution 1874 “very firm and very meaningful.”  I call it virtually useless if we don’t enforce it and continue to allow N. Korea to manufacture nuclear weapons.

More evidence Obama’s foreign policy = failure

You remember the President’s new approach to dealing with our enemies. Let’s listen to them, talk to them, embrace them, apologize to them.

He said countries will be more apt to cooperate with the United States on tough issues, even if only on the margins. Resistance based on anti-American conceptions of the past will fall away. MSNBC

Evidently N. Korea sees things a little differently.

Last month they fired a long range missile in spite of Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s threat of “consequences.” Yesterday, the communist country defied Obama and the international community by detonating a nuclear device. The leader of the free world says this action poses “a grave threat” to the world community. And today the defiant Kim Jong-Il fired off more short-range missiles to dispel Obama’s naive vision of a world in which all nations smoke a peace pipe and sing songs of unity and cooperation.

But what would give the N. Korean tyrant pause? Why would he feel the least bit hesitant about challenging the most powerful nation in the world?

The threat of “consequences” for last month’s missile test proved hollow when they manifested themselves in the form of a Security Council resolution condemning the launch. A mere slap on the wrist. UN spokeswoman Michele Montas claimed the condemnation “sends a unified message of the international community on the recent launch,” but that message really amounts to nothing more than hot air–no more punishing than a mild rebuke.

One would expect far more punitive “consequences” to follow the North’s most recent escalation of the crisis, but that wasn’t to be. Today’s aggression by N. Korea drew a response almost identical to last month’s–another resolution condemning the action and demanding the rogue nation honor the previous Security Council resolutions which call on it to drop its pursuit of nuclear weapons and vehicles to launch them.

Didn’t someone once say stupidity is repeating the same process again and again, but expecting different results, or something along those lines? By that definition, stupidity is regularly exhibited in the “consequences” dealt by the Security Council.

The ineffectiveness of such “consequences” was evidenced again in today’s UN reaction to the latest escalation. The UN Security Council is no more than a dog who’s all bark and no bite. Of course a large vicious dog’s bark can be an effective means of intimidation, but the more this scenario–vacuous cries of outrage not followed with punitive consequences–is repeated, the more the Security Council begins to resemble a toy poodle or a pomeranian than a German shepherd or a doberman.

Yet Obama and his followers remain convinced that his is the path to follow.  This would be understandable if there was evidence his “Kumbaya” approach was working in other parts of the world, but it’s not.

Today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was forced to admit the Taliban has the momentum in Afghanistan.  Despite Obama’s “surge” of 21,000 additional US troops, the Taliban is gaining ground, controlling more and more territory once considered secure, inflicting heavy casualties on US troops.  The administration refuses to consider the possibility that the President’s “mea culpa” foreign policy is making the enemy stronger, but this appears to in fact be the case.

The “Blame America” policies of the current administration embolden our enemies, motivating them to step up their attacks as they sense an impending collapse of our will to maintain our commitment to continue the fight.  In Stanley Karnow’s 1990 interview with Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, commander of Communist forces in the Vietnam War, the general emphasized the importance of “political” strategies in winning the war.  Though many dispute the internet claims that Giap’s memoirs claimed the North would have surrendered but for the anti-war movement in the US, a quote from Karnow’s article makes clear that it was a factor that provided motivation to continue the fight in the face of overwhelming losses.

“And we wanted to project the war into the homes of America’s families, because we knew that most of them had nothing against us. In short, we sought a decisive victory that would persuade America to renounce the war.”–Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap From page 6 of “Giap Remembers” by Stanley Karnow. *Emphasis mine

Can you imagine how much more invigorated the North Vietnamese forces would have been had Johnson or Nixon been repeatedly on the air saying “It’s America’s fault!”?  Obama’s habit of spewing apologies for everything America ever did, claiming blame for virtually all that is wrong in the world on his country’s behalf is providing the same motivation for our enemies today.

An old African proverb says, “Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.”  Obama has placed all our chips on the table, betting he can halt the hatred in our enemies’ hearts by blaming America for their dilemna.  Thus far, the evidence is overwhelming that his approach yields miserable failure at every turn.

But still he persists.

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Update 5/26/2009—North Korea Restarts Nuclear Plant

And so it continues.

N Korea Tests Nuke

N. Korea today performed an underground test of a nuclear weapon.

President Obama had promised consequences if the rogue nation went ahead with its test of a long range rocket last month, but N. Korea received a slap on the wrist in the form of another UN Security Council resolution condemning the act.

The President’s empty threats ring hollow and appear to even embolden two-bit dictators like Kim Jong-Il. As of now, the administration refuses to acknowledge the test, referring to “N. Korea’s claims” as a cause for grave concern.

I guess Obama really believed if he took office, blamed the US for all the ills in the world, and tried to befriend every tyrant in the world, then we could all hold hands and sing “Kumbaya” or “We are the World” together. Oh so naive.

Even after last months rocket test, a rocket that could reach the western US, Obama’s $4.6 trillion budget actually reduced spending on missile defense.  That’s right, in the face of an ever-growing threat of a nuclear missile attack from a clearly unstable totalitarian communist state, the President saw fit to reduce our ability to intercept such a weapon.

It’s going to be a long 4 years of our enemies getting stronger as we get weaker if the President doesn’t wake up and recognize the naivete of his current foreign policy strategy.

N. Korea blows off Obama diplomacy efforts

from FoxNews

North Korea Vows to Bolster Nuclear Arsenal

SEOUL, South Korea —  North Korea vowed Friday to bolster its atomic arsenal in response to what it called Washington’s “hostile” policy, even as a special envoy for President Barack Obama traveled to the region in a bid to draw Pyongyang back to nuclear negotiations.

Envoy Stephen Bosworth, in Beijing before heading Friday to South Korea, said the U.S. is ready and willing to talk directly with Pyongyang.

“The United States reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and bilaterally with North Korea,” Bosworth told reporters after holding talks with senior Chinese officials Thursday. “We believe very strongly that the solution to the tensions and problems of the area now lies in dialogue and negotiation.”

But North Korea dismissed the Obama administration’s stance as “unchanged” from a previous policy of hostility toward Pyongyang.

“Nothing would be expected from the U.S., which remains unchanged in its hostility toward its dialogue partner,” the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media. The North “will bolster its nuclear deterrent as it has already clarified,” it said.

 …More

Obama foreign policy = failure

#tcot

For all the fools out there who think great foreign policy is going overseas, blaming this country for everything wrong in the world, apologizing to anyone and everyone for anything and everything we’ve ever done, cozying up to ruthless dictators and offering to talk to despots who seek our destruction, WAKE UP!

Here are just a few recent headlines that should make clear to even the die-hard left-wingers among us that it’s not working! (They won’t, but they should.)

Iraq: US raid ‘crime’ that breaks security pact 4/27/09

North Korea ‘restarts nuclear facilities’ 4/25/09

Iran Convicts Iranian-American Journalist of Spying 4/18/09

Venezuelan court orders arrest for exiled Chávez foe 4/23/09

Fidel Castro: Obama Got ‘Overture’ Wrong 4/22/09

Ahmadinejad Calls Israel ‘Racist’ in U.N. Rant 4/21/09

British intelligence prosecution fear over US torture memos 4/18/09

There are more, but surely even the most dovish of doves can see this policy is already a miserable failure that only emboldens the ruthless dictators we refused to embrace in pre-Obama America. With every effort to appease, every handshake, every apology, and every derogatory comment the President makes about our country, our enemies gain confidence in their ability to challenge us.

These idiotic moves may quench the thirst of the Obama faithful for America’s blood, but they feed the fires of our enemies’ propaganda, supplying them with ever more photos and soundbites to “prove” to their suffering subjects we are responsible for all the world’s ills.

Keep talking Mr. President……as we get weaker,

and weaker,

and weaker,

and weaker, …

We are again a paper tiger…

Well, the Oba-Messiah’s foreign policy strategy of defaming America in an attempt to befriend our enemies should now be recognized as a complete failure.

Today, North Korea has successfully launched a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to American soil.  While most of Europe is fawning over our president’s willingness to sacrifice our interests and security by appeasing tyrants, those tyrants and their supporters are laughing in our face.

Could it be that Bush had it right where this rogue nation is concerned, and the liberal savior hasn’t a clue?  Apparently so.  Iranian cooperation virtually assures that proliferation of this weaponry will occur and we, along with our allies are a lot less secure than we were when these terror-sponsoring nations understood that we were willing to take action against any such threat.

What action can we expect from the new administration?  Here’s Obama’s response…“I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions.” 

Oooooohhhh…I bet Kim Jong-Il will never launch another missile after that!

Sleep tight America, knowing that while the liberal American/Kenyan/????? Messiah blames America for all the world’s ills, the tyrants of the world are emboldened and taking full advantage.