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Obama In Wonderland |
"Now, understand that
part of the reason that it's so important for us to take a diplomatic
approach [toward Iran] is that the approach that we've been taking,
which is no diplomacy, obviously has not worked. Nobody disagrees
with that." Obama then added a few illustrations to bolster his
case:
"Hamas and Hezbollah have gotten stronger. Iran has
been pursuing its nuclear capabilities undiminished. And so, not
talking, that clearly hasn't worked. That's what's been tried.
And so what we're going to do is try something which is actually
engaging and reaching out to the Iranians."
Let's assume for an
instant that the people briefing Obama on Iran haven't read the files
that the George W. Bush administration turned over to them about the
previous eight years of diplomacy and outreach toward Tehran. But
you don't need to have access to classified information to figure this
one out: A simple Google search will suffice.
U.S.
government officials at the ambassador level or above met publicly no
fewer than 28 times with their Iranian counterparts during the Bush
administration, according to published accounts. So Mr. Obama's
briefers either were Internet-challenged, lazy or just out-and-out
dishonest.
The U.S.-Iran meetings began in November 2001.
The last meeting, held in Geneva on July 19, 2008, was conducted by
Undersecretary of State William J. Burns, a career bureaucrat who was
held over in the same job by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mr. Burns presumably will be involved in the next round of talks.
If anyone could have enlightened the president of his error, it was Mr.
Burns.
The notion that the Bush administration "never talked to
Iran" is the founding myth of Obama's foreign policy. Obama
repeated it at every occasion during the campaign and has repeated it
since. It is patently false.
Continue reading
here . . . |
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Has Obama Given Up |
There are growing
indications that the US has come to terms with a nuclear-armed Teheran,
two analysts told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
"The Americans
are in a state of mind according to which Iran has already gone
nuclear," said Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar-Ilan's Begin Sadat Center for
Strategic Studies.
Kedar, who served in Military Intelligence
for 25 years, said US President Barack Obama was "at peace" with the
idea of a nuclear Iran.
"You can tell from how the Americans
talk. Look at how [US special envoy] George Mitchell talks, or how Obama
talks. I don't see them being pressured by this threat. They have shown
no urgent desire to change this reality," he added.
"Obama has
given up," Kedar said.
Continue reading
here . . . |
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The Iranian's Haven't |
The missile
test-fired by Iran is the longest-range solid-propellant missile it has
launched yet, a U.S. government official said Wednesday, raising
concerns about whether the sophistication of Tehran's missile program is
increasing. The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to
discuss technical details of Iran's missile program, said Tehran has
demonstrated shorter-range solid-propellant missiles in the past.
Solid-propellant rockets are a concern because they can be fueled in
advance and moved or hidden in silos, the official said. Liquid-propellant
rockets have to be fueled and fired quickly, which makes preparations
for launches easier to monitor and would allow a preemptive strike if
necessary.
But according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who
Wednesday provided the first official U.S. confirmation of the Iranian
launch, the Iranian missile had a range of 2,000 to 2,500 kilometers.
That translates to 1,200 to 1,500
miles, putting Israel, U.S. bases in the Mideast, and parts of Eastern
Europe within striking distance. |
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Report Delayed For Fear Of Upsetting Obama |
Anyone surprised by this?
An unreleased Pentagon report provides
new details concluding that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners
already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity, according to
administration officials.
The conclusion could strengthen the
arguments of critics who have warned against releasing any more
prisoners as part of Obama’s plan to shut down the prison by
January 2010. Past Pentagon reports on Guantánamo recidivism, however,
have been met with skepticism from civil liberties groups and criticized
for their lack of detail.
The Pentagon promised in January that
the latest report would be released soon, but Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon
spokesman, said this week that the findings were still "under review."
Or this?
Two administration officials who spoke on
condition of anonymity said the report was being held up by Defense
Department employees fearful of upsetting the White House, at a time
when even Congressional Democrats have begun to show misgivings over
Obama’s plan to close Guantánamo.
There's
more . . .
Also, FBI Director Robert Mueller dealt a
blow to Obama's goal of shutting the prison by a self-imposed
January 22, 2010, deadline, rejecting Democratic assertions that
maximum-security US prisons can safely hold accused terrorists.
"The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being
in the United States run from concerns about providing financing to
terrorists, radicalizing others," Mueller told a hearing of the House
Judiciary Committee.
The threat of Guantanamo detainees
"radicalizing" others would apply even if they were held in
maximum-security prisons on the US mainland, the head of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation indicated.
Mueller's comments echoed
Republican complaints and were bound to fuel what polls suggest is deep
resistance from the US public to moving the detainees to the United
States -- a major hurdle to closing the prison.
The White House
has promised Obama will reveal details of his plans for the detainees in
a speech on Thursday on national security, while the Pentagon has said
lawmakers were making it "exceedingly difficult" to meet his deadline. |
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Obama Whines Like A Baby |
Obama defended his decision to close the Guantanamo detention camp
Thursday and said some of the terror suspects held there would be
brought to top-security prisons in the United States despite fierce
opposition in Congress.
He insisted the transfer would not
endanger Americans and promised to work with lawmakers to develop a
system for holding detainees who can't be tried and can't be turned
loose from the Navy-run prison in Cuba. He spoke one day after the
Senate voted resoundingly to deny him money to close the prison.
"There are no neat or easy answers here," Obama whined in a speech in
which he pledged anew to clean up what he said was "quite simply a mess"
at Guantanamo that he had inherited from the Bush administration.
Obama argued that opening and continuing the military prison "set
back the moral authority that is America's strongest currency in the
world. I refuse to allow this problem to fester. Our security interests
won't permit it. Our courts won't allow it. And neither should our
conscience."
Obama said his administration would "exhaust every
avenue that we have" to prosecute detainees but there would still be
some left "who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes" yet remain a
threat.
Among these, he said, are prisoners who have expressed
allegiance to Osama bin Laden "or otherwise made it clear they want to
kill Americans."
"So going forward, my administration will work
with Congress to develop an appropriate legal regime" to handle such
detainees "so that our efforts are consistent with our values and our
Constitution."
Interesting choice of words -- regime. When I
think of "our values and our Constitution," the word, "regime," just
never comes to mind.
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Impatience Drives Obama To Expand Power |
Perhaps Obama spent so little time in the Senate because he has little
tolerance for the glacial pace at which Congress was designed to move.
The nation might have profited if Obama had been patient enough to
make it through his first term. Even if he had just moved some
meaningful legislation or missed fewer than 308 votes before vaulting to
the presidency, Obama would have been better equipped. Instead, Obama
has wildly overestimated the ability of Congress to achieve his massive
first-year agenda. As a result of his frustrations, Obama is embarking
on a breathtaking expansion of executive power.
Many said it was
too much for Congress to tackle the president’s three big issues --
health care, global warming and education reform -- in one year. But the
administration and its media boosters promised that silky smooth Obama
and his legislative maestros Rahm Emanuel and Joe Biden could get the
job done.
With Congress getting ready to take a 10-day powder for
Memorial Day, here’s where the president’s agenda stands:
Democrats are blanching at the thought of levying huge new taxes to pay
for $670 billion worth of state-run health care; Obama’s cap and trade
system has become a corporate welfare program that would dump billions
of dollars on connected companies; and on education.
Congress hasn’t even
been able to muster any symbolic hand-wringing.
Conntinue reading
here . . . |
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