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发帖数: 29846 | 1 The Collapsing Obama Doctrine
Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so
many.
By
Dick Cheney And
Liz Cheney
Updated June 17, 2014 7:34 p.m. ET
As the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threaten
Baghdad, thousands of slaughtered Iraqis in their wake, it is worth
recalling a few of President Obama's past statements about ISIS and al Qaeda
. "If a J.V. team puts on Lakers' uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe
Bryant" (January 2014). "[C]ore al Qaeda is on its heels, has been decimated
" (August 2013). "So, let there be no doubt: The tide of war is receding" (
September 2011).
Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so
many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is "ending" the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has
now come crashing into reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS jihadists take
territory once secured by American blood is final proof, if any were needed
, that America's enemies are not "decimated." They are emboldened and on the
march.
The fall of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Tikrit, Mosul and Tel Afar, and
the establishment of terrorist safe havens across a large swath of the Arab
world, present a strategic threat to the security of the United States. Mr.
Obama's actions—before and after ISIS's recent advances in Iraq—have the
effect of increasing that threat.
Enlarge Image
An Iraqi soldier in Baghdad with volunteers to fight the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria, June 17. Reuters
On a trip to the Middle East this spring, we heard a constant refrain in
capitals from the Persian Gulf to Israel, "Can you please explain what your
president is doing?" "Why is he walking away?" "Why is he so blithely
sacrificing the hard fought gains you secured in Iraq?" "Why is he
abandoning your friends?" "Why is he doing deals with your enemies?"
In one Arab capital, a senior official pulled out a map of Syria and Iraq.
Drawing an arc with his finger from Raqqa province in northern Syria to
Anbar province in western Iraq, he said, "They will control this territory.
Al Qaeda is building safe havens and training camps here. Don't the
Americans care?"
Our president doesn't seem to. Iraq is at risk of falling to a radical
Islamic terror group and Mr. Obama is talking climate change. Terrorists
take control of more territory and resources than ever before in history,
and he goes golfing. He seems blithely unaware, or indifferent to the fact,
that a resurgent al Qaeda presents a clear and present danger to the United
States of America.
Carnegie Mellon Director of the Center for International Relations and
Politics Kiron Skinner on the consequences of President Obama's decision to
slow-walk military action against Iraq's Islamic militants. Photo credit:
Getty Images.
When Mr. Obama and his team came into office in 2009, al Qaeda in Iraq had
been largely defeated, thanks primarily to the heroic efforts of U.S. armed
forces during the surge. Mr. Obama had only to negotiate an agreement to
leave behind some residual American forces, training and intelligence
capabilities to help secure the peace. Instead, he abandoned Iraq and we are
watching American defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
The tragedy unfolding in Iraq today is only part of the story. Al Qaeda and
its affiliates are resurgent across the globe. According to a recent Rand
study, between 2010 and 2013, there was a 58% increase in the number of
Salafi-jihadist terror groups around the world. During that same period, the
number of terrorists doubled.
In the face of this threat, Mr. Obama is busy ushering America's adversaries
into positions of power in the Middle East. First it was the Russians in
Syria. Now, in a move that defies credulity, he toys with the idea of
ushering Iran into Iraq. Only a fool would believe American policy in Iraq
should be ceded to Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terror.
This president is willfully blind to the impact of his policies. Despite the
threat to America unfolding across the Middle East, aided by his
abandonment of Iraq, he has announced he intends to follow the same policy
in Afghanistan.
Despite clear evidence of the dire need for American leadership around the
world, the desperation of our allies and the glee of our enemies, President
Obama seems determined to leave office ensuring he has taken America down a
notch. Indeed, the speed of the terrorists' takeover of territory in Iraq
has been matched only by the speed of American decline on his watch.
The president explained his view in his Sept. 23, 2009, speech before the
United Nations General Assembly. "Any world order," he said, "that elevates
one nation above others cannot long survive." Tragically, he is quickly
proving the opposite—through one dangerous policy after another—that
without American pre-eminence, there can be no world order.
It is time the president and his allies faced some hard truths: America
remains at war, and withdrawing troops from the field of battle while our
enemies stay in the fight does not "end" wars. Weakness and retreat are
provocative. U.S. withdrawal from the world is disastrous and puts our own
security at risk.
Al Qaeda and its affiliates are resurgent and they present a security threat
not seen since the Cold War. Defeating them will require a strategy—not a
fantasy. It will require sustained difficult military, intelligence and
diplomatic efforts—not empty misleading rhetoric. It will require
rebuilding America's military capacity—reversing the Obama policies that
have weakened our armed forces and reduced our ability to influence events
around the world.
American freedom will not be secured by empty threats, meaningless red lines
, leading from behind, appeasing our enemies, abandoning our allies, or
apologizing for our great nation—all hallmarks to date of the Obama
doctrine. Our security, and the security of our friends around the world,
can only be guaranteed with a fundamental reversal of the policies of the
past six years.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan said, "If history teaches anything, it
teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our
adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of
our freedom." President Obama is on track to securing his legacy as the man
who betrayed our past and squandered our freedom.
Mr. Cheney was U.S. vice president from 2001-09. Ms. Cheney was the deputy
assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs from 2002-04 and 2005-
06. |
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