Kosovo

Barack Obama And Religious Extremism: Totally Accurate Statement, So Why The Outcry?

Ronald Leave a comment

President Barack Obama spoke up on Thursday at the Annual Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on the dangers of religious extremism, promotion of one’s own faith as the only true faith, and legitimizing bloodshed and violence in the name of one’s God.

This was in reaction to the horrors that have been perpetrated by ISIL (ISIS) in the Middle East, including beheadings of Americans, British, and Japanese hostages; and the even more horrific act of taking a Jordanian pilot, captured while attacking ISIL targets, and setting him on fire, causing him to be burned to death.

What Obama said was that any religion that endorses or promotes such bloodshed and violence should be condemned, and he reminded our nation, much of it totally unaware of our history, that we had seen the lynching, butchering, and setting on fire of a few thousand African American men and boys in the American South and Midwest over a period of more than a hundred years of Jim Crow segregation in the 19th and 20th century and Ku Klux Klan influence; had also experienced nearly 250 years of slavery, which included similar mistreatment; and that world wide, there had been the Christian war on Islam during the Crusades; and the Catholic Church Inquisition of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.

Obama did not specifically mention the horrible persecution of Jews by Christians over two millenniums, and not just the Catholic Church, but also Protestant groups, including Martin Luther and the Lutheran Church; or the mass murder of Catholics vs Protestants in Northern Ireland, as recently as the period of the Irish Republican Army between 1969 and 1998.

And of course, in the Middle East, today, as shown by the setting on fire of a Jordanian who was Muslim, the old holy war of Shiite and Sunni Muslims continues unabated, as it has for 13 centuries; and there is also bloodshed between Muslims and Hindus in India; and turmoil in the Balkans, that led to mass murder by Christians against Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

From what Obama reminded us of, plus the additional information provided here by the author, and well known to scholars, it is clear how devastating organized religion has been in its promotion of narrow mindedness and hate, and commitment to torture and extermination in the name of God, no matter which religion.

So Obama was offering a moral lesson, but yet the outcry by right wingers, who do not wish to be reminded of the sins of Christianity fanatics, and only wish to look at the Muslim fanatics today, and imagine that this is the whole story of religion in history, is very troubling. They fail to realize that many more Muslims have been killed by the barbarism of ISIL (ISIS), and their refusal to accept and recognize the history of Christianity as being just as full, historically, of violence and bloodshed, bodes ill for the future ability to understand and accept religious differences and promote religious tolerance!

Ignorance Of History Mixed With Pacifism Leads To Disaster

Ronald 25 Comments

This author is totally amazed at so many intelligent people who are demonstrating an ignorance of history, mixed with pacifism, who seem to have no moral or ethical problem with the use of chemical weapons. They seem not to understand that if the world, led by the United States, does not react in some way to demonstrate that such immoral and illegal behavior will not be tolerated, then we will see Iran and North Korea and terrorist organizations and others who wish the civilized world ill, utilize chemical and biological weapons with impunity.

Having proved that use of force CAN be done in a surgical way and lead to good results in Bosnia and Kosovo under Bill Clinton, we do not need to have another Iraq, but if nothing is done, then another September 11 is much more likely, and how will Bernie Sanders, Robert Reich, and other intelligent liberals feel, or explain themselves, after such a disaster?

Lack of action is much more likely to lead to disaster than to assert basic moral and ethical principles, that we will not allow another Nazi Holocaust, whether against one’s own population, or a foreign population.

The world will be much more unsafe if nothing is done, than if the civilized world makes clear that there will be no tolerance of mass murder by corrupt dictators as we stand by and wring our hands!

President Obama has asked for input by Congress, but as Commander In Chief, he has the responsibility and good sense to take action, even if Congress votes no, and if the American people act in revulsion against him, so be it!

History will judge Barack Obama correct on this issue, even if it takes years of retribution against him, as sadly, the American people DO NOT always have the knowledge or good sense to know what is good for them and their future. This is the ultimate tragedy of what George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld have wrought, and in the long run, they will be condemned in history, not Barack Obama!

Fear Of Engagement Leads To Weakness: Reagan (Libya), Clinton (Bosnia, Kosovo–Serbia) Proved Otherwise!

Ronald 3 Comments

Republican President Ronald Reagan utilized bombing against Libya’s leader, Moammar Gaddafi in 1981 and 1986, and many feared what it might lead to, and it led to a silencing of Gaddafi at that time.

Democratic President Bill Clinton utilized bombing against Serbia in Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1999, and ended both crises effectively.

On the other hand, Republican President Gerald Ford and Democratic President Jimmy Carter stood silent in wake of the mass murder in Cambodia from 1975 to 1978, and Bill Clinton stood by as we saw mass murder in Rwanda in 1994.

Our ignoring of Cambodia and Rwanda has been condemned in history, while our intervention in Libya by Reagan, and against Serbia in Bosnia and Kosovo by Clinton, has been praised.

Conclusion: Show weakness and fear, and evil forces triumph, as in the 1930s with Adolf Hitler before World War II, which was far worse than if there had been a proper reaction against Nazi Germany in that decade!

Appeasement and isolationism NEVER work!

Barack Obama Must Be A Combination Of Woodrow Wilson, FDR, JFK, George H. W. Bush, And Bill Clinton On Syria!

Ronald 3 Comments

Barack Obama now faces what might be the greatest foreign policy challenge of his Presidency, with the chemical warfare attack by Bashar Al Assad of Syria on his own people.

There are many, including those on the left, who tell him to do nothing, stay out of the Middle East, do not get involved in any reaction to this inhumane method of warfare.

But that would be far worse than intervention, and we cannot allow isolationism, or the lunatic libertarianism of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky , to control America’s destiny in world affairs.

We as a nation have to be smart, have to be principled, have to be as John Kerry, our brilliant Secretary of State, and could have been President, has demonstrated in his case for intervention!

Barack Obama needs to be a combination of five Presidents in foreign policy:

Woodrow Wilson, in regards to the role of morality and ethics in foreign policy, a crusade for what is right and good, part of the essential nature of the American nation, to want to do what is right.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, in regards to his clear understanding that isolationism was a threat to American security and safety once World War II began, and took the attacks of the isolationists and deflected it excellently.

John F. Kennedy, who showed tremendous courage and principle in the most dangerous moment in world history, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and succeeded in gaining the withdrawal of Soviet missiles.

George H. W. Bush, who demonstrated determination and steadfastness when Iraq invaded Kuwait, making it clear he would not accept anything other than total withdrawal, and had success in that intervention within six weeks in the Persian Gulf War.

Bill Clinton, who despite international opposition, decided to bomb Serbia to force the end of the massacre and war in Kosovo, and succeeded brilliantly.

So Obama must be a combination of Wilson, FDR, JFK, the first Bush, and Bill Clinton, and in so becoming, he is in VERY good company, of Presidents we truly admire for their courage and principles!

Being “chicken”, unwilling to accept the responsibility of reacting to aggression, is NOT a way to greatness, but a retreat from it!

Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel (Syria) Vs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld (Iraq)

Ronald 15 Comments

The tragedy of the Iraq War, an ill conceived and unnecessary war, which weakened the United States and emboldened Iran, is now haunting the Obama Administration, as it considers military intervention in Syria, as a result of the use of chemical weapons, believed to have been promoted by the government of Bashar Al Assad.

Chemical warfare is an illegal crime under international law, and a crime against humanity, and IF it is proved that Assad authorized this, rather than a renegade group, it is essential that the international community punish him for his war crime!

If nothing is done, then it will be seen as an endorsement of a war crime, a crime only done by a very small handful of government leaders in world history, including, of course, Adolf Hitler!

It will show that the world is again sitting by as they did when Hitler came to power in 1933 in what became known as Nazi Germany!

But the failures of the Iraq War, including the human cost and financial burden, is now burdening the Obama Administration as they plan strategy.

But to compare the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld led tragedy to what might be done under Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel is to distort reality, as the credibility of the first group is extremely different than that of the second group!

We are talking about three leaders who regularly lied to us, against four leaders with solid credentials and principles, who are reluctantly planning an intervention in a measured way!

The hypocrisy of Republicans who rushed to back the Bush Administration, while now opposing action by the Obama Administration, is nothing new, part of the continued attempt to undermine anything that Barack Obama and his colleagues want and believe in, whether domestic or foreign.

Obama wants a limited engagement, similar to Bill Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999, a 78 day bombing campaign against Serbia, with only a loss of one plane, and no human casualties.

While there is no way to know the reaction of Iran, Russia, China and others if there was an internationally led effort to punish Syria’s outlaw government, it is hard to conceive that intervention in Syria would lead to a wider war.

In any case, a chemical warfare Syria represents a threat to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and really, the civilized world, so to do nothing is simply unacceptable!

Let us pray for the good judgment of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel, as they face what could be the signature foreign policy challenge of the Obama Presidency, and hope that other nations, including Great Britain, whose Parliament just rejected any action, will come to support a necessary minimal intervention against an international outlaw government, which threatens the long range sanity of the world, if chemical warfare goes unpunished!

Reelected Presidents And Foreign Policy

Ronald Leave a comment

An interesting trend of reelected American Presidents is their tendency to become deeply involved in foreign policy matters. This is true since the dawn of America as a world leader in the time of Theodore Roosevelt.

The question is whether this is a planned strategy, or a simple reaction to events, or both.

After Theodore Roosevelt won his full term, having succeeded William McKinley after his assassination, TR became involved in aggressive policy making, criticizing Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany over Morocco at the Algeciras Conference of 1906, and taking leadership of relations with Japan.

Woodrow Wilson, after keeping us out of war in Europe, called for our entrance into World War I a month after his second inauguration, and then went to the Versailles Peace Conference after the war, and worked, unsuccessfully, to convince the US Senate to ratify the Versailles Treaty and membership in the League of Nations. He also committed troops, along with Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, to attempt an overthrow of the Soviet Union regime under Nikolai Lenin.

Calvin Coolidge, elected after succeeding Warren G. Harding in 1923, became involved in the promotion of the Kellogg Briand Pact in 1928, an attempt to outlaw war as an instrument of international policy.

Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the nation closer to dealing with the German Nazi, Italian Fascist, and the Imperial Japanese threat before and during the early part of the Second World War, and then took us into the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in his third term, and pushed for an alliance with the British and the Soviet Union during the war, and advocated the formation of the United Nations as the war was ending.

Harry Truman, after succeeding FDR upon his death in 1945, and winning his own election in 1948, helped to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, took America into the Korean War, and gave aid to the French in the Indochinese War.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his second term, engaged in diplomacy with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at Camp David in 1959 and secretly planned to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Lyndon B. Johnson, after succeeding the assassinated John F, Kennedy in 1963, in his full term, escalated American involvement in Vietnam to a full scale war that divided the country, and invaded the Dominican Republic in 1965.

Richard Nixon, after being reelected, became engaged in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, saving the possibility of a Soviet intervention in the Middle East, and also arranged the overthrow of the Chilean President, Salvador Allende.

Ronald Reagan, in his second term, engaged in arms agreements with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; bombed Libya over its claim of a 200 mile territorial limit; and supported overthrow of dictatorial regimes in Haiti and the Phillippines.

Bill Clinton, in his second term, brought about peace in Northern Ireland; became engaged in war against Serbia over Kosovo; and engaged in counter terrorism actions against Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists.

George W. Bush, in his second term, conducted a “surge” in Iraq, and promoted action against the HIV-AIDS epidemic in Africa.

The question is what Barack Obama will end up doing in the field of foreign policy, and whether he will initiate it, or react to events he cannot control.

Libya Success Proof Of Obama’s NEW Foreign Policy Being A Success!

Ronald Leave a comment

The overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, even if Gaddafi himself is still at large as the author writes, is a triumph of major proportions for President Obama, and adds to his image of fighting against terrorism and international outlaws in unison with the international community, rather than going “Lone Ranger” as George W. Bush did in Iraq!

Despite all the critics who said Barack Obama was defying the War Powers Act, which he was not; and that the Libyan Civil War should not have been intervened in, as many Republicans declared; or the criticism that we had led from behind, rather than use our own air power and troops on the ground, as John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman stated; Barack Obama did PRECISELY the right thing in working with the Arab League, the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and with the full backing of his Secretary or State Hillary Clinton and his UN Ambassador Susan Rice in undermining Gaddafi, working with the Libyan rebels, and yet NOT committing ground forces or major American air attacks and spending large amounts of money on the involvement!

So not one person was killed who wore an American uniform; not one plane was lost; and only about $1 billion was spent on this crisis, by the latest estimate!

This outdoes the Kosovo intervention against Serbia in 1999 under President Bill Clinton, where no one was killed and only one plane was shot down and lost!

The Republicans may be unwilling to give Barack Obama credit, but his new foreign policy of collaboration with other nations has been a major success, and he deserves full credit for what has happened!

So even in the midst of economic troubles that the President faces, which threaten his reelection, one must hail the President’s outstanding record in foreign policy and ask again: Other than Jon Huntsman, what are the credentials in foreign policy of ANY of the other GOP Presidential candidates? The answer, unlike with John McCain in 2008, is ABSOLUTELY NONE!

So again, if the Republicans have any common sense, in more ways than one, they will make Jon Huntsman their Presidential nominee, and if so, Barack Obama will have some sleepless nights during the fall campaign of 2012!

The House GOP, Barack Obama, And Libya

Ronald Leave a comment

The House of Representatives, led by Speaker John Boehner, slapped President Obama in the face symbolically on Thursday by refusing to back the President’s intervention in Libya. Interesting, since we did not see the Republican House of Representatives refuse to back George W. Bush constantly in his interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But then when one realizes that the Republican House failed to back Bill Clinton in his intervention in Kosovo in 1999, for the same reason to prevent a total massacre of civilians, one understands this is all about politics.

But it also divides the party nationally, as John McCain and Lindsey Graham see it as a sign of isolationism in the party, in their mind a dangerous trend.

Also, the House acted as a “paper tiger” when they went ahead and refused to cut funding for the war effort against Moammar Gaddafi, but then again, NEVER has the House refused to support a President’s intervention in financial terms.

So it comes down to the reality that the War Powers Act is an ineffective way to deal with foreign policy, and the President of the United States, whoever he is, remains the Commander in Chief, with final control over decisions on committing troops overseas!

Barack Obama, Libya, And The War Powers Act

Ronald Leave a comment

A bitter debate has developed over President Obama’s decision to intervene in Libya, in unison with NATO, to protect the lives of Libyan citizens and remove Moammar Gaddafi from power.

Unfortunately, it is now three months since that intervention, and Gaddafi is still in power.

But no Americans are on the ground in Libya, and to call what we are doing a real military intervention, is false!

The reality is that Libya will soon be liberated, and the War Powers Act, which is basically a “paper tiger” anyway, does not come into play, since there are no combat troops in Libya.

Ironic that the Republican opposition is making such a stink about Libya, and yet most want us to stay in Afghanistan, and some want us bombing and intervening in many other Muslim lands!

In the long run, intervention in Libya will be seen as a good move, even though right now, there is great impatience that the overthrow of Gaddafi is taking longer than expected.

Obama is correct that the War Powers Act does not apply in this intervention, since it is NOT a war engagement in the pure sense! It is more like the intervention in Kosovo against the Serbians in 1999 by President Bill Clinton!

A Clarification On Obama, The Libyan Civil War Intervention, And The War Powers Act

Ronald Leave a comment

A few days ago, the author wrote in criticism of a group of Republican conservatives who were making an issue of the fact that 60 days has passed since the Libyan intervention, and that a resolution was needed to continue the intervention, under the War Powers Act of 1973.

The author incorrectly stated that no such resolution was required, but made the point that the Congress could, but never had, demanded the withdrawal of troops within a 60-90 day period, and never, realistically, would.

Upon further investigation, it turns out that it is not just a group of extremely conservative Republicans who are making an issue of this matter, but instead a bipartisan group that is pushing for a resolution next week in the Senate to continue support of the intervention.

And it turns out that yesterday, President Obama called for such a resolution to continue support, which is assured, despite criticism of some Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the political spectrum.

The group pushing a resolution includes Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John McCain of Arizona, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Carl Levin of Michigan, and Diane Feinstein of California.

It turns out that Bill Clinton failed to get a resolution within 60 days when he intervened in Kosovo in 1999, with the intervention lasting 78 days, but with specific funding for it approved early on by Congress. In Obama’s case with Libya, no such specific funding has been authorized, and the mission has cost about $750 million already, and has angered forces on the left and the right, including intellectuals and constitutional law professors who contend that the War Powers Act has been further damaged by Obama’s failure to call for action sooner than yesterday.

The author hopes that the resolution will pass, so as to legitimize the intervention, and although the War Powers Act remains considered a “paper tiger” by many observers, it would be best NOT to have it declared totally ineffective, as the issue is not just Obama, but the balance of power between the executive branch and the legislative branch when it comes to war powers!