February 16, 2015

For six years, the President hasn't had an ally-friendly foreign policy or a clear and effective strategy for dealing with ISIS.  His former Defense Intelligence Chief said on Fox News “You can’t defeat an enemy that you don’t admit exists!”  After much criticism from military leaders and allies he has asked Congress for a limited declaration of war against ISIS.

Then there are the negotiations about the Iran nuclear program.  Israeli officials claim that the White House has already given Iran eighty percent of what it wants, while still allowing them to continue to develop nuclear weapons while the negotiation process continues.

With Cuba, the Administration failed to follow the Helms-Burton Act which has specific benchmarks that must be reached prior to the normalization of relations. They just totally ignored them!

Then there is Ukraine.  A token force has been deployed to the region and Vice President Biden joined the attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement.  Biden stated publicly that the Ukrainians have every right to defend themselves against Russian aggression.  But what he left out is the unwillingness to give the Ukrainian government the anti-tank/anti-mortar weapons they need in order to withstand the Russian onslaught.  In Iraq and Syria the Administration has also been dragging its feet in providing the tools our allies, the Kurds, need in order to defeat ISIS.

The statement, that those who don’t remember their history are destined to repeat it, is true.  Neville Chamberlain, who was the British Prime Minister, signed an agreement with Hitler in 1938, conceding the German-populated area of Czechoslovakia to the Germans.  We all know what happened a year later when Hitler continued his aggression against all of Europe.  The parallel is that the Russian-populated areas of the Ukraine have been conceded to Russian control and dominance because of the lack of U.S. leadership.
 
As history showed us, the appeasement by Chamberlain did nothing to stop German aggression and following the foreign policy path of appeasement clearly doesn’t work.  On the other hand the Reagan policy of Peace through Strength does work.  The problem is that we are seeing the Russians apply strength while not seeking freedom or peace and it is working for them, not the Ukrainian people!  The current administration needs to learn from Reagan that you can have peace; if you’re strong, if you hold your ground, and if you don’t draw meaningless and imaginary lines in the sand!

Meanwhile Susan Rice is trying to appease those who are concerned about the foreign policy course of our nation.  Ms. Rice  is the same person who went on the Sunday TV circuit after the Benghazi attack. Now she is telling us that while the Russian bear is eating Ukraine, while the jihadists are running amuck in Iraq and Syria; while the Chinese are hacking and stealing secrets through the Internet; and while the people of South and Central America, the Middle East, and Asia are crossing our borders unchecked, she is telling us to remain calm because the Administration has things well in hand and, she contends, at least we are not facing annihilation like we did during the Cold War.  Hello!  What is going to happen if we let Iran get a nuclear weapon?

So the question needs to be asked, why is this Administration doing things that are not granted under The Constitution: IRS targeting of conservative organizations, common core, etc. and why is this Administration not doing what it is required to do -- which is to protect our nation through a sound foreign policy?

By Bill Sargent, Mark Manisus and John Gay