First Principles

In search of the Unified Theory of Conservatism

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Diplomacy = Subsidizing Terrorist Weapons Supply Methods

February 18th, 2009 · No Comments

Despite harboring insurgents killing our soldiers in Iraq, and supplying Hezbollah terrorists elsewhere in the region, Obama has decided to make overtures to Syria a first-month priority, sending no less than John Kerry to that country to make sure they know how friendly we are these days to our certain-to-be-soon-to-be-former enemies.

(For some unrelated reason the John Kerry thing reminds me of a line from Braveheart“Not my gentle son. The mere sight of him would only encourage an enemy to take over the whole country. So whom do I send?”  But I digress…)

But Obama wasn’t satisfied with simply chatting.  We’re also going to give them a weapons delivery system as a “humanitarian” gesture!

The sources said the approval by Commerce marked a departure from nearly five years of sanctions by the outgoing Bush administration. Under the Syrian Accountability Act, Syria was to be denied all but food and humanitarian supplies from the United States. Bush aides said Syria had used passenger jets to ferry weapons from Iran to Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Obama, it seems, remains intent on following the Jimmy Carter playbook of treating our enemies and friends and our friends as enemies.

I was hopeful about Obama’s early foreign policy and GWOT policies, essentially following through with many of George Bush’s policies.  I applaud Obama’s more aggressive stance in Afghanistan.

But the naivete displayed by this act, which will almost certainly lead to murdered Israeli civilians, does not make me confident that he will follow through with the good policies already in place, or that he will execute them well.

This is why, more than anything to me, Rev. Wright matters.  I’m starting to believe that Obama really didn’t realize his mentor was a racist, conspiracy theory spewing hate-monger.  And if you can be fooled that easily in that relatively benign environment, how are you supposed to accurately size up the shadier characters on the world stage?

Tags: Diplomacy · Foreign Policy · Iraq · Obama · War on Terror