As expected, Barack Obama spoke of his unwavering support for Israel when he appeared before delegates at the AIPAC convention today in Washington, D.C. “As president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security,” he said. But will he?
He has pledged to meet diplomatically with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been explicitly denying the Holocaust and calling for Israel’s destruction for the past few years. But he also said something very interesting today: “we must maintain the isolation of Hamas and other extremists who are committed to Israel’s destruction.”
So, I ask you, Senator Obama, what about Ahmadinejad’s Iran does not scream for inclusion in this group of extremists you intend to isolate? You yourself said that Ahmadinejad’s regime is “one of the greatest threats to the United States, Israel, and world peace” and described him as “reckless” and “irresponsible.” Does his denial of the Holocaust and active pursuance of a nuclear weapon not classify him as an “extremist committed to Israel’s destruction”? Your own words described him as such. The bottom line is, meeting with Ahmadinejad, just like meeting with Hamas or Hizb’Allah, will give legitimacy to a terrorist group that should not have it. But you have failed to realize this.
So why meet with him?
Obama gave his reasoning for meeting with Ahmadinejad today in his speech. He said that he would like to adopt a policy that “includes direct engagement with Iran similar to the meetings [the United States] conducted with the Soviets at the height of the Cold War, laying out in clear terms our principles and interests.” This may seem equivocal, but there is something terrifically naive about this statement.
The Soviet leaders never called for the absolute and total destruction of the United States. They did not equate Americans to devils. They were the communist counterpart to America’s capitalism, and while things occasionally did get “hot,” negotiations were always possible because the Soviets were in the same situation that America was in. Both superpowers were dedicated to their economic and political system, and were ensuring their own security with an arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Despite all of the differences, all of the heated debates and the scary moments, the Soviets were just as rational as the Americans were. They knew that a nuclear war would end badly for both sides. Thus, diplomatic meetings between the Americans and the Soviets were fairly successful. They came to agreements, worked out differences, and avoided conflict.
Ahmadinejad, as Obama has stated himself, is not a rational person. He is bent on the destruction of the “Zionist devils” through any means possible, including nuclear war. His lack of support from and respect for his people suggest that he is willing to make a significant sacrifice to accomplish his goal.
Tell me, Senator Obama, does this look to you like Iran under Ahmadinejad is at all similar to the Soviets under Krushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev? I certainly hope not, but then again, your speech suggests otherwise.
In September 2007, Obama voted against an amendment co-sponsored by Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut that classified the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. Three-fourths of the Senate, including Hillary Clinton, voted for this amendment. But for some strange reason, it has not yet occurred to the young senator from Illinois that Ahmadinejad and his government are no different than terrorists. The scope of the mullahs’ influence and power should have nothing to do with a decision to negotiate, especially if it is based off of completely irrelevant historical comparisons.
Senator Obama desperately needs a history lesson.
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Full transcript of Obama’s AIPAC speech
I’m from Southern California and currently go to school at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Comrade Obama needs to take a course in American History as well. He knows little, talks a lot and hopes no one will notice the gap.
I wonder if he even knows what country he is in, he sure doesn’t talk very positive about America. He is after all running for President , not church pastor.
Americans overwhelmingly want a President who will talk with our enemies. In the poll of June 2nd 67% of all Americans and 49% of polled Republicans thought it was a good idea. http://www.gallup.com/poll/107617/Americans-Favor-President-Meeting-US-Enemies.aspx
Israel’s only real danger is from demographics. Secular Jews are leaving and the percentage of Arab citizens is increasing. Our own CIA’s report said that by 2040 Israeli Arabs may be the majority, could this be the “destruction” that Ahmadinejad is speaking ?
John Ryan doesn’t understand that there is a difference between rational and well thought out diplomatic engagement with our enemies and ill-prepared meetings with the U.S. President being used as a propaganda prop by our enemies.
I’m reading former Secretary of State George Shultz’s memoir “Turmoil and Triumph” and for those who forgot what the diplomatic dance was like with the Soviets it is a good reminder. Even meetings between the Secretary of State and the Soviet Foreign Minister took months of patient preparation and there were LOTS of preconditions.
Even before any of those high level meetings were to take place, President Reagan quietly demanded that the Soviets make a demonstration of their good faith by releasing a group of Pentacostalists who had tried to emigrate.
As has been pointed out the Europeans and other states in the region have been attempting to negotiate with Iran on nuclear and other issues FOR YEARS and there has been absolutely no progress.
It’s clear evidence of the dangerously naive mindset of the Obamatons that somehow they think that a face to face meeting with their false messiah will somehow change all of that. They don’t understand the negative consequences of what they are suggesting because they don’t have the intellectual depth and experience necessary to do so. And neither does their candidate.
Actually John, I think if you check the polls re talking to Iran, you’d see that yes, most Americans favor talks w Iran, but ONLY if Iran stops their nuke program first as a precondition (ie, the Bush Admin’s policy for the past 6yrs).
Curious, how will talking w Iran work? Go there, sit down, ask em to:
stop killing Americans in Iraq
end their nuclear program
and stop calling for the destruction of Israel
Then, because GWB or Pres Obama went there and personally conveyed these long public desires, they suddenly agree? OR does the US have to give Iran something in return, something that will appease them?
btw, as I’ve said before, I personally favor unconditional talks w Iran. If I were President, I’d fly there in AF1, land w all the world’s press corps, set up a table outside the US embassy that’s been abandoned since it was overrun in 1979, and I’d state the desires listed above all with the backdrop of DEATH TO AMERICA painted on the embassy. I’d even offer to provide nuclear equipment and material as has been done for years now; as was the Kerry and DNC platform in 2004. It wouldn’t work, but would prove (as Sen Obama claimed the other night) that the onus for action rests with Iran.
John Ryan: “Israel’s only real danger is from demographics. Secular Jews are leaving and the percentage of Arab citizens is increasing. Our own CIA’s report said that by 2040 Israeli Arabs may be the majority, could this be the “destruction” that Ahmadinejad is speaking ?”
Are you kidding? It’s impossible that you’re completely oblivious to, let’s see, every speech that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made in the past 3 years.
I agree, the growing population of Arabs is a major concern here, but there are solutions being addressed in the Knesset. The biggest problem is Hizb’Allah, and Iran’s support for them. You can’t argue that Ahmadinejad wants to wait 32 years for Israel’s destruction when he’s actively aiding a terrorist organization bent on destroying us.
Speaking of reactions and that speech – I posted this link on the other “friends you keep” thread (still in the rigor mortis of spam fingers…), but quite pertinent to this one.
This would be Obama’s reaction to Lieberman’s Senate floor criticism of that speech.
It’s appears you can take the boy out of Chicago, but you can’t take Chicago out of the boy!
Here’s Jake Tapper’s account of Obama’s “Chicago diplomacy” on Lieberman following that speech.
I am always puzzled at you religious demagogues who are always talking about the destruction of this and that….Am I missing something or isn’t the whole purpose for spending so much time on your knees praying so that your sorry asses will be saved when the Armageddon comes.You imbeciles need to make up your minds once and for all what you want because you are acting like a bunch of real idiots.If you are looking forward to the destruction of the world,(because the bible tells you so),what does it matter who does the destruction?…….;George Bush,Osama Bin Laden,Hamas or any body else?Jews behave as if they are blameless for all the evil they are causing in this world..The problem is that,just like a spoiled child who never gets reprimanded,Israel has become wild and out of control.She is so out of control that she tells the United States what to do.To make matters worse,she has decided to do business with a group of religious fanatics residing within the Republican party(some in the Democratic party also).These Christians believe that in order for their christ to come swooping down from the heavens,Israel has to be destroyed.So,their goal is to never achieve peace in the Middle East hoping that at a time of their own choosing,they will destroy the country.In the meantime,everyone is living in a state of denial which borders very close to insanity……….You people are ready to destroy yourselves in order to save yourselves…….For a country who uses cluster bombs on other human beings to speak of terrorism goes beyond hypocrisy……I would call that extreme arrogance.As far as Obama promising the whole of jerusalem to israel,that is a promise that will come back to bite him where the sun does not shine.Obama will learn that there are certain promises you just don’t make regardless of what you are going after..
Good luck to all of you fools…..One thing to remember is that sooner or later,we are all going to die…All of us.
I had no idea that single brain celled amoeba could operate keyboards!
Mata,
don’t be so hard on yourself…..I heard that these deficiencies are genetically inherited.
You shouldn’t speak so ill of your parents, CS
“ChristianSlayer”,
You have surmised correctly that I am indeed Jewish, and indeed Israeli. That is about the extent of your correct assumptions.
Nowhere in the Torah does it say anything about an apocalypse preceding the coming of the Messiah. I don’t spend all day on my knees praying, and if I did, I would definitely not be praying for that.
Now, regarding your outrageous claims about our foreign policy. If you can name me ONE instance, and I mean ONE, of the Israeli military deliberately target non-military targets, I’d be happy to hear it. Oh wait, you can’t find any. Everything we do is carefully planned so as to have as little collateral damage as possible. It’s a bit of a problem, considering the enemy hides among innocent civilians so as to provoke us to attack them, thus inviting even MORE international scrutiny for our actions, but we do get it done amazingly well considering the situation.
Additionally, if you can find one instance of Israel telling the United States what to do, I’d be happy to hear that as well.
You make these outrageously ludicrous claims without any ounce of historical or factual support, and you come off as an imbecile.
Your statement that it makes no difference to you who lives and who dies in the Middle East, let alone the implied “any part of the world except the grand ol’ United States” is rank of ignorance, apathy, and downright evil.
Go read a book.
He can get the history lesson after he fires his moderator. Check out this google cache of My.Obama.com before it goes away.
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:9IqeX3hovr8J:my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/juancarloscruz/gG5BSr/
This stuff was up before his AIPAC speech and it took a couple of months and Little Green Footballs exposing it to get them to realize his official web site is no place for slandering the Jewish community.