What, me worry?

'What, me worry?'
BY HELEN AGUIRRE FERRÉ HAGUIRREFERRE@GMAIL.COM
04/11/2015 1:00 PM 04/11/2015 5:00 PM


President Obama reveals himself to be quite the gambler. He is reversing
20 years of bipartisan policy establishing that a nuclear Iran was not
in the best interests of the United States or world peace.

Three presidents, Bush 41, Clinton and Bush 43, were determined to use
military force to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capability. Obama,
however, is signing off on a deal that slows down Iran's creation of a
nuclear weapon, but that doesn't deter it. It keeps the infrastructure
in place.

Why the change?

In an interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Obama
defends his policy of engagement with governments hostile to the United
States, such as Iran and Cuba, as opposed to isolation, even if it leads
to marginalizing traditional allies.

It's not like this administration has been gifted in foreign policy.
Take Egypt, for example. In his first international trip as president,
Obama was a guest of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, whom he later pressured to
resign, opening the door to the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that
defends jihad.

After a military coup, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is gravitating
more toward Russia, which is a new player in the Middle East.

Obama also miscalculated with ISIS, comparing it to a junior varsity
team just before it took over a number of cities in the region.

He threatened Syria's Bashar Assad not to cross the line when it came to
the use of chemical weapons against civilians. Assad called Obama's
bluff and found that he was, in fact, bluffing. A coup d'état in Yemen
also caught President Obama off guard. He touted the U.S.
counterterrorism effort there, but the government collapsed. Both al
Qaida and Iran are a growing menace there.

Then there is Israel.

The U.S.-Israel relationship has never been so poor, and all the while
Israel is continuously threatened. Last year, Iranian-backed Hamas was
caught red-handed having constructed elaborate underground tunnels
stemming from Gaza to attack Israel. That is where the cement donated to
build Palestinian homes is being used for tunnels. Can Israeli survive
if Iran goes nuclear?

Obama is not completely alone in dealing with Iran, a group of nations
known as the P5+1 will also sign off on this agreement. But these are
the same nations that let Putin partition Ukraine.

Obama tells Friedman that he will provide Israel with support if
necessary, acknowledging the deep mistrust it has with his abilities to
negotiate the right deal: "But what I would say to them is that not only
am I absolutely committed to making sure that they maintain their
qualitative military edge, and that they can deter any potential future
attacks, but what I am willing to do is make the kinds of commitments
that would give everybody in the neighborhood, including Iran, a clarity
that if Israel were to be attacked by any state, that we would stand by
them."

That is, of course, if there is a country left to save. What would Obama
do if Israel did a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities?
Would he support Tel Aviv or Tehran?

Then there is Cuba: "For us to test the possibility that engagement
leads to a better outcome for the Cuban people, there aren't that many
risks for us. It's a tiny little country. It's not one that threatens
our core security interests. … If it turns out that it doesn't lead to
better outcomes, we can adjust our policies."

This "tiny little country" posed quite a nuclear threat to the United
States during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vladimir Putin is looking to
revive military operations on the island. Cuba continues violate
international law by selling military arms.

Just a few weeks ago, Colombia detained a Chinese ship headed for Cuba
that contained 100 tons of gun powder, approximately 3 million
detonators and 3,000 cannon shells. The ship's records indicated it was
transporting grain. Two years ago, Panama detained a North Korean ship
that was carrying arms from Cuba. These, too, were intercepted, but it's
anyone's guess how many made it to their destination. The Raúl Castros
of the world have no desire for world peace.

The world today is more dangerous than when Obama took office;
incredibly, he isn't alarmed. He should know that he is the only one
who's not worried.

Source: 'What, me worry?' | Miami Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article18227813.html