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August 01, 2007

Obama's erratic international stance

Thomas Lifson
Nothing is more dangerous than a naïve appeaser, other than a naïve appeaser who erratically takes rash steps in order to look tougher than he really is. Terrible, tragic events Obama unleashes the dogs of warare set in motion by such threats of bluster. Tyrants are not deterred, and when the bluff is called, the erratic faux tough-guy gets into situations he is unprepared to resolve.

Barack Obama is now veering into dangerous territory with his foreign policy pronouncements. Clearly, two years in the United States Senate have not turned this former state legislator into a statesman.

His campaign, perhaps smarting from the appalling off-the-cuff commitment he made in the YouTube debate to speak personally with the leaders of North Korea, Iran and Cuba in his first year in office, has now released remarks he is scheduled to deliver this morning, apparently aimed at making him look tough. Nedra Pickler of AP reports:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would possibly send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive.

The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under an Obama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.

"Let me make this clear," Obama said in a speech prepared for delivery at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

The excerpts were provided by the Obama campaign in advance of the speech.
Pakistan's Musharraf hangs onto power by a thread. Publicly threatening to invade his country is he displeases us hands ammunition to his opponents. How, exactly, do you suppose leading members of Pakistan's military will react to this threat? Does it make them more or less likely to be vigilant in stopping the assassins who continuously seek his death?

Remember that Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal that could fall into Islamist hands following Musharraf's assasination.

Obama is dangerous. Make no mistake. He is not ready for the serious business of being commander in chief.

Posted at 11:27 AM | Email |

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