Biden ignores history

This morning’s Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal carries an answer from Joe Biden to Joe Lieberman’s opinion piece the other day entitled “Democrats and our Enemies“. Biden’s piece “Republicans and Our Enemies“. While Lieberman took a realistic look at actual events and the reaction of Democrats in the modern world, Biden’s “opinion” grasps at straws – to believe Joe Biden’s version, one would have to suspend rational thought;

On George Bush’s watch, Iran, not freedom, has been on the march: Iran is much closer to the bomb; its influence in Iraq is expanding; its terrorist proxy Hezbollah is ascendant in Lebanon and that country is on the brink of civil war.

Beyond Iran, al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan – the people who actually attacked us on 9/11 – are stronger now than at any time since 9/11. Radical recruitment is on the rise. Hamas controls Gaza and launches rockets at Israel every day. Some 140,000 American troops remain stuck in Iraq with no end in sight.

Because of the policies Mr. Bush has pursued and Mr. McCain would continue, the entire Middle East is more dangerous. The United States and our allies, including Israel, are less secure.

What Biden fails to discuss is the fact that the US is unable to pursue a rational foreign policy because the Democrats are conducting their own foreign policy independent of the Administration and independent of their constitutional authority.

When three Congressmen stand on the roof of Saddam Hussein’s palace on the eve of his defeat and declare that Saddam Hussein is more trustworthy than our own government’s leaders, what message does that send? When the Speaker of the House passes on false messages between foreign governments. When a presidential candidate threatens our allies and promises to coddle our enemies. When two presidential candidates make public foreign policy proclamations while privately telling our foreign partners to disregard their words.

Biden goes on to sell out his foreign policy experience for the cheap political trick;

The election in November is a vital opportunity for America to start anew. That will require more than a great soldier. It will require a wise leader.

Actually, electing Barack Obama won’t be a move towards “start anew” – it’ll be a return to the failed foreign policy of the 1970s, the policies of Nixon and Carter when US prestige in the world took a nose dive. When Iran first became a threat to world peace.

Here, the controversy over engaging Iran is especially instructive.

Last week, John McCain was very clear. He ruled out talking to Iran. He said that Barack Obama was “naïve and inexperienced” for advocating engagement; “What is it he wants to talk about?” he asked.

Well, for a start, Iran’s nuclear program, its support for Shiite militias in Iraq, and its patronage of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Iran isn’t interested in “engaging” anyone who opposes them. For more than three years, the world has been “engaging” Iran over their nuclear program, Hezbollah and Hamas to no avail. Now because the “liberal” world coddles Iran and it’s clients, they’ve become more powerful than ever. Democrats in Congress are absolutely afraid of Ahmadinejad after the way Iran brought down Jimmy Carter.

Biden goes on to dream the impossible dream;

Instead of regime change, we should focus on conduct change. We should make it very clear to Iran what it risks in terms of isolation if it continues to pursue a dangerous nuclear program but also what it stands to gain if it does the right thing. That will require keeping our allies in Europe, as well as Russia and China, on the same page as we ratchet up pressure.

“Conduct change” worked so well with North Korea, didn’t it? North Korea used the umbrella that the Clinton Administration and Jimmy Carter provided to conduct their nuclear program out of sight of the world. Biden acts as if Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas can be trusted to change their behavior – even though we’ve plenty of recent examples that people like them don’t change behavior, they just manipulate the world and continue with their bad behavior.

Since the last seven years have been difficult, Biden and the Democrats use that an excuse to bolster the illusion that the Bush policies have failed – and so Biden draws the poorly-considered conclusion that if Bush policies have failed, we have to do the opposite. There’s no indication that Bush policies have failed, to begin with. The US is single-handedly reversing thirty years of failed foreign policy in regards to the Middle East – it’s not an easy or quickly finished chore.

Biden makes outrageous and unsupported claims that our enemies are stronger than ever before – the only reason they’re at all strong is because half-witted, imbecilic political terrorists like Biden keep giving them hope that we’ll eventually cave in to them.

UPDATE: While we’re on the subject of talking with our enemies, what’s up with Obama not taking time to talk to our generals or our troops? TSO at The Sniper has a Vets For Freedom video that asks that question.

Category: Foreign Policy, Politics, Terror War