Sen. Jim Inhofe- Obama's "You're on Your Own" Foreign Policy
Congressional Desk
October 12, 2009
When President George W. Bush was in the White House, U.S. foreign policy was widely criticized as arrogantly unilateral, and was branded by critics here and abroad as the "go it alone" approach to international relations.
Now, it seems that a dangerous new strategy for American international relations has taken shape. In stark contrast to Bush, Obama favors a "you're on your own" approach to foreign policy, leaving our allies and strong supporters of democracy second-guessing America's intentions.
Obama's decision against fielding the U.S. missile-defense sites for Europe that Poland and the Czech Republic previously agreed to host is only the most recent illustration of Obama's approach.
In June of this year, Obama let democratic protesters in Iran know that they were on their own after the contested elections there, even as the ayatollah's police thugs violently assaulted the demonstrators.
Not a month later, Obama sided with the likes of Hugo Chavez and in effect said "you're on your own" to democrats in Honduras as they tried to enforce the country's democratic constitution to prevent a slide into a Venezuelan-style dictatorship. Similarly, Obama's support for Israel, democracy's clearest beacon and America's greatest ally in the Middle East, has been consistently reserved, at best.
But when Obama turned his back on our European allies by canceling the European-based missile-defense site, his attitude struck especially hard. When the missile-defense site agreement was signed in 2008, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski said, "this is a great success for Poland."
Under the original U.S. plan, the United States would provide protection against long-range ballistic missile threats with 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland, working with a radar in the Czech Republic. Protection against short- and midrange missile threats would come from NATO forces.
The European GBI system, would be tested in 2010 and in place to protect Europe and the U.S. against intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles from Iran by 2013.
With the shield now scrapped, Poland's Kaczynski has said that the new strategy leaves his nation in a dangerous "gray zone" between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere.
Similarly, former Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who signed the missile agreement with the United States, said, "This is not good news for the Czech state, for Czech freedom and independence. It puts us in a position wherein we are not firmly anchored in terms of partnership, security and alliance, and that's a certain threat."
White House officials argue that Obama has an alternative method to provide missile-defense coverage for Europe, but the alternative will take five years longer to field, and his 2009 budget cut $1.4 billion, or about 16 percent, of the Missile Defense Agency's budget.
With Iran actively pursuing its development of long-range ballistic missiles, and being well on its way to having a nuclear weapon, canceling the European GBI missile-defense site will unnecessarily put our long-time allies in Europe at risk.
Whatever Obama says to the United Nations, his foreign policy is already devastating to this nation's credibility.
Hopefully, Obama will realize the error in an approach that turns our back on our allies, while appeasing our enemies. If not, when we have need for support from our allies, we may find ourselves on our own.
Now, it seems that a dangerous new strategy for American international relations has taken shape. In stark contrast to Bush, Obama favors a "you're on your own" approach to foreign policy, leaving our allies and strong supporters of democracy second-guessing America's intentions.
Obama's decision against fielding the U.S. missile-defense sites for Europe that Poland and the Czech Republic previously agreed to host is only the most recent illustration of Obama's approach.
In June of this year, Obama let democratic protesters in Iran know that they were on their own after the contested elections there, even as the ayatollah's police thugs violently assaulted the demonstrators.
Not a month later, Obama sided with the likes of Hugo Chavez and in effect said "you're on your own" to democrats in Honduras as they tried to enforce the country's democratic constitution to prevent a slide into a Venezuelan-style dictatorship. Similarly, Obama's support for Israel, democracy's clearest beacon and America's greatest ally in the Middle East, has been consistently reserved, at best.
But when Obama turned his back on our European allies by canceling the European-based missile-defense site, his attitude struck especially hard. When the missile-defense site agreement was signed in 2008, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski said, "this is a great success for Poland."
Under the original U.S. plan, the United States would provide protection against long-range ballistic missile threats with 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland, working with a radar in the Czech Republic. Protection against short- and midrange missile threats would come from NATO forces.
The European GBI system, would be tested in 2010 and in place to protect Europe and the U.S. against intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles from Iran by 2013.
With the shield now scrapped, Poland's Kaczynski has said that the new strategy leaves his nation in a dangerous "gray zone" between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere.
Similarly, former Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who signed the missile agreement with the United States, said, "This is not good news for the Czech state, for Czech freedom and independence. It puts us in a position wherein we are not firmly anchored in terms of partnership, security and alliance, and that's a certain threat."
White House officials argue that Obama has an alternative method to provide missile-defense coverage for Europe, but the alternative will take five years longer to field, and his 2009 budget cut $1.4 billion, or about 16 percent, of the Missile Defense Agency's budget.
With Iran actively pursuing its development of long-range ballistic missiles, and being well on its way to having a nuclear weapon, canceling the European GBI missile-defense site will unnecessarily put our long-time allies in Europe at risk.
Whatever Obama says to the United Nations, his foreign policy is already devastating to this nation's credibility.
Hopefully, Obama will realize the error in an approach that turns our back on our allies, while appeasing our enemies. If not, when we have need for support from our allies, we may find ourselves on our own.
Print
Email
