XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: peda@msnbc.com   
      
   As the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)   
   threaten Baghdad, thousands of slaughtered Iraqis in their wake,   
   it is worth recalling a few of President Obama's past statements   
   about ISIS and al Qaeda. "If a J.V. team puts on Lakers'   
   uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant" (January 2014).   
   "[C]ore al Qaeda is on its heels, has been decimated" (August   
   2013). "So, let there be no doubt: The tide of war is receding"   
   (September 2011).   
      
   Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the   
   expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told   
   us he is "ending" the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as though   
   wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into   
   reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS jihadists take territory   
   once secured by American blood is final proof, if any were   
   needed, that America's enemies are not "decimated." They are   
   emboldened and on the march.   
      
   The fall of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Tikrit, Mosul and Tel   
   Afar, and the establishment of terrorist safe havens across a   
   large swath of the Arab world, present a strategic threat to the   
   security of the United States. Mr. Obama's actions—before and   
   after ISIS's recent advances in Iraq—have the effect of   
   increasing that threat.   
      
   On a trip to the Middle East this spring, we heard a constant   
   refrain in capitals from the Persian Gulf to Israel, "Can you   
   please explain what your president is doing?" "Why is he walking   
   away?" "Why is he so blithely sacrificing the hard fought gains   
   you secured in Iraq?" "Why is he abandoning your friends?" "Why   
   is he doing deals with your enemies?"   
      
   In one Arab capital, a senior official pulled out a map of Syria   
   and Iraq. Drawing an arc with his finger from Raqqa province in   
   northern Syria to Anbar province in western Iraq, he said, "They   
   will control this territory. Al Qaeda is building safe havens   
   and training camps here. Don't the Americans care?"   
      
   Our president doesn't seem to. Iraq is at risk of falling to a   
   radical Islamic terror group and Mr. Obama is talking climate   
   change. Terrorists take control of more territory and resources   
   than ever before in history, and he goes golfing. He seems   
   blithely unaware, or indifferent to the fact, that a resurgent   
   al Qaeda presents a clear and present danger to the United   
   States of America.   
      
   When Mr. Obama and his team came into office in 2009, al Qaeda   
   in Iraq had been largely defeated, thanks primarily to the   
   heroic efforts of U.S. armed forces during the surge. Mr. Obama   
   had only to negotiate an agreement to leave behind some residual   
   American forces, training and intelligence capabilities to help   
   secure the peace. Instead, he abandoned Iraq and we are watching   
   American defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.   
      
   The tragedy unfolding in Iraq today is only part of the story.   
   Al Qaeda and its affiliates are resurgent across the globe.   
   According to a recent Rand study, between 2010 and 2013, there   
   was a 58% increase in the number of Salafi-jihadist terror   
   groups around the world. During that same period, the number of   
   terrorists doubled.   
      
   In the face of this threat, Mr. Obama is busy ushering America's   
   adversaries into positions of power in the Middle East. First it   
   was the Russians in Syria. Now, in a move that defies credulity,   
   he toys with the idea of ushering Iran into Iraq. Only a fool   
   would believe American policy in Iraq should be ceded to Iran,   
   the world's largest state sponsor of terror.   
      
   This president is willfully blind to the impact of his policies.   
   Despite the threat to America unfolding across the Middle East,   
   aided by his abandonment of Iraq, he has announced he intends to   
   follow the same policy in Afghanistan.   
      
   Despite clear evidence of the dire need for American leadership   
   around the world, the desperation of our allies and the glee of   
   our enemies, President Obama seems determined to leave office   
   ensuring he has taken America down a notch. Indeed, the speed of   
   the terrorists' takeover of territory in Iraq has been matched   
   only by the speed of American decline on his watch.   
      
   The president explained his view in his Sept. 23, 2009, speech   
   before the United Nations General Assembly. "Any world order,"   
   he said, "that elevates one nation above others cannot long   
   survive." Tragically, he is quickly proving the opposite—through   
   one dangerous policy after another—that without American pre-   
   eminence, there can be no world order.   
      
   It is time the president and his allies faced some hard truths:   
   America remains at war, and withdrawing troops from the field of   
   battle while our enemies stay in the fight does not "end" wars.   
   Weakness and retreat are provocative. U.S. withdrawal from the   
   world is disastrous and puts our own security at risk.   
      
   Al Qaeda and its affiliates are resurgent and they present a   
   security threat not seen since the Cold War. Defeating them will   
   require a strategy—not a fantasy. It will require sustained   
   difficult military, intelligence and diplomatic efforts—not   
   empty misleading rhetoric. It will require rebuilding America's   
   military capacity—reversing the Obama policies that have   
   weakened our armed forces and reduced our ability to influence   
   events around the world.   
      
   American freedom will not be secured by empty threats,   
   meaningless red lines, leading from behind, appeasing our   
   enemies, abandoning our allies, or apologizing for our great   
   nation—all hallmarks to date of the Obama doctrine. Our   
   security, and the security of our friends around the world, can   
   only be guaranteed with a fundamental reversal of the policies   
   of the past six years.   
      
   In 1983, President Ronald Reagan said, "If history teaches   
   anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful   
   thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal   
   of our past, the squandering of our freedom." President Obama is   
   on track to securing his legacy as the man who betrayed our past   
   and squandered our freedom.   
      
   Mr. Cheney was U.S. vice president from 2001-09. Ms. Cheney was   
   the deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs   
   from 2002-04 and 2005-06.   
      
   http://online.wsj.com/articles/dick-cheney-and-liz-cheney-the-   
   collapsing-obama-doctrine-1403046522?mod=trending_now_1   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)