Garden State Patriot

With apologies to that unforgettable band of the 80’s, A Flock of Seagulls, their biggest hit song of that era is an apt description of sorts of Obama policy towards the rogue, terrorist state.

President Obama’s approach to Iran is a failure unfolding before our eyes. Despite his overtures to open up a dialogue with the Tyrants on Teheran their fists have only become more firmly and tightly clenched than ever before. Now, as their efforts to acquire nuclear weapons become ever more close to becoming reality, Obama offers the free world nothing but empty words – plenty of carrots but no stick in sight.

In fact, you know the world is turned upide down when the leader of France – France! – feels the need to scold Obama for his failure to lead on the issue.

The contempt with which the president of France regards the president of the United States was displayed in public last week.

Nicolas Sarkozy was furious with Barack Obama for his adolescent warbling about a world without nuclear weapons at a meeting Mr. Obama chaired of the United Nations Security Council last Thursday (9/24).

“We must never stop until we see the day when nuclear arms have been banished from the face of the earth,” President Obama said.

What infuriated President Sarkozy was that at the time Mr. Obama said those words, Mr. Obama knew the mullahs in Iran had a secret nuclear weapons development site, and he didn’t call them on it.

‘President Obama dreams of a world without weapons…but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite,” Mr. Sarkozy said.

“Iran since 2005 has flouted five Security Council resolutions,” Mr. Sarkozy said. “North Korea has been defying Council resolutions since 1993.”

“What good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community?” he asked rhetorically. “More uranium enrichment and declarations by the leaders of Iran to wipe out a UN member state off the map.”

If the Security Council had imposed serious sanctions on the regimes which are flouting UN resolutions, the resolution Mr. Obama proposed about working toward nuclear disarmament wouldn’t have been so meaningless, Mr. Sarkozy implied.

“If we have courage to impose sanctions together it will lend viability to our commitment to reduce or own weapons and to making a world without nuke weapons,” he said.

The extent of President Obama’s naivete – or duplicity – was on display Friday at the G20 summit when the president, flanked by Mr. Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, revealed to the American public that Iran had a second nuclear weapons site on a military base near the holy city of Qom.

News reports indicated Mr. Obama had been briefed on the site before his inauguration. But he’s been conducting his foreign policy as if the mullahs could be trusted.

The fact that Obama has known about the secret nuclear site in Iran and has still persisted in a Neville Chamberlain-like approach to this problem is stunning - and suggests that his ego is far larger than his intelligence. It his time for him to lead before it is too late.

Let me be clear. The Iranian situation is indeed complex. The answers are not easy, nor are the consequences of using military force to stop them pretty. Iran very easily could attack Israel, either directly or throught their surrogate terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah. They could also use these terror groups to attack American interests and disrupt the world’s oil supply and, thusly, further damage an already weak world economy. All of these possibilities are indeed bleak.

Bleaker yet, though, is a world in which Iran possesses nuclear weapons. Like Pakistan and North Korea now, the free world would have no leverage over Iran. The mullahs could see fit to transfer their nuclear know-how to other terror states like Syria or, worse yet, put nuclear weapons in the hands of Hamas or Hezbollah. An arms race could spread across the Middle East. Iran would also be free to continue to foment terrorist activities across the globe, with particular aim at the state of Israel, without the fear of consequence. This second scenario would be a far worse reality than using force to stop them now and, one would hope, replacing the regime with the pro-western contingent in that country.

Despite my many other serious concerns about what this President is doing, this issue should be above party and above ideology. An American President needs to, above all, be grounded in reality. He (or she) needs to understand their role as both leader of America and the free world. The time for diplomacy is quickly running out on Iran, I fear. The President now needs to step up and be forthright about the matter at hand and let the American people know that military force may be the only solution to this crisis. This is not an issue that the United States can defer on and leave to the state of Israel.

The President has before said the time for ‘childish games is over.’ Well, the time for fecklessness, weakness and naivete now ought to be over. It’s time for Obama to step up on this issue. To do otherwise, is an abrogation of his sworn duty to protect and defend our nation. To do nothing, would be unforgiveable.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

This speech needs no other commentary other than, I wish OUR President had given a speech like this.

Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries.

But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?

A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state.

What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations!

You can see the rest of the speech here: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

This week we turn to international affairs. By all accounts, Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. If the U.S., under the current administration, is unwilling to do whatever it takes to prevent this, do you think Israel will at some point attack Iran’s nuclear facilities?

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Give credit where credit is due. Lord knows I’m not on the same page with Steve Rothman on much of anything. But he has my support in trying to make the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) accountable — and trying to keep relief aid to Palestinians out of the hands of terrorists.

US lawmakers demanded Thursday that the United Nations impose tighter controls on the UN agency that manages aid to the Palestinians to ensure no US funds end up in the pockets of extremists.

“The United Nations should take immediate steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA),” said Democratic Representative Steve Rothman.

Rothman has written a non-binding resolution urging US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to certify that “no American taxpayer dollars are being directed to terrorists or to further terrorist propaganda” through UNRWA.

The New Jersey lawmaker said that while aides to US President Barack Obama had yet to explicitly support the measure, “they assure me that they share our concerns.”

The resolution calls on UNRWA to improve transparency of its operations by posting on the Internet copies of all educational materials used at agency-administered schools.

“UNRWA schools have been known to, and are still continuing, to include textbooks, videotapes, and other materials which not only slander the state of Israel but also are virulently anti-Semitic,” said Rothman.

The resolution also urges UNRWA to enhance screening procedures, including terrorist name-recognition software, “to ensure that UNRWA staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries are neither terrorists themselves, nor affiliated with known terrorist organizations.”

“These are certainly reasonable recommendations, especially in this time of severe economic crisis in America, when so many of our countrymen and hurting, and the world is suffering and in need of resources, that none of our US taxpayer dollars goes to any terrorist organization,” said Rothman.

Of course, this is just another example of why we shouldn’t be un the U.N. at all. It is a corrupt organization with many members who hate America and hate Israel. Yet, we are the ones who give it the most money to operate.

Cross-posted at Red County.

Looks like good news out of Israel. Benjamin Netanayu is claiming victory and will be the next Israelis Prime Minister. Yesterday’s reports about the race being too close to call are not accurate as the nation’s right wing block has won a clear majority.

Certainly, I can not claim to know Israeli politics, but I would venture to guess that this turn to the right in Israel was influenced by the Obama Administration’s stance vis-a-vis Iran.

99% of the ballots in: A clear majority for the right wing under the Netanyahu’s leadership. Netanyahu: “the people have spoken I’ll lead the next government”. Right wing block has a 65 to 55 majority in Knesset.

Netanyahu claimed victory late Tuesday night after all TV stations exit polls project a clear majority to the right wing block of 65 seats to 55 for the left. Netanyahu addressed his supporters in Tel Aviv saying: “God willing I’ll be the next Prime Minister. I’m sure I will be able to form a wide and stable coalition government that will know how to cope with the crisis and promote reforms in the education” Netanyahu has detailed his next political moves:” I’ll start by turning to our partners of the right wing; we’ve already set up meetings for tomorrow. Then I’ll seek out the rest of the Zionist parties (meaning Labor and Kadima) in order to unify all of forces of the people.”

Netanyahu also responded to Kadima’s claims that they won the elections “There is no doubting the conclusion that the right wing under the Likud has won a decisive victory… the question is not what the polls said, but what the reality states, in the going out Knesset the right wing had only 50 seats and today it has a majority, in the last elections the people voted us into the opposition, and in these elections we increased our votes more than any other party”.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

In Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address he said:

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

There is nothing disagreeable in Obama’s statement, but as this administration embarks on efforts to ‘engage’ one of the worst regimes on the planet – Iran – one wonders just what our convictions are.

• Are our convictions to help defend and protect the lone true democracy and American ally in the Middle East – Israel?
• Are our convictions to stop the spread of terrorism around the globe?
• Are our convictions to stand against the oppression of the Iranian people and for their freedom?

Even with Obama prepared to extend a hand to the Iranian regime their leaders continue to exhibit hostility towards America and unabated hatred towards Jews. Just yesterday, Mahmoud ‘Ahmadeni-jihad’ had these scornful words to say:

“The change will be to apologize to the Iranian nation and try to compensate for their dark records and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation,” he said.

The hardline president also called on Washington to withdraw its troops from around the world and stop supporting Israel.

“Change means giving up support for the rootless, uncivilized, fabricated, murdering… Zionists and let the Palestinian nation decide its own destiny,” he said. “Change means putting an end to US military presence in (different parts of) the world.”

And Iran’s government spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, continued to promulgate the vicious, ugly falsehood that the Holocaust never happened.

“The Holocaust is a concept coming from a big lie in order to settle a rootless regime in the heart of the Islamic world”

Herein lays the problem with Obama’s approach toward Iran. One can not engage in diplomacy – which entails negotiation, finding common ground and compromise – when the ‘partner’ at the table is an opponent of the convictions and values your nation stands for. To do so would be pacifism. And as history has taught us pacifying enemies of freedom only leads to more violence, war and tyranny, not less. One can only hope that history isn’t about to repeat itself.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!