Un-Liberaled Woman

Good grief.  I remember when Unicorn Princess was first elected and somebody proclaimed on my Facebook page – “Why don’t you give him 6 months before declaring him the next Jimmy Carter!!!” To which I thought – why don’t you do your research???? But anyobamabot, Uh, okay – cue six months later and GUESS WHO is following their foreign policy in the footsteps of old Peanut farmer himself. I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.

So, I’m sure most of you are following this story. My friend Jim had the article from CNN up on his FB profile page about how now the White House is debating/has decided to re-invite, to the WH 4th of July celebration, Iran diplomats even though the current thug-ro-cracy regime is oppressing its people, stealing democracy from them and sometimes outright killing them. Goooooooooooooooooo Independence!

The Obama administration had decided to invite Iranians to the celebrations at overseas posts as part of President Obama’s policy of engaging the Iranian regime.

While I’m all for talks with Iran, does it HAVE to be the day our country reserves to honor our freedom and those who sacrificed their lives to provide it for us??? Just sayin’ – I think August 16 is available too and that it wouldn’t have any underlying meaning of selling off our morals to toast over a glass of kool-aid with oppressive tyrants who don’t give a f*ck about democracy.

The thing that is most shocking to me is that people are out there encouraging this. Their stance is to honestly do nothing, stay out of Iran, and stay chummy with their leaders. Umm, I’m sorry but if Iran wanted us to stay out of foreign affairs then why do they have Iranian diplomats living on US soil and lobbying on behalf of their country. The other argument is that we have no business in Iran’s affairs or helping those fighting for freedom in their country. These same people will also argue that Operation Iraqi Freedom and the US’s involvement in the Mideast has done nothing to impact this. Cue, Thomas Friedman (and one of Bush’s biggest critics):

Second, for real politics to happen you need space. There are a million things to hate about President Bush’s costly and wrenching wars. But the fact is, in ousting Saddam in Iraq in 2003 and mobilizing the U.N. to push Syria out of Lebanon in 2005, he opened space for real democratic politics that had not existed in Iraq or Lebanon for decades. “Bush had a simple idea, that the Arabs could be democratic, and at that particular moment simple ideas were what was needed, even if he was disingenuous,” said Michael Young, the opinion editor of The Beirut Daily Star. “It was bolstered by the presence of a U.S. Army in the center of the Middle East. It created a sense that change was possible, that things did not always have to be as they were.”

If people in America believe that the Iranians were not impacted or given a hope for democracy of their own by the US taking down SH (thus paving the way for democracy in Iraq), then they are just making an unvalidated opinion. I’ve talked to so many military members on the ground who have come back with tales of Iranian people asking when the US would help them get liberated and become a democratic society. It’s seeing the advancement of others from similar circumstances that gives those with no options the hope they can one day rise above. We’re now seeing this take place in Iran. So to say Operation Iraqi Freedom had no impact is inaccurate. How big an impact – that’s purely subjective. But to say NO impact – come on. And yes, I’ll take the word over my friends in the military on the ground actually talking with Iranians than somebody sitting in their cubicle watching a CNN clip. Just call me crazy logical like that.

While I don’t think we should be invading another country, I don’t think our leaders should be debating an invite to the White House BBQ as potential foreign policy. Can we take a real stance??? Let’s not invade, but hey, let’s not play patty cake either.

But this is one of the problems I had with Obama being elected in that he has crap foreign relations policy experience. I mean the Iranian thugrocracy shouldn’t be invited for social hour. This is classic Jimmy Carter foreign relations and look where that got us. The Ahmadinejad regime is like Hitler’s and would people approve of FDR inviting diplomats of that regime over for the 4th festivities? Umm, no. And just because people are not in favor the re-invite doesn’t automatically mean they are FOR invading – good grief, have a little faith in your fellow Americans before assuming they want the exact opposite extreme (invasion). Don’t you just LOVE how that’s always the default from liberals. “Well, if you’re not for simply talking then you MUST be for invading.” Paaaaaaaaaaaaahleaze, girl!

And it was because of Jimmy Carter’s bonehead foreign policy of just words that led to Russia invading Afghanistan and look where that got us – planting the seeds of Al Quaida. The same Carter you see lately prancing around the White House probably influencing policy (shudders). Carter’s response for his sideline behavior was “he lied to me” when it came to crap foreign relations with Leonid Brezhnev of Russia. Perhaps if Carter had gotten a backbone and taken a stance we wouldn’t be in this mess today. Obama is following in Carter’s footprints of policy when it comes to foreign relations – aka let’s just talk without preconditions.  I’ll take your word for it but all the while people in your country are suffering.

My friend Jim had said in response to critics that staying out of other nation’s business is a meritorious policy. That unless we’re willing to apply that same standard to Israel, Darfur, etc., it’s a policy of convenience more than principle.  He then supported this argument by questioning where Poland, East Germany, etc. would be w/o Reagan actively supporting Solidarity, and demanding the Wall be torn down.  So, if you hear someone saying America should butt out, ask them if they would rather have had Reagan sit on the sidelines keeping the Berlin Wall up? (and sidenote: Jim totally needs a blog with awesome rebuttals like this)

You can’t cherry pick – like when John Kerry says Afghanistan is the “good war.”  Trying to Grok makes a good point about this in her post. All war is a choice. None of the 9/11 hijackers came from Afghanistan. They may have gotten training from there with the Taliban but that’s different. But to say assume it’s okay for us to be in Afghanistan, not okay for us to be in Iraq, okay for us to do something about Dafur, not okay for us to put pressure on Iran – well, then you’re just contradicting yourself. I think our leaders should take a hard stance with these evil dictators oppressing their people from freedom. That’s the responsibility of those who are blessed with freedom – to help those who are without. And we couldn’t have won our freedom in the Revolutionary War without the help of France.  It wasn’t just us. Also, France couldn’t have gotten from under Hilter’s regime without our help.

To stand idly by while evil occurs can make you just as guilty as if you were participating in it. But I think we do have an obligation – the stronger countries were there for America when it needed to establish a democracy, or help Americans fight against oppressive governments like the Confederacy that supported slavery. We couldn’t have done it alone. Now that we are one of the stronger models for a successful democracy, that doesn’t mean we should just stand by. What if when America was trying to fight off England, France and other allies said “eh, fuck it! Let them do it on their own.” If that happened we probably wouldn’t be allowed to even debate this. That is something to ponder.

On a sidenote, a $100 bucks says the invite was done though Evite. Because you know, this administration is soooo savvy with the young folk.