Let's give Pres BO credit for good intentions. I'm sure that he means well by trying to create a better relationship with Muslims.
At the same time, BO did what BO always does.
BO told people what they wanted to hear.
I like OBAMA BUTTERS THEM UP IN CAIRO by Charles Hurt:
"The problem with talking so much is that you eventually just start babbling and saying a bunch of stuff that makes no sense."
BO did not tell Muslims what they needed to hear. He would have "booed" heavily if he tried to do that!
He delivered a nice speech. It was "feel good rubbish" and no substance. It was the kind of stuff that we've been hearing for two years!
Beyond "hope and change", the real winner was Iran and the big loser was Israel.
"If you missed the part about America’s resolute commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, you are not alone.
If you missed his castigation of Iran for fomenting violence, killing American servicemen in Iraq, and flouting international agreements on everything from nuclear inspection to genocide, you are not alone.
It is, no doubt, music to the mullahs’ ears to hear that there is no prohibition on proceeding with their program.
After all, the president declared himself helpless to tell another country that it lacks the right to acquire nuclear weapons.
All he could muster on the subject of preventing Iran from acquiring such weapons?
He is “hopeful that all countries in the region can share this goal.”
And he topped it off by blasting the 1953 coup. (It's Pres Eisenhower's turn to get thrown under the bus)
"Shortly after Obama's inauguration on January 20, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded apologies for "crimes" he said the United States had committed against Iran, starting with the 1953 coup."
Iran won't read BO's apology as an act of statesmanship. They will read it as weakness.
Unfortunately, Pres BO did not ask an apology for 9-11. What about this: British man 'beheaded' by Al Qaeda terrorists!
Once again, he brought up torture. (He has to do this to keep the angry left back home happy. They are furious with him for backing down on military tribunals and implementing the Bush/McCain policy in Iraq)
Ironically, he spoke in Egypt, a country that the Obama administration is likely using for rendition prisons. Wonder if they torture anyone there? (WSJ: Aside from the fact that the U.S. wasn't torturing anyone before Mr. Obama came into office, his Arab hosts can see through his claims. They know the Obama Administration is "rendering" al Qaeda detainees to other countries, some of them Arab, where their rights and well-being are far less secure than at Gitmo.")
Also, he forgot to tell the students that the Dems, not Republicans, are the ones denying him funds to close GITMO.
Why? Because BO does not have a plan to close GITMO. The Dems were all closing for GITMO until they won the election and had to keep their promise!
A year from now, GITMO will still be opened. Wonder how many of the students will remember that?
What about Iraq? Ironically, Iraq is the one place in the region where democracy is working. It may not be a perfect democracy but they have an elected PM, a multiparty assembly and 4,000 women just ran for provincial positions!
And they have a ton of newspapers in Iraq! Blogs are everywhere. Politics is alive and well in Iraq!
Wouldn't it be nice if more Middle Eastern countries looked like Iraq rather than repressive societies?
BO did not mention that US soldiers died to help Muslims in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. (WSJ: As for the caveats, Mr. Obama missed a chance to remind his audience that no country has done more than the U.S. to liberate Muslims from oppression -- in Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo and above all in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than 50 million people were freed by American arms from two of the most extreme tyrannies in modern history.)
BO did not say anything about the tsunami efforts undertaken by the US government a few years ago.
Again, Iran was the big winner.
Wonder how Iran will reciprocate? My guess is that they will fire off a few missiles. They will do a "North Korea" and tell BO what they think of his long speeches!
We repeat that Israel is not a threat in the Middle East.
Israel is not promising to destroy anyone or blow up their cities.
Here is the truth: The world can live with a nuclear Israel.
The world, and specially those European nations who hate GITMO but won't take any of the detainees, can not live with a nuclear Iran.
BO got a lot of applause today. He has also put Israel and Iran closer to war.
