In the latest round of jousting, Senator
Obama has blasted the
Bush Administration and Senator
McCain as having bad foreign policy for America.
Unfortunately, it is hard to say this is going to strengthen Obama's case because his approach lacks strength.
In the case of Iraq, I would agree with him. After 9/11 the world was with us in our war to stop terrorism and find Osama. Unfortunately, bad foreign policy has put the United States in an ill-advised war in Iraq, which is having terrible repercussions against the U.S. standing on the world stage.
On the other hand, I have to agree with Senator McCain and Presidents Bush and
Reagan who said we do not negotiate with terrorists.
I know America is looking to be diplomatic. I know we want to preserve peace in the world. I also know that it is not the way of the righteous to negotiate with terrorists. Terrorism is the opposite of what America stands for and for Senator Obama to suggest that we will sit down and negotiate with terrorist regimes is to admit that terrorism is a legitimate form of government and acceptable to the U.S.
I am not pro-war but I am also not supportive of sanctioning the killing of Americans and peaceful citizens. You cannot bring peace talks and negotiations to those who do not understand either of those ideals.
Yes, America is in a bad spot right now on the world stage. But we have taken our stance that anti-terrorism is a worthwhile battle to fight. For us to suddenly say, we are willing to negotiate with terrorism is to throw up the white flag of surrender. Does anyone believe that a better course of action would have been to negotiate a peace treaty with Hitler? Absolutely not. Sometimes evil has to be recognized as evil and the good must stand to fight.
We are not here to support terrorism by legitimizing it and to say that once you have killed enough innocent civilians we will treat you as equal partners on the world stage.
Yes, there are evil regimes in the world. There is untold suffering in this world. Unfortunately, though our hearts go out to the suffering, as do billions and billions of dollars of American aid, we cannot right every wrong in this world. What we can do is not reward those tactics with a place at the table of justice.
I know it seems a hard line to walk in the face of our foreign policy issues, but it is a hard line that must be held.
We need to hold the high ground of the Liberty. It is not in the ways of Liberty to wage "holy wars" against every anti-American government on the planet just as it is not in the ways of Liberty to negotiate with tyranny. There comes a time for wars, and there comes a time to garner the support of other nations.
The foreign policy of America should be as it has been since the Revolution; we do not negotiate with tyrants and terrorists. Diplomacy means becoming a strong world citizen again and bringing more countries to our cause. We must earn the support of the world, through diplomacy, and put in place strong sanctions against those countries that support the destruction of their own people. Diplomacy does not mean negotiating with terrorists, that is appeasement to stop killing. Terrorists will not stop. They will only continue because if you reward evil, evil will seek bigger rewards through more bloodshed.