President Obama's Statement

Here is President Obama's statement regarding Iran. It's bettter than nothing.

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

Martin Luther King once said -- 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.

Obama's Iranian Dilema

President Obama has a real problem with the demonstrations. Whereas he doesn't have an issue with them exisitng, his problem is he is not speaking up enough. I'm not asking he call for them to overthrow the regime violently (even though it does deserve that), but he should speak more vocally about his support for their right to protest and have free elections that demonstrate their will. I understand he is waiting to see what transpires, but President Obama, as you said the world is watching, speak up.

Terrorists to Receive Miranda Rights?

Why on Earth would President Obama want to give captured terrorists Miranda rights? The notion is absurd and ridiculous since these people are not entitled to right normally given to Americans.

Since a terrorist has the right to remain silent, he is not compelled to divulge what he knows. This will likely dry up the flow of intelligence, and could result in the loss of life as a result since this intel has to be acted on quickly. If Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had had such rights we likely would have seen a larger loss in life regardless of the interrogation method.

President Obama is taking us back to a pre-9/11 mentality, where we are to treat terrorists as mere crimminals to be tried in normal courts instead of enemy combatants to be treated as you would in a time of war. This is incredibly dangerous.

He of course is doing this so as to make way for future terrorists to be tried. However, these cases will make still be hard to make due to the way in which a terrorist might have been captured, i.e. divulging sources and methods.

I would hope President Obama would think long and hard about this road he's taking us down, because it is one that will lead to nothing but trouble.

Obama's Cairo Speech

President Obama's speech in Cairo this week was mixed at best. Whereas I agree with the intent of reaching out to the Muslim world, he missed many opportunities and appeared weak in it.I won't discuss the entire speech, but will go over the main things I just mentioned.

On the positive side he did make an effort to talk to the young populations in the Middle East, a population that is largely ruled by authoritarian dictators. If, as he said, the Middle East must overcome the caricatures and propaganda their nations spew out, then we can see a new generation that is open to democracy and the acceptance of better relations with both the US and Israel.

As far as the negative though, there is far more. On numerous occasions he seeks to make moral equivalencies, from the start in fact. He seeks to compare the Holocaust to Palestinians being "forced" from their homes upon the creation of Israel. It seems he wants to make excuses for the Muslim world, taking away the fact that they must take responsibility for their own bad behavior.

He doesn't make any mention of the words terrorist or terrorism though. He also makes no mention of all we have done for the Muslim world, from liberating Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq recently, to defending Muslims in Bosnia and Kuwait in the '90s. It seems he doesn't want to take responsibility for anything the US has done in the past, only seeing the here and now and not realizing that the Presidency is bigger than himself.

Another startling part of the speech are the places where he somewhat defends the Iranian nuclear program and apologizes for the 1953 coup, the latter something President Ahmedinejad asked for. This will most likely be played up in Iran for propaganda purposes.

Even though he did say Israel and the US had an unbreakable bond, the fact that he didn't visit speaks volumes. What bothers me most about his speeches overseas is his inability to not apologize for his country. As President he should know better.

When in Danger Appease

Tomorrow President Obama will deliver a speech ion Cairo to the Muslim world, what is not known however is what he will say.

On his last overseas trips he felt compelled to apologize for America's historical faults. It is not known if he will do that again. It wouldn't be a surprise though. If he does do that though he will make America look even weaker in this region of the world, a region where that will not gain respect, but scorn.

That wouldn't be President Obama's first mistake on this trip though. Tat right is reserved for the fact that he is bypassing Israel, and in turn sending a signal that he is not supportive of them in their right to a) build settlements and b) defend themselves against Iran.

Tomorrow I will come to discuss the speech in question, but until then I can only speculate. I do know one thing for certain, President Obama is being tested as Vice-President Biden said he'd be, and whether it is responding to North Korean aggression or standing by a longtime ally, he is failing.