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The Too Little, Too Late Presidency
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John Bolton looks at the continual dithering behaviour of the U.S. president in the Middle East- Iran, Libya, Syria, Iraq in sequence- and provides some insights into the president's behaviour. He says it comes from Obama's distrust of the U.S. role in the world as a positive factor, and a deterministic view of the "arc of history" bending towards outcomes he finds ideologically acceptable. This coincides with a different public perception of America's role in the world, not so much of mistrust and skepticism, as of indifference and focus back on domestic issues following the event of the first war in Iraq and of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The two are different in nature as the public including women may not share the ideological frame of mind of the president that the U.S. is not overall a serious positive factor in the world through the presidencies of TR, Wilson, FDR, Truman, Ike, to Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton, from the Russo-Japanese war, through the First and Second World War, the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War, to the Balkan conflict. Bolton writes at a time when the two perceptions are about to diverge as the U.S. returns to its normal role of positive and constructive engagement with the world.
France and Britain lead the effort for military action to support the democracy movement in Libya-2011
10/22/2010
The Obama administration turns only after pressure from President Sarkozy and four days of frantic diplomacy and preparations starting Monday, March 14, 2011. On that day Sarkozy met Hillary Clinton in Paris and pushed for military action.
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U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta's account of the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya
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Paneta tells the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Congress how the Obama administration responded, including a timeline of events during questioning by Inhofe, McCain and other senators.
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John McCain, Lindsey Graham and John Bolton on the contradictions and failure of the Obama policy in Syria and Iraq in 2013-2016
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The WSJ on the faltering and indecision of the Obama administration's position on Syria
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The use of chemical weapons by the Assad government in Syria and the failure of the U.S. Obama administration's response in Syria
08/23/2011
The western world looks on as chemical weapons are used repeatedly by Syria's Assad government, according to some reports. The lack of leadership from the U.S., France, Britain and Germany. The failure of the Russian government under Putin to separate global geopolitics from the aspirations of the people of Syria for freedom and democracy and the use of artillery and bombing of civilian population.
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The consensus in the Obama administration to support Syria's democracy forces in summer 2011, and the U.S. president's failure to act
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Defense Secretary describes the plans supported by key members of the National Security team to support Syrian democracy forces in the summer of 2011- supported by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Clinton, General Dempsey of the Joint Chiefs, and CIA director Petraeus. The president failed to act because of approaching elections and the general hesitation to act that was displayed since the start of the democracy movement in Tunisia, and then through the movement's spread to Egypt, Libya, followed by Syria. The U.S. failed to grasp an opportunity for the Free World and create goodwill in the Arab world by standing up to its ideals of democracy and freedom.
Grouped Articles
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The Obama presidency and the earlier decisions for Iraq and Syria as seen in September 2014 and May 2015
09/20/2014
In early 2014 op-ed pages of the NYT and WSJ are used by Hillary Clinton and General Jones, former Secretary of State and former National Security Advisor, calling into question Obama's failure to act decisively in Syria and Iraq. By September 2014 the policy appears to be unraveling. Hardly any reporters or critics mention that all the Syrian democracy forces needed was the "no fly zone" offered to Libya. Timely decisive use of American airpower early in the conflict would have enabled the success of the democracy forces in Syria. General Keene called for this in an op-ed on 5/22/2013 and the WSJ editorial on 8/29/2013 refuted claims that this would cost $1 billion. Actually Gen. Keane stated that all that was necessary was to destroy the 50 runways and the air defense system of the Assad regime, which the U.S. had capabilities for even with the Russian support to Assad. It also would have met the early misguided efforts of the Putin government to exert influence in regions against the will of the people in the name of Russian nationalism, which extended following Syria to Eastern Europe. It would have kept U.S. ground forces out and gradually stabilized the region with democratic governments in Syria and Libya- with U.S. economic support and guidance during a transition period. Truman was coming out of the Second World War when he faced and responded to the efforts to extend communist regimes in Greece and southern Europe within a few years of the global conflict. Truman and General Marshall accomplished in Europe what Obama failed to do in North Africa when a challenge as well as an opportunity presented itself. Truman also listened to exceptional leaders in his circle of advisors. The U.S. has strategic interests in the Middle East and concern for the welfare of the region and its people. This was neglected in preference for involvement in Afghanistan, where involvement is only for the purpose of keeping a failing state from becoming a haven for terrorism. A permanent settlement between India and Pakistan c
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06/10/2014
By allowing reckless intervention by Putin's Russia in Syria, and by its policies in the Middle East after the Arab Spring, the Obama administration has starved the hopes of an entire region heavily oriented towards a young demographic for participatory democracy and economic development, leaving it to descend into religious conflict, and then into sectarian conflict.
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Retired British diplomat Charles Crawford on on how U.S. policy on chemical weapons in Syria of president Obama has failed
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Crawford writes in the British daily, The Telegraph, on Sept. 10, 2013, on how sadly things have gone wrong. He calls it the worst day in western diplomatic history.
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Displaced Iraqis in Kurdish areas of Iraq and other parts of the country following the U.S. intervention period and the invasion by Islamic State from Syria. Just as the country was returning to a degree of normalcy after the U.S intervention, actions of the Maliki adminsitration and Islamic State's attack on Mosul lead to a huge wave of refugees and displaced people by the winter of 2014-2015. The inaction of the Obama administration till the fomation of the new Abadi government in Iraq worsened the situation.
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