No Mention During His Daily Television Show
Question: Does President Obama understand that foreign policy is part of his job description? This means more than bowing to the Saudi King, shaking hands with Hugo Chavez and basically giving up the responsibility for the protection of our citizens here and around the world to a decision by committee of world leaders and the United Nations?
While holding a press conference on Monday to discuss the nickels and dimes that he is tasking his departments with shaving off of their budgets, no mention was made of the extremely disturbing news coming out of Pakistan.
To give President Obama some perspective, because according to his minions he has been in office such a short time he shouldn't be expected to be held responsible for anything that goes on there (everything is apparently a result of the failures of the last 8 years), Pakistan is a partner in the war on terror, possesses nukes and is apparently slowly being taken over by the Taliban. Now if we look at the map below, we find that Pakistan, situated between it's arch enemy India and Afghanistan (and again possessing nuclear weapons) is in a strategically very important and dangerous location.
To all of the Obama apologists out there who seem to think that it is way to early in his administration to expect much out of him (I think they believe that would be somewhere in his 4th year if ever), this situation with the Taliban has the potential to morf out of control and affect all of us in some very disturbing ways.
Now while cutting $100 MM over a 5 year period from a few different agencies is all well and good, what Mr. President, is the plan for this spreading problem? Perhaps President Obama doesn't view the spread of Islamic fundamentalist power as a problem. I suppose that could be true as well.
In the event that the Congress and the President have not been briefed by Secretary of State Clinton (who also may possibly not be aware of the situation with more important items on her plate like keeping an eye on her husband), here is a summary:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 19 -- A potentially troubling era dawned Sunday in Pakistan's Swat Valley, where a top Islamist militant leader, emboldened by a peace agreement with the federal government, laid out an ambitious plan to bring a "complete Islamic system" to the surrounding northwest region and the entire country.
Speaking to thousands of followers in an address aired live from Swat on national news channels, cleric Sufi Mohammed bluntly defied the constitution and federal judiciary, saying he would not allow any appeals to state courts under the system of sharia, or Islamic law, that will prevail there as a result of the peace accord signed by the president Tuesday.
"The Koran says that supporting an infidel system is a great sin," Mohammed said, referring to Pakistan's modern democratic institutions. He declared that in Swat, home to 1.5 million people, all "un-Islamic laws and customs will be abolished," and he suggested that the official imprimatur on the agreement would pave the way for sharia to be installed in other areas...(
Washington Post)
I say it often, but apparently it has to be said over and over and over. President Obama, there is a foreign policy component to you job. Perhaps as important as the economy and health care, because if a rogue nation or terrorist group somehow releases a nuclear device, the economy becomes a little less important.
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