The Iranian-financed Hamas attack on Israel is the latest overwhelming evidence of the utter failure of Democrat/progressive foreign policy.
Before Obama’s presidency, the U.S. was far more feared and respected. But he began his tenure with an embarrassing “apology tour” that signaled a far less assertive America.
Barack signaled exceptional weakness in 2014 when he, without explanation or justification, withdrew U.S. tanks from Europe. Russia invaded Crimea that same year.
Despite that, in 2015, the U.S. Army’s cut 40,000 active-duty soldiers, a result of fulfilling the long-held Democrat goal of slashing defense spending. It was performed using the tactic of a budgetary sequestration maneuver.
How was that accomplished? As the Wall Street Journal noted at the time, “(C)ompulsory spending caps that would take effect if the two sides failed to agree on an alternative plan to reduce the deficit—was first proposed by the Obama White House. The allocation of half the sequestration cuts to defense, was …President Obama’s handiwork… Mr. Obama stipulated that half of the $1.2 trillion in sequestration cuts come from defense. In 2013…White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest [said] the force reductions were ‘consistent with the view of our civilian and uniform military leadership about the threats that the country faces…Few in the Defense Department ever held that view. In 2012 Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress that if sequestration went into effect, ‘we would no longer be a global power.’ A year later Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, testified that Mr. Hagel’s review involved ‘rosy assumptions’ that ‘were really put in there so we could say we need a smaller Army.’ He warned that sequestration cuts would “put at substantial risk our ability to conduct even one sustained major combat operation.’ While many bear blame for this military decline, the person most culpable is also the one most capable of reversing it. President Obama.”
Obama’s pacifist world view led him to directly attack attempts to protect the U.S. mainland from missile attacks.
A contemporaneous Heritage analysis reported that “As a candidate, Barack Obama called ballistic missile defense programs ‘unproven’ and vowed to cut them…Obama …initially cancelled some of the most important missile defense programs that were started after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002. The Obama White House has been proven wrong on its missile defense policies time and again over the past seven and a half years.”
The pacifism betrayed one of America’s long-term allies, the Philippines. During the Obama Administration, China invaded the Philippines exclusive economic zone. The President didn’t even issue a diplomatic protest.
Furthering the alteration to U.S. foreign policy, Obama sent a plane filled with cash to Tehran. According to the Wall Street Journal “The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran, according to U.S. and European officials and congressional staff briefed on the operation afterward. Wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were flown into Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, according to these officials….”
Biden followed the footsteps of the Obama Administration, in which he served as vice president.
As 2021 drew to a close, massive Russian forces were placed on the Ukrainian border, and China made every preparation necessary for an invasion of Taiwan. Both Beijing and Moscow had recently unveiled massive new advanced strategic nuclear weapons that neither the United States nor its allies possessed. The two nations had already tested space weapons designed to destroy American defense satellites, leaving the U.S. deaf, dumb, and blind in the event of an attack. Russian and Chinese forces trained and patrolled together, engaging in incursions near U.S. and NATO airspace and sea lanes. Putin threatened U.S. forces in the Black Sea.
With all this clearly evident, the Biden Administration sent a defense budget to Congress that would reduce the Pentagon’s spending power by about 3%, even though America’s armed forces were already overused and exhausted from fighting wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. As China’s navy expands, the Biden Administration’s budget results in America’s maritime force to shrink.
Add to all that the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Iran, as has Russia and China, got the message that the U.S. was weak on foreign affairs. As Aljazeera reported, “US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanctions waivers … US and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place. Congress was not informed of the waiver decision until later, according to the notification, which was obtained by The Associated Press…The waiver drew criticism from Republicans and others who say the deal will boost the Iranian economy at a time when that country poses a growing threat to US troops and allies in the Middle East.”
Iran funds terrorist organizations around the world, and relief from sanctions and cash from America gives it the ability to support Hamas and similar groups.
Hamas has acquired sophisticated weaponry thanks to Iran, and has used them to attack Israel.