By
the time this is being read the foreign policy debate between the President and
his challenger is history. The timing of
the debate and the printing of this paper did not avail itself to meeting the
publisher's deadline. Nevertheless,
since the United States is a world power, the foreign policy of this country is
felt around the world. Additionally, the
way we implement foreign policy goes a long way toward keeping us safe.
In
1823 when the country was still healing from the wounds of the Revolutionary
War that resulted in the breaking away from the tyranny of Great Britain,
President James Monroe created what has been called the "Monroe
Doctrine." Simply stated, President
Monroe said in his seventh State of the Union address that the United States
would no longer allow European colonies to continue with the practice of
colonizing in America. Nor would any
further European influences be allowed to interfere with various states in the
United States.
In
1904 President Theodore Roosevelt used the Monroe Doctrine to define the
natural consequence of that Doctrine to extend it to include Latin
America. From the premise of his
statement, "Walk softly, but carry a big stick," Roosevelt said,
"If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and
decency in social and political matters, ...it need fear no interference from
the United States." He further
added, "Chronic wrongdoing...in the Western Hemisphere...may force the
United States...to the exercise of an international police power." Obviously, President Kennedy used elements of
the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Doctrine to establish a blockade against
the former Soviet Union from establishing nuclear weapons in Cuba.
With
the growth of communism after World War II and during the Korean War in 1947
President Harry Truman initiated the "Truman Doctrine" in his promise
to help countries with economic stability, equipment and even military force
for those who were threatened by the spread of communism. If the country's citizens were resisting the
attempts of subjugation by communist pressure, the Truman Doctrine established
the containment policy to keep communism out of free countries.
In
1980 President Carter saw attempts by the Soviet Union to consolidate strategic
positions in the Middle East to capture the world oil market. Because of the "vital interest of the
United States," in the Persian Gulf region, President Carter vowed to use
military force if necessary to protect American economic and national interests
in the Persian Gulf. Being a strong ally
with Israel, it was President Carter's efforts that brought about the alliance
between Egypt and Israel through the Camp David peace talks.
From
the 1980s until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Reagan Doctrine that
was created by President Ronald Reagan moved from simple containment of
communism to actually providing military and financial support to guerilla
forces to actually fight the threat of communist takeover of a government. President Reagan believed in a strong
national defense by ensuring a strong military and thought weaknesses perceived
by enemies was motivation for them to be emboldened to attack the United
States.
President
George W. Bush developed a "Doctrine" as a result of the events on
9/11/2001 when terrorists slammed commercial jetliners into the Twin Towers,
Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania.
The heart of his Doctrine consisted of his belief that those countries
who harbored terrorists and trained terrorism to attack others around the world
should be treated as actual terrorists themselves. This added the component of
"prevention" to the Doctrines that have survived past Presidential
Administrations. The "Bush
Doctrine" consists of a series of policies meant to keep American citizens
safe from terrorists.
Now,
with the advent of the current President's inauguration a new
"Doctrine" was implemented. It
began with announcements to the enemies against whom we were waging war being
told of the future date of withdrawal of American forces so the enemy could
prepare their own combatants during their wait for the Americans to leave. It then moved on to a world apology tour
where the President went around the world apologizing for America to those who
sought to destroy America. To put the
exclamation point on the new "Obama Doctrine", the President
punctuated his meetings with Middle Eastern leaders with a waist-deep bow. Not to be misunderstood by the leaders
harboring those training in terrorist camps, the President began to move away
from the only Democracy in the Middle East, Israel.
With
the new Obama Doctrine firmly in place the Iranians now have almost four more
years advancement in building nuclear weapons and delivery systems of those
weapons. The so-called "Arab
Spring" has resulted in a destabilization of the region with Muslim
Brotherhood leaders in Egypt and thousands of civilian citizens killed in
Syria. The relationship between Russia
and the United States is at a low ebb while the Russian President waits for the
US President to be re-elected so he can "have more flexibility" to
work with the Russian government. This
new Presidential Doctrine represents a new chapter in past Presidential
Doctrines. Take a look at one outcome
with the new Doctrine:
In
my lifetime, especially when mass media came to the fore with television, if
any attack on an American Consulate or Embassy occurred that resulted in
American lives being lost, it would have been the number one discussion in the
Administration and Congress. There would have been "measured"
responses applied to responsible groups and a concerted voice of condemnation
of the act. Instead, with this current terrorist attack in Libya resulting in a
murdered Ambassador and three other Americans it was initially covered by the
Administration by having the blame placed squarely on some short video aired on
YouTube that began playing back in July.
The result of that "Doctrine" it only seemed to embolden
others in the area to raise up riots against twenty-two other Consulates and
Embassies in the region.
The
President, instead of rushing back to the White House and meeting with his
National Security team to discuss options and draw the curtain of protection
around the other Embassies and Consulates in Northern Africa and the Middle
East, flew off to Las Vegas for a fund raiser. Some of his subsequent
discussion was presented to the American people via a late-night talk show and
a discussion group on the daytime television program, "The View." Even
a month later the Administration and the State Department seemed to be at odds
in statements about the entire incident.
If
this is a strategy the Administration is using to demonstrate to the rest of
the world that America is changing its foreign policy from a position of
strength with immediate consequences for terrorist attacks to a position of
tolerance and quiet, apologetic humility resulting in covering up the attack
with diversion, and apologizing for America's actions, it seems to be working.
Not to America's advantage, but the emboldened positions of the radicals who
are watching.
If
the President is given another four-year term in office, I wonder how far this
new strategy will take us regarding our position in the world community as we
move "forward"?
Jim Killebrew
