President Obama, Israel and The Palestinians

President Obama in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th in a speech to the world had some blunt words for Israel.  He expressed sympathy for the Palestinians and what he called the "daily humiliations, large and small, that come with occupation."  He also described the Palestinians plight as "intolerable" after 60 years of statelessness reported the New York Times and several T.V. stations.  The President also said the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. 

 

Obama's speech was a clear break from the previous administration and signaled he does not support or desire to continue the status quo on the subject.  His speech was also a direct piece of diplomacy to let Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu know that the U.S. policy is no new and or expansion of settlements into Palestinians territory and that the two state solution is the only solution.  Netanyahu has recently slipped away from those two conditions.

 

It is about time an American President faces the real problem concerning Israel and the Palestinian problem.  President Obama needs to hang tough and continue to be blunt in his pursuit of a lasting peace.  It will take tough dialog between all parties concerned because there will be factions on both sides that will try and wreck the peace process.  If President Obama follows through on his courageous speech it will make a difference and a lasting peace will have an opportunity to evolve. 

Afghanistran: A Troubled Foreign Policy

The United States and a few allies have been in Afghanistan since late 2001, almost 8 years, yet the Taliban is as strong as ever, the Afghan government is still unstable, corruption still rampant according to the latest reports and their poppi trade still flourishing and still being used to support the Taliban.  Meanwhile Americans are still being killed and our own military leaders tell us it will get worse.

 

The border area's with Pakistan we are told are still a haven for Al Queda and the Taliban despite the million's of dollars given Pakistan to clean up those area's.  Much of the Afghan population still support the Taliban.  The Taliban also know how to fight an occupation thanks to their war with the Soviet Union and the help of the U.S. in that war.  So what should the U.S. do different since there has been no real progress in almost 8 years of war and occupation.

 

The U.S. and its allies must convince Pakistan to clean up the safe havens in border regions and deny Al Queda and the Taliban a base to operate from.  Since Obama took office it seems that Pakistan is making a serious effort to do so.  Time will tell.  It is better if Pakistan assumes the responsibility to do this because that will send the real message to AlQueda and the Taliban. 

 

The U.S. should step up its use of unmanned drones which we are told is being very successful.  The U.S. should also work to get a U.N. security force into Afghanistan to take over security.  The U.S. presence could and should be lessoned if the border regions are cleaned up by Pakistan and Afghanistan.  It is really their war and their countries that are being threatened. 

 

If the U.S. implements a foreign policy of sending more Americans into Afghanistan as the war in Iraq winds down that will only bring the same deployment problems to Afghanistan that he U.S. suffered from in Iraq and our troops will once again pay the price of those multiple deployments.  If Afghanistan is handled like Iraq the U.S. will be in Afghanistan another 10 years and the problem will still not be solved.  This writer still does not know what the U.S. game plan is for Afghanistan from what I have seen so far.  Maybe there is some secret diplomacy going on between the parties that will end this sad situation.  Our men and women in uniform deserve better and the American people need to know what the end game is and how the U.S. will accomplish it.