The Vice Presidential debate concluded and only two more debates will occur before this upcoming November election. Governor Romney is racing to get his ducks in order for next week’s foreign policy debate. He doesn’t need stacks of documents to study--he only needs this one article.
Since President Obama took office, the war in Afghanistan has turned for the worse. This is a fact supported with horrifying numbers. Only one number needs to be revealed to the American public proving this point—American service members killed in Afghanistan.
In the seven years that President Bush oversaw the war in Afghanistan, approximately 569 US troops were killed. In the three and a half years President Obama has been our Commander-in-Chief, that number has spiked approximately 70% to 1,431. How could President Obama explain the stark differences in these numbers?
Basic counter insurgency (COIN) requires you to treat the population as the center of gravity. In doing so, you protect that population while sharing their risks. This convinces the people you're serious about helping them. However, if the Commander-in-Chief announces the date you're leaving, it makes it extremely difficult to convince the people you're going to protect them.
The people of Afghanistan know that after we leave, the Taliban will move in and anyone who helped Americans will be killed. So what do they do? They hedge their bets and bide their time until we leave. By announcing the 2014 pull-out, President Obama has cut the legs out from the very strategy he has bound our military to follow.
President Obama’s foreign policy has not only endangered our service members, it also endangered American values of life, liberty, and adequate due process among everyday American citizens. Since President Obama took office, he authorized the indiscriminate killing of US citizens Anwar Al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. They were Al Qaeda operatives staged in Yemen.
In 2010, President Obama authorized the two Al Qaeda operative’s lives come to an end by means of a drone strike. These citizens were never granted their Constitutional rights of due process. Which American citizen will be next and when will this abuse in power end?
In 2009, the “Green Movement” in Iran unfolded. This was a movement inside Iran meant to topple the current regime. That current regime is the very regime that threatens the world with nuclear developments.
The Obama Administration did nothing to support the pro-democracy “Green movement” which could have ended the current Iranian regime’s initiatives of procuring a nuclear arsenal. It could have also reduced an unprecedented amount of violence throughout the entire Middle East that has been sparked and fueled by Iranian backed operatives.
Supporting the Green Movement could have marginalized the atrocities that continue to unfold in Syria as well as stabilized security for our ally, Israel. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that the Obama administration failed to capitalize on. Instead, the current US administration continues to support oppositions closely aligned with Al Qaeda.
As Libyan oppositions fought to topple the Qaddafi regime, the United States took a leading role in a multi-national air campaign supporting anti-Qaddafi fighters. US tax payer dollars were used to support an opposition which later assassinated Ambassador Chris Stevens.
US intelligence revealed that the very opposition that fought Muammar Qaddafi’s regime incorporated Al Qaeda based terrorists into its mix. These fighters comprised of terrorists from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) among others.
With these facts, the current administration continues to wastefully spend billions of US taxpayer dollars in foreign aid to nations who have absolutely zero respect for our kindness and generosity nor any appreciation for our values as a nation. We spend this money unwisely during a time when the US economy remains putrid.
Billions of dollars have gone to Egypt’s recently elected Muslim brotherhood government. Yet that same government which comprises of members who openly vow to create a Sharia Law abiding world sat back and watched protestors breach our embassy. Those we provided such aid to did doing nothing to protect that small piece of US sovereign territory.
Truth be told, under the current administration’s watch, no piece of US sovereign territory is safe—including our homeland. The Obama administration has embraced a very dangerous enemy by supporting their initiatives throughout the Middle East and in doing so one of our ambassadors has been killed.
This administration has neglected their oaths of secrecy by revealing insight toward the Osama Bin Laden mission. Their inept adherence to operational security has left several Navy SEAL’s and their family member’s publicly voice their concern and express fear for their lives. When our own special operators voice such concerns, something is terribly wrong with American leadership—leadership under the current administration.
And our special operators should fear for their livelihoods. This administration has actually targeted many special operators and their intelligence counterparts placing their careers at risk. Unnecessary investigations of abuse, one of which started by claims made by an Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq, left three Navy SEAL’s careers in jeopardy.
Simply put, the current administration’s foreign policy is disastrous. More US service members have died under the current administration’s watch then the previous administration. Our best and brightest have been ousted while terrorists have been embraced. We spend money in places that have zero respect nor tolerance for American values. We have missed opportunities we will likely never see again. These facts prove that this President and his entire administration have jeopardized our nation. It’s time we bring security back through sound and executable foreign policy initiatives.
Kerry Patton, a combat disabled veteran, is the author of ‘Sociocultural Intelligence: The New Discipline of Intelligence Studies’ and the children’s book ‘American Patriotism’.
