In case you hadn't heard, the Middle East seems to be collapsing into an Islamist utopia where Americans serve as pinatas and violence is the norm. Tunisia, Egypt and Libya all are disturbingly ill at ease.
To say the president has reacted poorly, and politically to the entire situation is an understatement. The apologizer in chief, has stayed true to form and Iranian hostage crisis 2.0 is warming up.As Americans gathered Tuesday to mark the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, angry Muslims stormed the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. Similar attacks had occurred hours earlier at the U.S. embassy in Egypt and now there are reports that Muslims in Algeria and Tunisia are being called on to carry out similar attacks.
Is it possible to learn from history? Apparently not if you are an American president determined to win the love of the Islamic world. Over 33 years ago, Islamist rioters stormed an American embassy. U.S. sovereignty was violated and hostages were taken. The immediate response from America, though, was conciliatory–as if those who had insulted the United States could be convinced to think better of their target if those who had just been attacked made enough apologies. The result was the Iran hostage crisis that helped bring down the administration of Jimmy Carter. You might think American diplomats would have learned the lessons of Carter’s Iran debacle but judging by the statement issued today by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, perhaps that chapter of history is no longer considered required reading in the age of Obama.
Whether Obama can distance himself from an embassy's apology is not as important as the fact that he has set the tone with his behavior with allies and enemies alike and even dating back to his apology tour of the Middle East. Lost in all of this appears to be Obama's snub of Netanyahu recently vis-a-vis Iran.
