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Defiance inviting tough response, maybe By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on May 28, 2009, in the Connersville News-Examiner. It has been a difficult week for President Barack Obama.
A week ago on May 21, Congress handed the president a stinging rebuke by denying funding for closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay holding illegal combatants from the war on terror. The vote in the Senate wasn’t even close, with senators lining up 90-6 to block Obama’s planned shutdown and quash any idea of bringing the captured terrorists to American soil. In a chamber split 59/39 favoring Democrats, the Senate’s defiance sends a clear message from it’s membership: they don’t care what the president wants in this case, they are listening to their constituents, who are understandably irate at the thought of letting terrorists loose in their backyards. “I think they need to be kept elsewhere, wherever that is,” said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. “I don’t want to see them come on American soil.” President Obama was, to say the least, indignant at the move, calling the reasons “fear-mongering” and claiming that maximum security prisons are more than adequate to handle the ruthless murderers caught on the battlefield. Obama’s plan to close the prison, which he made in the early hours of his presidency, has drawn criticism from security-minded conservatives from day one, but this is the first time the president’s own party has significantly broken ranks with him. The administration has been struggling to develop a plan to close the prison — a plan that has been further stymied by our allies overseas. Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent trip to Europe looking for cooperation with detainees came off like a scene from Oliver Twist — as Holder asked the Europeans to please take some more detainees, he was told ‘no’ with uncertain terms. As the detainee question becomes a growing headache for the president, some lawmakers are quietly indicating things should have been left alone by introducing legislation to keep the prison open — but without the alleged torture. Regardless, Obama has pledged to work with lawmakers to develop “an appropriate legal regime” to try the captured terrorists, thus hinting at an eventual exit strategy for his Gitmo quagmire. But just as this controversy seemed to be quieting down for the Memorial Day weekend, President Obama was dealt with further defiance — this time, from overseas. North Korea, the despotic socialist dictatorship the U.S. has been sparring with diplomatically for years, touched off its second nuclear test on May 25. But that was not the only trick the North Koreans had. Immediately following the test, the North Koreans launched two short-range missiles — clearly showing their defiance to the world as a whole, and Obama in particular. North Korea claims it is building its nuclear program as deterrence against hostile actions from its enemies — namely, the United States. The move is troubling, since the North tested its Taepodong-2 missile on April 9 — a missile capable of reaching U.S. soil. Obama and administration officials have strongly condemned the North Korean tests, promising consequences for the North’s actions. “North Korea has made a choice, chosen to violate the specific language of the U.N. Security Council [Resolution] 1718. It has ignored the international community, abrogated the six-party talks and continues to act in a provocative and belligerent manner,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. “In the United Nations, as we speak, discussions are going on as to the consequences that North Korea will face coming out of the latest behavior, trying to rein in the North Koreans and get them back into a framework they have chosen where they fulfill their obligations,” she said. That’s all well and good, but the United Nations is little more than a debating society unless the United States military enforces the U.N.’s resolutions, as we did in Iraq. To add to the overt defiance we are now facing, it appears that Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela — a regime just itching to be included in the Axis of Evil — and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program. The claim, which comes from Israeli intelligence, has yet to be independently corroborated, but it is consistent with Chavez’s belligerence towards the United States. Iran itself recently tested a long-range surface-to-surface missile capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe. This combination of events is getting particularly troubling — rogue states are developing nuclear weapons and long-range delivery systems, and all the U.S. and U.N. is doing is wagging fingers at them. Although some say these countries are simply trying to carve out their own spheres of influence, the United States cannot afford to take that chance. In a world with growing dictators looking to make names for themselves, it would not be hard to imagine that North Korea, Iran and Venezuela may want to strike out against its neighbors — and the United States. Obama needs to realize simply talking to these rogue states is not enough. Unless he can demonstrate that he is willing to use force against our enemies, they will continue to defy him. Hopefully, he will realize this before they take it a step further. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2009, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
This is not to say that being president of the United States is an easy job, but now that Obama is meeting defiance from adversaries foreign and domestic, the degree of difficulty has been ratcheted up.
