Obama: Egypt Is Not Our Ally, But Not Our Enemy

[Lil Red]

[url="http://twitchy.com/2012/09/13/obama-cant-say-terrorist-spikes-football-as-4-lay-dead-declares-he-lost-egypt-as-ally-luke-russert-slams/"]from Twitchy[/url]

[url="http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/13/video-nbc-chief-foreign-correspondent-blasts-obamas-egypt-not-an-ally-statement/"]NBC Foreign correspondent can't believe it[/url]

[url="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/obama-says-egypt-neither-ally-nor-enemy/"]ABC News[/url]
President Obama says the U.S. would no longer consider the Egyptian government an ally, “but we don’t consider them an enemy.”

In an interview with the Spanish-language network Telemundo, less than 24 hours after [url="http://abcnews.go.com/International/protest-erupts-us-embassies-sana-yemen-cairo/story?id=17223571"][b]violent mobs stormed American diplomatic outposts[/b][/url] in Cairo and Benghazi, Libya, Obama said the new Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt was still “trying to find its way.”

“They were democratically elected. I think we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident, to see how they respond to maintaining the peace treaty with Israel,” he said.

Egyptian security forces were slow to respond to attacks on the U.S. embassy Tuesday night when crowds infiltrated the compound and tore down the U.S. flag. The incident occurred shortly before an [url="http://abcnews.go.com/International/libya-consulate-hit-attacks-lasted-hours/story?id=17215154"][b]attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya[/b] [/url]left four Americans dead. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi did not offer a public response to either incident until 24 hours later.

“What we’ve seen is that in some cases, they’ve said the right things and taken the right steps. In others, how they’ve responded to other events may not be aligned with some of our interests, so I think it’s still a work in progress,” Obama told Telemundo. “But certainly in this situation what we’re going to expect is that they are responsive to our insistence that our embassy is protected that our personnel is protected. And if they take actions that indicate they are not taking those responsibilities like all countries do where we have embassies, I think that’s going to be a real big problem.”

The White House said [url="http://http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/obama-calls-leaders-in-libya-egypt-over-protests/"][b]Obama phoned Morsi[/b][/url] on Wednesday night to underscore “the importance of Egypt following through on its commitment to cooperate with the United States in securing U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel” in the wake of violent anti-American protests outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Morsi told Obama “that Egypt would honor its obligation to ensure the safety of American personnel,” according to a statement released by the administration.

In his interview with Telemundo, Obama stopped short of calling for a reconsideration of the more than $1 billion in U.S. aid to Egypt. “The United States doesn’t have the option of withdrawing from the world. [url="http://abcn.ws/RNcS4P"][b]We’re the one indispensable nation[/b][/url]. Countries around the world look to us for leadership, even countries where sometimes you experience protest,” he said.

[url="http://twitchy.com/2012/09/13/white-house-lapdog-media-walk-back-obamas-declaration-that-he-lost-egypt-ally-is-legal-term-of-art/"]White House walks back the statement[/url]

=======
how about in this thread people refrain from telling other people to shut up, or calling other people stupid? kthxbai.

[Nihil Obstat]

“The United States doesn’t have the option of withdrawing from the world. [url="http://abcn.ws/RNcS4P"][b]We’re the one indispensable nation[/b][/url]. Countries around the world look to us for leadership, even countries where sometimes you experience protest.”


This is why nothing will ever change.

[Winchester]

What an incredibly stupid thing nationalism is. What a moron we have for president, and what ridiculous fools we have as "leaders".

[r2Dtoo]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1347641327' post='2482350']
“The United States doesn’t have the option of withdrawing from the world. [url="http://abcn.ws/RNcS4P"][b]We’re the one indispensable nation[/b][/url]. Countries around the world look to us for leadership, even countries where sometimes you experience protest.”[/quote]
This statement contradicts everything else Barrack Obama has said and actually does. All he talks about is "withdrawl" from Afganistan, and how he's so sorry for all of our alleged past transgressions. He wants us to "lead from behind". He even once said that America is no longer capable of being the dominant power in the Pacific. This administration has been about nothing but decline and withdrawl and while I would welcome the change I doubt it's coming anytime soon. At least not from him anyway.

Edited September 14, 2012 by r2Dtoo

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='r2Dtoo' timestamp='1347646582' post='2482373']
This statement contradicts everything else Barrack Obama has said and actually does. All he talks about is "withdrawl" from Afganistan, and how he's so sorry for all of our alleged past transgressions. He wants us to "lead from behind". He even once said that America is no longer capable of being the dominant power in the Pacific. This administration has been about nothing but decline and withdrawl and while I would welcome the change I doubt it's coming anytime soon. At least not from him anyway.
[/quote]

Afghanistan yes, he talks about that. What he never talks about, as far as I have ever noticed, is making substantive changes in the way the United States conducts itself on the world stage.

Like always, nothing real ever changes. They will change the way things look, they will change the rhetoric. They will never change the corrupt, sick root of it all.

[r2Dtoo]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1347647218' post='2482374']
Afghanistan yes, he talks about that. What he never talks about, as far as I have ever noticed, is making substantive changes in the way the United States conducts itself on the world stage.

Like always, nothing real ever changes. They will change the way things look, they will change the rhetoric. They will never change the corrupt, sick root of it all.
[/quote]
Please specifically explain.

[Aloysius]

"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations-entangling alliances with none." -Jefferson

Egypt should not be an "ally" at all. It's amusing that the right wing "Obama is a muslim" crowd suddenly want us to confirm an alliance with a country run by the Muslim brotherhood.

Sure this is a gaffe, because despite the founding principles of our nation, the State Department still considers Egypt to be an "ally" so Obama did misspeak. Of course, it sounds like what he's trying to say is that the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood government can't just count on us as an ally, it has to earn that alliance (again, we shouldn't be having an alliance, but if we did it shouldn't just be default with any nation, most especially not a new unproven one run by the Muslim Brotherhood). We shouldn't be their ally, we shouldn't be their enemy; we should extend the possibility of friendship so long as they ensure the protection of our diplomatic personnel and deal with us fairly and honestly.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='r2Dtoo' timestamp='1347647437' post='2482377']
Please specifically explain.
[/quote]

Well look at Obama's last campaign. He talked nonstop about hope and change. We knew it was all a smokescreen. We knew there would be no change.

Yeah, he talks differently than Bush did, or McCain or Romney. The rhetoric is different. He wants to talk about the disenfranchised and the oppressed women and poor, and he wants to talk about women's rights and equality. But do you think that actually matters to him? Of course it does not. It is all simply calculated to score political points.

No politician actually wants change. They want power. They will talk about change, if it will get them power. Or they will talk about traditional values. Or whatever. They want power, influence, and money. No politician will ever truly try to change the system, because the system is what allows them to take that power. It is all a big game.

The Republicans are not truly enemies with the Democrats. They are both allied against the unwashed masses. It is one giant sociopathic game designed to fool enough people so as to provide an illusion of consent to their corruption and greed.

[Aloysius]

[quote name='r2Dtoo' timestamp='1347647437' post='2482377']
Please specifically explain.
[/quote]

Obama has expanded the wars on every front that he could (so much for his Nobel peace prize)

He withdrew from Iraq on the same timetable Bush had agreed to.
He plans to withdraw from Afghanistan on the same timetable Romney Ryan says they'd like to (2014)

Mr. Obama has not significantly altered foreign policy one iota since taking office. If you believe that he has, you are being suckered by the partisan talking heads.

[r2Dtoo]

[quote name='Aloysius' timestamp='1347647757' post='2482381']
Obama has expanded the wars on every front that he could (so much for his Nobel peace prize)

He withdrew from Iraq on the same timetable Bush had agreed to.
He plans to withdraw from Afghanistan on the same timetable Romney Ryan says they'd like to (2014)[/quote]
What makes you think the rest of the world cares about all that?

When a President goes on an apology tour, talks about withdrawl dates more often than he wipes himself, and declares us a second rate power in the Pacific that is going to cause a fundamental change in how the world percieves us, they now perceive us as weak and will position themselves to attack like they are currently doing. Foreign relations are more about image than it actually is about policy, Al.

[Aloysius]

sounds like you listen to too much talk radio or fox news or cnn or something. everything you list that the president "has done" is a total mischaracterization by biased talking heads who just want to control the political narrative.

[r2Dtoo]

[quote name='Aloysius' timestamp='1347654184' post='2482408']
sounds like you listen to too much talk radio or fox news or cnn or something. everything you list that the president "has done" is a total mischaracterization by biased talking heads who just want to control the political narrative.
[/quote]
You like to live in your own little bubble, don't you?

[MIKolbe]

pot meet kettle

[r2Dtoo]

Anyone who thinks image isn't' paramount could use some military training.

[Aloysius]

It's just that what you think our image is has been extremely skewed by the people you heard about "what the president is doing" from. Obama has continued to act in the same way as Bush, and the things that you "cited" as any different you described in ways so far removed from reality as to be unrecognizable. The entire paradigm under which you are evaluating world events here is extremely skewed, and would probably be different if a president doing the same things had an ( R) after his name rather than a (D). Because Bush made a lot of gaffes himself. It was said that Bush made us look "stupid" and the other side now says Obama makes us look "weak"; both of them gallivanted around the world starting wars and intervening with other countries, inspiring the type of blowback we are seeing now.

If anyone thinks our military is weak, they have come to that conclusion not because Barack went on "an apology tour"; if they think we're weak, it's because they see we are stretching ourselves thin and spending our way into bankruptcy (and yes, on wasteful defense spending that needs to be cut as well). the U.S. is still seen to be as belligerent and excited to start wars as it ever was in the world, no one out there has any inkling of the "Obama is weak" image that has been invented by political punditry on one side of the aisle (designed to convince us to vote for Romney, not actually designed to give us any insight into what's actually happening on the world stage)

Edited September 14, 2012 by Aloysius