American Diplomacy 101
There is something fundamentally wrong about the way the United States views the rest of the world and interacts with it. I would cite two incidents from the past week: In a Tuesday press conference at the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Obama fielded a series of questions on the US economy’s impending “double dip recession” and other domestic issues, leaving Merkel standing by and looking completely useless. I have never quite understood why the American President somehow believes that a press conference to introduce a visiting head of state is an appropriate forum for questions totally unrelated to the bilateral relationship or the visitor. It smacks of an arrogance that is completely unrestrained by either common sense or civility.
On Friday Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California led a delegation from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. During an hour and 40 minute meeting, Rohrabacher informed al Maliki that his committee is investigating the killing by Iraqi troops of 35 Iranian dissidents in April. Rohrabacher called it a likely crime against humanity. Rohrabacher also asked Iraq to repay some of the costs of the 2003 US invasion and the subsequent occupation. An Iraqi government spokesman responded that Iraq would pay not “a cent” and the Foreign Ministry then demanded that the delegation leave Iraq. The Iranians in question are members of the Mujaheddin e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian terrorist group that found shelter in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It has been listed as a terrorist organization by the US government for the past ten years and has been implicated in the killing of Americans.
It seems that Rohrabacher and some fellow wingnuts to include Ileana Ros Lehtinen, the committee chairman, have a soft spot in their hearts for MEK because it is an enemy of the Mullah regime in Tehran. They have tried a number of times to get it delisted as a terrorist organization. Not coincidentally, the congressmen who are fond of MEK are also passionate supporters of Israel. My enemy’s enemy…
The point is that Rohrabacher and Obama fail to be guided by the Bobby Burns dictum to see ourselves as others see us. What Iraqis, whose country was invaded and in large part destroyed by the US, see is an arrogant and ignorant moron wrapped in congressional hubris who has done grave damage to them and is now asking that they should pay for it and even be indicted for war crimes when so many American crimes went unpunished. Germans watching the Obama-Merkel performance will understand that the US President was speaking to a media crowd that is so poorly informed and self-absorbed that they could not even come up with any decent questions for a respected and important visitor.
This just reaffirms my belief that we need to outsource our foreign policy to some Swiss management firm. We are outsourcing everything else, why not our foreign policy?
The firm to managing our affairs would have only three goals, the maintenance of our sovereignty, the success of our businesses abroad and our access to French wines and British actresses. The firm would be paid a percentage of our national take as it were, and we could all forget about ethnic lobbys and idiotic crusades.
I’m not sure which is more incompetent, the US government or the media tasked with covering it. May they both go bankrupt. Soon.
Sir, with all do respect before you write a piece do your due diligence on the subject matter. Removal of the MEK is supported by a broad spectrum of political figures and a vast number of members of Congress. A resolution in the House to remove the MEK from the FTO has been co-sponsored by at least 80 members of the House and that number is growing daily. Others calling for the removal of the MEK from both sides of the aisle including Gov. Howard Dean, Bill Richardson, at least three former Joint Chiefs, Gen. James Jones, Michael Mukasey, Francis Townsend, Porter Goss, James Woolsey, John Bolton, Rudy Giuliani, State Dept. Counterterrorism official Dell Daily, Tom Ridge etc. etc.
They were placed on the terror list to placate the terrorist mullahs in Iran. The false allegations against the MEK are a regurgitation of the Iranian regime’s ministry of intelligence and have been discredited by numerous experts and policy papers. The accusations were rejected by courts in the European Union, the UK, and by our own 9th District Court of Appeals on July 16, 2010.
“What Iraqis, whose country was invaded and in large part destroyed by the US, see is an arrogant and ignorant moron wrapped in congressional hubris who has done grave damage to them and is now asking that they should pay for it and even be indicted for war crimes when so many American crimes went unpunished.”
mordantly, beautifully put
Well, shahram, that just about clinches it. Michael Mukasey, Porter Goss, James Jones, James Woolsey, John Bolton, and Rudy Giuliani all want MEK off the terrorist list. Gee, not a neocon or an Israel Firster in that whole bunch. What a broad spectrum of public opinion! And Congress is on your side too; ah yes, those guys who gave Bibi 29 standing ovations. Personally, I hope Congress does take MEK off the FTO list because it’s bound to speed our departure from Iraq and a rapid windi up of the MEK.
shahram – Go check the facts yourself. MEK killed at least six Americans in the lead-up to the removal of the Shah. I was part of a CIA group that did an analysis and reconstruction of the assassination by MEK of two US Air Force colonels. Your assertion that MEK was “placed on the terror list to placate the terrorist mullahs in Iran” is complete nonsense. Many politicos in the US support delisting MEK because they want to punish the Iranian government and support what they perceive as Israeli interests.
Mr. Giraldi,
I have to agree with you because my dad was part of the Persian Royal Air Force and believes MEK brought most of the Islamic veils and headscarfs but KHOMEINI who was on our payroll in the FRANCE and went against us stopped their influence because of their ISLAMIC-MARXIST mixture and fell out with him. Now, my question is this? Are we delisting them because to fight against MULLAHS? or to turn IRAN into a EASTERN ALLY? They are hypocrites among Iranians and yes, these are the facts in the late 70s. IRAN is getting better socially but at the same time, the military action is now very possible.