I could sit here and type a paragraph about how much worse the trump and bush admins were about middle eastern military conflicts, mentioning the USA hasn’t officially declared war since WWII, but that would detract from my previous argument that he was decent even without comparisons. The major policy change of his admin was respecting older mutually drawn borders that led to a lot of peace talks and diplomacy with his administration which frankly didn’t exist before. Obama was single-handedly responsible for multiple nuclear disarmament deals and treaties, notably Iran. When he tracked down and killed Osama Bin Laden with a strike team to minimize excess casualties, he received praise from Muslim religious leaders.
Gaddafi took power in 1969 via violent coup and US Ambassadors were recalled in 1972. He started revolutions and funded rebels in like 8 countries, including the perpetually unstable country of Chad. Sanctions briefly relaxed after 9/11 in return for nuclear disarmament. Blaming Obama for the Libyan Protests and Rebellion, as a result of the Arab Spring, is like blaming the single extra straw for breaking the camel’s back.
Did Obama live up to the expectations set by his 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt? No. Did he sometimes side with monarchs and dictators? Yes. Did he do a good job? I think so, I can’t imagine doing anything differently.
EDIT: Replaced some pronouns with names for clarity.
Bush was indeed far worse than Obama. Yet Obama continued everything Bush started. Obama did not save the middle east, he ruined it even more by starting three extra wars. It’s two sides of the same coin on foreign policy.
The only time Trump went Obama tier full idiot on foreign policy was when he drone striked the Iranian general Suleimani, he claims israel had a role in that. Luckily this didn’t lead to major escalations in the region.
Aside from that Trump just continued drone striking Syria, a war that Obama started.
Many middle eastern leaders aren’t the friendliest dudes. Gadaffi certainly wasn’t. But the questions that every American forgets to ask is “if we kill this guy, will the next guy be better or worse”? If you look at the state that Iraq, Libya etc are in now, it was certainly many times better before America destroyed it.
Of course that is an irrelevant moral question. The only real reason America kills leaders in the middle east is when they stop abiding the rules of the American Oil Cartel.
2011/03/20: Western oil companies operating in Libya have privately warned that their operations in the country may be nationalised if Colonel Muammer Gaddafi’s regime prevails.
From wikipedia:
The killing of Muammar Gaddafi took place on 20 October 2011
I could sit here and type a paragraph about how much worse the trump and bush admins were about middle eastern military conflicts, mentioning the USA hasn’t officially declared war since WWII, but that would detract from my previous argument that he was decent even without comparisons. The major policy change of his admin was respecting older mutually drawn borders that led to a lot of peace talks and diplomacy with his administration which frankly didn’t exist before. Obama was single-handedly responsible for multiple nuclear disarmament deals and treaties, notably Iran. When he tracked down and killed Osama Bin Laden with a strike team to minimize excess casualties, he received praise from Muslim religious leaders.
Gaddafi took power in 1969 via violent coup and US Ambassadors were recalled in 1972. He started revolutions and funded rebels in like 8 countries, including the perpetually unstable country of Chad. Sanctions briefly relaxed after 9/11 in return for nuclear disarmament. Blaming Obama for the Libyan Protests and Rebellion, as a result of the Arab Spring, is like blaming the single extra straw for breaking the camel’s back.
Did Obama live up to the expectations set by his 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt? No. Did he sometimes side with monarchs and dictators? Yes. Did he do a good job? I think so, I can’t imagine doing anything differently.
EDIT: Replaced some pronouns with names for clarity.
Bush was indeed far worse than Obama. Yet Obama continued everything Bush started. Obama did not save the middle east, he ruined it even more by starting three extra wars. It’s two sides of the same coin on foreign policy.
The only time Trump went Obama tier full idiot on foreign policy was when he drone striked the Iranian general Suleimani, he claims israel had a role in that. Luckily this didn’t lead to major escalations in the region.
Aside from that Trump just continued drone striking Syria, a war that Obama started.
Many middle eastern leaders aren’t the friendliest dudes. Gadaffi certainly wasn’t. But the questions that every American forgets to ask is “if we kill this guy, will the next guy be better or worse”? If you look at the state that Iraq, Libya etc are in now, it was certainly many times better before America destroyed it.
Of course that is an irrelevant moral question. The only real reason America kills leaders in the middle east is when they stop abiding the rules of the American Oil Cartel.
From wikipedia: