Obama pursuing Military ties with Libya

President Obama's foreign policy has essentially become a boon for despots all across the globe. During his short tenure in office, the President has managed to embolden the world's tyrants into taking steps they would have never taken while George W. Bush was President.

Last month, approximately five years after the US withdrew its ambassador to Syria, President Obama nominated Robert Ford as the new U.S. Ambassador to Syria. The President also lifted the long-standing U.S. travel ban on Syria. Meanwhile, Syrian President, Bashar Assad, has been seizing on his new-found relationship with Obama to further his own tyrannical agenda.

Last week, the Syrian leader met with Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The head of Israel's Military Intelligence's Research Division said Tuesday that Syria is crossing previous red lines in supplying Hezbollah with weapons and handing over arms that it never before dared transfer.

"Syria is handing over to Hezbollah components that it would not dare hand over before," he said.

Praise the Messiah!

Last week, Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi, called for a jihad [holy war] against Switzerland, which elicited an off-handed quip from State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. The Libyan foreign ministry later called in the US charge d'affaires demanding "explanations and apologies" over Crowley's quip, adding that there would be "negative repercussions on economic and political relations between the two countries if no measures" were adopted. [Crowley on Wednesday offered an apology. "I made an offhand comment last Friday regarding statements from Libya," he said, "it was not intended to be a personal attack."]

Of course, it goes without saying that Obama would do anything in the world to appease his Libyan counterpart. Souring relations with a despot the likes of Muammar Qaddafi is simply not an option:

Gene Cretz, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, said Tuesday that the United States is hoping to "put some flesh" on the bones of American efforts to deepen ties between these two former foes.

He outlined a number of steps the two countries might take in the coming year, including closer military-to-military relations, U.S. training of Libyan forces, a new trade agreement, and a human rights dialogue. The goal, he said, was to build a working relationship that can survive the "vicissitudes of politics"...

Cretz made the remarks at an invite-only luncheon organized by the Middle East Institute and underwritten by Bechtel and Coca-Cola. Libya's man in Washington, Ali Aujali, also spoke at the event, and the two men had kind words for one another...

Sarah Whitson, the Middle East director at Human Rights Watch... expects the United States to find more cooperation on military matters, as the Libyans are desperate to upgrade their training and equipment.

Last month, the Obama administration agreed to provide Lebanon with Hawker-Beechcraft AT-6 or Embraer Super Tucano planes to improve its capabilities in "reconnaissance missions" and "counter- insurgency operations." [Russia also agreed to provide Lebanon with state of the art Mi-24 military choppers.]

And so, it seems as if Obama's utopian vision for the Middle East is finally taking shape. I can't wait to see the final product!

Ah, "hope" and "change", how exhilarating!