With Allies Like This… *Open Thread* *UPDATED*

Update at the end of the post.

A whole lot has happened over the weekend, including some former VERY high ranking officials speaking out on Obama’s poor decisions regarding Syria. The latest is Leon Panetta on “60 Minutes” Sunday night who minced no words about where he stood:

Yikes. Well, we all know what happened, or rather DIDN’T, happen as a result. Now I have said, I am concerned about arming these Syrian rebels when we really don’t know who some of them are. By THIS time, though, we sure could have vetted a bunch of them and possibly averted this ISIS crisis.

And speaking of ISIS, President Obama is taking his “Stop ISIS By Doing Our Dirty Work” campaign on the road to the United Nations this week, trying to get some folks to sign on. From The Hill:

[…] It will be a high-stakes test for the president, who is looking for the international community to endorse his approach to combating the terror group. Obama must rally reluctant international partners to meaningfully contribute to the international coalition at the heart of the anti-ISIS effort.

The president will personally lead a Sept. 24 meeting of the U.N. Security Council focused on the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters, and the U.S. will seek a new resolution demanding countries tighten laws to prevent the flow of fresh recruits to terror groups.

[…]

The resolution “will increase the obligations on states to try to prevent and deter the flow of foreign fighters,” National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Friday.

“It will move the ball down the field in terms of the international legal architecture and obligations on states to try to combat this challenge,” she added. […] (Click here to read the rest.)

Therein lies the rub. We are trying to push other countries to play catch-up because of our policy decisions, and what those decisions have wrought on us, England, and other nations.

Well, there is one nation that is none too pleased with Obama’s current push. The reason why is one many of us have expressed over the past few years: his attitude. From the Calgary Sun (h/t Marnie), the first line says it all:

ISIS is Barack Obama’s mess.

He made it and now he wants our help to clean it up. What do Canadians owe him?

He’s turned his back on allies such as Israel, having proven himself a bigger friend to the likes of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood than to the Jewish state.

He’s no friend of Canada’s.

Instead of working with his friends, he’s tried in vain to appease such longtime enemies as Iran.

Uh oh. Seems our polite neighbors to the North are none too pleased with the way our President has handled matters in the Middle East, and the subsequent impact on, well, the world. There is more:

His rush to pull out of Iraq without leaving a reserve force behind has led to the disaster we see unfolding there now.

Now Obama needs allies to battle ISIS and help him save face. So who is stepping up to the plate? The Iranians? The Saudis? Hardly.

Yes, when things get really bad, he calls on the same allies he’s spent his entire presidency snubbing.

The Canadians, the Brits, the Australians, etc.

Forgive me if I don’t exactly jump for joy at the prospect of helping this disastrous president ahead of midterm elections when his party is facing a well deserved drubbing.

He’s the one who insisted on leaving Iraq unprotected against the advice of those who said the U.S. should leave a reserve military force behind to support that country.

Did he listen to advisers?

Of course not! […] (Click here to read the rest.)

Yikes, they are sounding none too pleased. And really, who could blame them? Obama DID pull out of Iraq too soon, telegraphing his every move, just as he has with Afghanistan, and now with ISIS. Apparently, Obama views “the element of surprise” as a passé option for war, or taking care of our enemies. While many of us do not want to be engaged in another war, we also sure as hell do not want a bunch of Islamist terrorists gaining ground in the world, beheading our citizens, and threatening us here at home. As an editorial in my local paper commented today, “Don’t Limit Options vs. ISIS.”

No freakin’ kidding. And at the very least, STOP TELLING THEM WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO!!! Sheesh. Oh, and it sounds like we should be wishing Obama good luck in getting our (former?) allies to help out given the way he has talked about them and snubbed them over the past 6 years. Awesome.

Also “awesome” hearkens back to Afghanistan, and that would be the three Afghan officers who have disappeared from a joint training exercise in MA. Again, what could possibly go wrong with this? Oh, sure, we have been told not to worry, and that these men are no threat to us. Uh huh. Because there have been NO incidences of Afghan soldiers turning on the United States and our allies, right? Sure. Right. (Okay, I suppose it is theoretically possible these three really are not a threat to us, but given the track record, I am not going to accept that without some more evidence.)

That Obama – he sure has been a Uniter, hasn’t he? It seems he has done a fine job in uniting those who hate us and wish to do us harm by his inept handling of the threats in the Middle East. Again, this is why EXPERIENCE MATTERS. Sadly, those chickens are coming home to roost now, with both those who stand against us, and those who are no longer willing to stand with us. Thanks, Obama…

This is an Open Thread.

UPDATE: This is intriguing news. They have found the three Afghan officers who took off from the training in Massachusetts. Turns out, they were almost to CANADA (talk about coming full circle). From The Hill:

Three Afghan National Army officers who vanished during a military exercise in Massachusetts over the weekend are now in custody after a possible attempt to cross the border into Canada, The Associated Press reported.

Federal authorities are interviewing the officers near Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, N.Y., a state police spokesman told the news agency. He did not provide further details, though it is possible the trio was trying to seek asylum.

It is unclear if the men will be sent back to Joint Base Cape Cod, where they arrived on Sept. 11 to participate in a U.S. Central Command Regional Cooperation training exercise, or returned somewhere else.
[…] (Click here to read the rest.)

Once again, they affirmed these men were not a threat. Maybe not – no, hopefully not, all things considered. But that is just the point – look how far they were able to go, even with a bunch of people looking for them. Just a tad disconcerting, even if they were the most benign people in the world. Know what I mean?