XDA

Here is a transcript of President Obama's Oslo Speech yesterday. Diomedes, Hugh Hewitt, Paul Mirengoff and even Sarah Palin liked it. I was less than thrilled although I certainly was thinking earlier that he would do far worse. I'm more with former UN Ambassador Bolton and Victor Davis Hanson.

I will give the speech two cheers, First, Obama realizes (or so he says) that there are limits to diplomacy and non-violent struggle and that the Ghandi/King approach wouldn't have worked in Nazi Germany. One of Dinesh D'Souza's teachers put it much more eloquently (and starkly): If Ghandi had tried what he did in India in Germany in the 1930s, he'd be a lampshade today. Oh, and would it be gauche or pedantic of me to point out that the Ghandi/King method of non-violent struggle (Civil Disobedience) was invented by Henry Thoreau? Probably. Forget I wrote that last then.

Second, Obama seem to say he embraces the Catholic catechism regarding the concept of just war, which he described as: War as a last resort or in self defense; proportional response; and, with protection of civilians. Actually here is the Church on the subject:

In this regard Just War doctrine gives certain conditions for the legitimate exercise of force, all of which must be met:

"1. the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

2. all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;

3. there must be serious prospects of success;

4. the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition" [CCC 2309].

So, close enough.

But here is part of what I hated about the speech. Obama said that Afghanistan was a just war and kicking Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait in Gulf War I was a just war but, impliedly, deposing Saddam Hussein in 2003 was not a just war. Hold on there, kitty cat. If Gulf War I was a just war, and it was, then Gulf War II was necessarily a just war too. Gulf War I ended, like the Korean War, not with victory and a treaty, but with a cease fire agreement which required certain things of both sides. We kept our side of the deal. Saddam kept almost none of his legally binding promises. If the end of just Gulf War I was a sham because of Saddam Hussein's actions, wouldn't the resumption of the war after decades of efforts, all in vain, to get him to live up to his side of the deal be the very definition of just war. The original justness of the cause was not dissipated by a cease fire agreement which was breached again and again by Saddam Hussein. I don't think President Obama can see this truth. I really don't.

Obama said that we have to be held to a higher standard of conduct in war, which is why he praised himself for prohibiting torture by Americans (an unnecessary act) and for closing Guantanamo (still premature for praise there--get back to us when it is actually closed and the results are a more just confinement of illegal combatants). Obama also said that he has "reaffirmed" Americas commitment to the Geneva Conventions. We have almost never strayed from the requirements of the Geneva Conventions. It is our enemy in the current war which completely ignores the international rules. Our current enemies don't even wear uniforms. They are, like pirates, saboteurs or spies, not entitled to any protection of the Geneva Conventions and can be summarily executed when captured.

That Obama has placed unnecessary and dangerous rules of engagement on our troops in Afghanistan and has afforded to a selected-by-whim few of our illegal enemies the same constitutional rights as American citizens. He is treating our illegal enemies better than we treated our savage, but at least they were in uniform, enemies in WWII. He is rewarding their flaunting flouting (thanks for the correction, D) of the international law of warfare. That's not praiseworthy. It's certainly not self-praiseworthy. It is moral preening at the expense of the lives of our soldiers, et al., and to the detriment of our national security.

I really hate it when our commander in chief endanger our soldiers, et al., and all of us, so the Euro-elites will like him more. It just seems more like treason to me. I certainly can't call it good leadership.

There was much more to hate, but it's late.

Labels: President Obama; Oslo Speech; Strategic Naivety