1979 Again? Militant Islamic Protesters Spit in America’s face

Ask yourself if this sounds familiar: a group of protesters have stormed the American embassy in Cairo, Egypt, tore down the U.S. flag, ripped it to shreds and burned pieces of it. Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drove through a hail of tomatoes and shoes being thrown at her motorcade, as she drove through the increasingly-unstable Egypt. Under the watch of a weak Democratic American president, a middle-eastern nation that was once friendly to American interests has fallen to Islamic extremists that have stormed our embassy to pay disrespect to America. I think you see where I’m going with this…

In 1979, American foreign policy was so weak under President Jimmy Carter, Iranian college students were able to storm the embassy in Tehran and take 52 American hostages. They held these hostages for 444 days and only released them as Ronald Reagan was sworn in. The military’s budget had been so slashed, the one lame rescue attempt failed miserably. It was an unhappy time for America. Sound familiar yet?

We were in the middle of an oil crisis, where gas was expensive and energy production was a policy priority that seemed to go nowhere. Of all the weaknesses of Jimmy Carter, without a doubt, his biggest weakness was foreign policy. America apologized all over the globe and we acquiesced to nearly every demand. No wonder college students felt they could march in and take the place over; how was Carter ever going to stop them?

Now, here we are, 30 years after Reagan announced to the world that the party was over. It’s been 4 presidencies since Reagan stood toe-to-toe with a weakened, yet still powerful, Soviet Union and did not blink. It’s been 33 years since Iranian punks disrespected America by storming our embassy, and now we have to endure the humiliation all over again. Disgraceful.

Please don’t misunderstand me; I am, and will always be, proud to be an American. However, we need to get serious on the world stage. We are so weary of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, our leaders are timid in the face of very real threats. President Obama has supported the radicals in Egypt that overthrew the Mubarak regime, telling the global community, “Let’s look at Egypt’s example.” While there are differing opinions on the qualities of the Egyptian Revolution, the fact remains that we have seen a regime that had been sympathetic to American interests overthrown and replaced by a regime that has voiced it’s unsympathetic stance towards American interests. As I’m an American and not a citizen of the world, I find the Egyptian Revolution to be a step in the wrong direction.

While it is embarrassing enough to have had Egyptians storm our embassy and capture our flag to desecrate it, what’s even worse is the absolutely unbelievable betrayal by our own government. The embassy in Cairo released a statement actually admonishing those that “hurt the feelings” of Muslims. The entirety of the statement reads:

“The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”

Yes, at this difficult time, we must be careful not to offend the followers of the peaceful religion of Islam that oh-so-peacefully stormed our embassy and desecrated our flag by tearing it up and burning it to try and replace it with a black Muslim flag that read, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger.” No, we should be careful to tread lightly so as to not offend the Muslims on this, the 11^th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Muslim mob in Egypt was upset over a film that apparently is being filmed in America that depicts Muhammad. The film is being produced by a Christian fundamentalist. While the Islamic world is free to dislike what someone is doing halfway around the world, they are not entitled to storm our embassy with impunity.

It is ridiculous that our government is allowing this slap in the face. It is even more ridiculous that the concerns of our government are for the peoples’ respect for the feeling of Muslims and it’s absolutely ridiculous that we, as citizens, have not yet demanded more backbone from our government.

Furthermore, we suffer this embarrassment while we simultaneously give $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt each year. I am neither a hawk nor dove; I advocate a policy of peace when applicable, a policy of firm assertiveness when applicable and a commander-in-chief that knows when to use either.

Where is the president? While our flag is being desecrated and our nation embarrassed, where is the outrage from the Obama Administration? The White House website has no statements, there is no condemnation of this action coming from the West Wing; there seems to be only a reminder to not hurt the feelings of Muslims. Surely he can skip one round of golf to defend America’s sovereignty…

Mitt Romney’s campaign appropriately responded to the government’s cowardice in the face of the attack on the embassy. He stated,

“It’s disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”

I was not alive in 1979, but I can safely say that this seems eerily similar. The only consolation I find from the weak policies of this administration, both foreign and domestic, is that it took a Carter to get a Reagan. I’m hoping that come November, it will once again be morning in America.

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