Obama: Because We Backed Down on Syria Doesn’t Mean We Won’t Strike Iran

by Tim Brown

Barack Obama joined ABC’s This Week to discuss the possible use of force against Iran, following an apparent backing down from launching military strikes on Syria, even though the CIA has been arming the rebels. The interview was taped on Friday before the United States and Russia agreed on a plan to bring Syrian chemical weapons under international control.

“I think what the Iranians understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue, that the threat…against Israel that a nuclear Iran poses is much closer to our core interests,” Obama said. “My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn’t draw a lesson that we haven’t struck [Syria] to think we won’t strike Iran.”

He then added that Iran should learn from Syria that diplomatic solutions are possible.

“My view is that if you have both a credible threat of force, combined with a rigorous diplomatic effort, that, in fact, you can…strike a deal.”

Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro commented, “Obama’s contention that Iran should believe in a credible American response to its nuclear program comes just weeks after Obama backed down on any military response to Syrian use of chemical weapons in favor of a Russian-brokered non-deal. Russia is a key ally to both Syria and Iran. Last week, reports suggested that Russia had initiated a new nuclear site for Iran, and was selling Iran anti-aircraft ordinance.”

“The Obama administration has also repeatedly leaked Israel national defense information that could have allowed Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, ranging from Israeli use of an Azerbaijani airbase to a possible deal with Saudi Arabia to use airspace,” Shapiro added.

Obama also attempted to defend his approach to the Syrian crisis by insisting that it achieved the right results.

Barack Obama has received lots of comments from lawmakers and foreign policy experts, both Democrat and Republican, for pushing to go to war with Syria, making a case for strikes and then backing away after asking Congress to approve those strikes to allow for a Russian diplomatic proposal.

Obama said he was less interested in his style and more in the results.

“I think that folks here in Washington like to grade on style. And so, had we rolled out something that was very smooth and disciplined and linear, they would have graded it well, even if it was a disastrous policy. We know that because that’s exactly how they graded the Iraq war,” Obama said.

“I’m much more concerned about getting the policy right,” he added. “As a consequence of the steps that we’ve taken over the last two weeks to three weeks, we now have a situation in which Syria has acknowledged it has chemical weapons, has said it’s willing to join the convention on chemical weapons, and Russia, its primary sponsor, has said that it will pressure Syria to reach that agreement. That’s my goal. And if that goal is achieved, then it sounds to me like we did something right.”

He also played down the differences between his lack of leadership and Vladimir Putin’s.

“Mr. Putin and I have strong disagreements on a whole range of issues,” Obama said. “But I can talk to him. We have worked together on important issues. . . . This is not the Cold War. This is not a contest between the United States and Russia.”

One thing is for sure, Barack Obama doesn’t have a clue on how to deal with foreign policy and he demonstrated that quite clearly over the past couple of weeks, just as he did in his first term concerning the attacks in Benghazi and in his handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, he’s going to demonstrate he has no idea on how to handle Iran as well.

Tim Brown: Husband to my wife. Father of 10. Jack of All Trades. Christian and lover of liberty. Residing in the U.S. occupied Great State of South Carolina. Follow Tim on Twitter.