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Subject: Re: Former SEALS Rip Obama
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On 9/29/2012 1:36 PM, MikeHall@outlook.com wrote:
> Leaving this here for your benefit,


http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/06/barack-obamas-top-10-apologies
-how-the-president-has-humiliated-a-superpower

The following is a list of the 10 most significant apologies by the 
President of the United States in his first four months of office as 
they relate to foreign policy and national security issues.

1. Apology to France and Europe ("America Has Shown Arrogance")

Speech by President Obama, Rhenus Sports Arena, Strasbourg, France, 
April 3, 2009.[1]


So we must be honest with ourselves. In recent years we've allowed our 
Alliance to drift. I know that there have been honest disagreements over 
policy, but we also know that there's something more that has crept into 
our relationship. In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's 
leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and 
seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been 
times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

2. Apology to the Muslim World ("We Have Not Been Perfect")

President Obama, interview with Al Arabiya, January 27, 2009.[2]


My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not 
your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if 
you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a 
colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America 
had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no 
reason why we can't restore that.

3. Apology to the Summit of the Americas ("At Times We Sought to Dictate 
Our Terms")

President Obama, address to the Summit of the Americas opening ceremony, 
Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, April 17, 2009.[3]


All of us must now renew the common stake that we have in one another. I 
know that promises of partnership have gone unfulfilled in the past, and 
that trust has to be earned over time. While the United States has done 
much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times 
been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I 
pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior 
partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement 
based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values. So I'm 
here to launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained 
throughout my administration.

The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those 
errors have been made.

4. Apology at the G-20 Summit of World Leaders ("Some Restoration of 
America's Standing in the World")

News conference by President Obama, ExCel Center, London, United 
Kingdom, April 2, 2009.[4]


I would like to think that with my election and the early decisions that 
we've made, that you're starting to see some restoration of America's 
standing in the world. And although, as you know, I always mistrust 
polls, international polls seem to indicate that you're seeing people 
more hopeful about America's leadership.

I just think in a world that is as complex as it is, that it is very 
important for us to be able to forge partnerships as opposed to simply 
dictating solutions. Just to try to crystallize the example, there's 
been a lot of comparison here about Bretton Woods. "Oh, well, last time 
you saw the entire international architecture being remade." Well, if 
there's just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy, 
that's an easier negotiation. But that's not the world we live in, and 
it shouldn't be the world that we live in.

5. Apology for the War on Terror ("We Went off Course")

President Obama, speech at the National Archives, Washington, D.C., May 
21, 2009.[5]


Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a 
series of hasty decisions. I believe that many of these decisions were 
motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also 
believe that all too often our government made decisions based on fear 
rather than foresight; that all too often our government trimmed facts 
and evidence to fit ideological predispositions. Instead of 
strategically applying our power and our principles, too often we set 
those principles aside as luxuries that we could no longer afford. And 
during this season of fear, too many of us--Democrats and Republicans, 
politicians, journalists, and citizens--fell silent.

In other words, we went off course. And this is not my assessment alone. 
It was an assessment that was shared by the American people who 
nominated candidates for President from both major parties who, despite 
our many differences, called for a new approach--one that rejected 
torture and one that recognized the imperative of closing the prison at 
Guantanamo Bay.

6. Apology for Guantanamo in France ("Sacrificing Your Values")

Speech by President Obama, Rhenus Sports Arena, Strasbourg, France, 
April 3, 2009.[6]


Our two republics were founded in service of these ideals. In America, 
it is written into our founding documents as "life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness." In France: "Liberté"--absolutely--"egalité, 
fraternité." Our moral authority is derived from the fact that 
generations of our citizens have fought and bled to uphold these values 
in our nations and others. And that's why we can never sacrifice them 
for expedience's sake. That's why I've ordered the closing of the 
detention center in Guantanamo Bay. That's why I can stand here today 
and say without equivocation or exception that the United States of 
America does not and will not torture.

In dealing with terrorism, we can't lose sight of our values and who we 
are. That's why I closed Guantanamo. That's why I made very clear that 
we will not engage in certain interrogation practices. I don't believe 
that there is a contradiction between our security and our values. And 
when you start sacrificing your values, when you lose yourself, then 
over the long term that will make you less secure.

7. Apology before the Turkish Parliament ("Our Own Darker Periods in Our 
History")

Speech by President Obama to the Turkish Parliament, Ankara, Turkey, 
April 6, 2009.[7]


Every challenge that we face is more easily met if we tend to our own 
democratic foundation. This work is never over. That's why, in the 
United States, we recently ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. 
That's why we prohibited--without exception or equivocation--the use of 
torture. All of us have to change. And sometimes change is hard.

Another issue that confronts all democracies as they move to the future 
is how we deal with the past. The United States is still working through 
some of our own darker periods in our history. Facing the Washington 
Monument that I spoke of is a memorial of Abraham Lincoln, the man who 
freed those who were enslaved even after Washington led our Revolution. 
Our country still struggles with the legacies of slavery and 
segregation, the past treatment of Native Americans.

Human endeavor is by its nature imperfect. History is often tragic, but 
unresolved, it can be a heavy weight. Each country must work through its 
past. And reckoning with the past can help us seize a better future.

8. Apology for U.S. Policy toward the Americas ("The United States Has 
Not Pursued and Sustained Engagement with Our Neighbors")

Opinion editorial by President Obama: "Choosing a Better Future in the 
Americas," April 16, 2009.[8]


Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement 
with our neighbors. We have been too easily distracted by other 
priorities, and have failed to see that our own progress is tied 
directly to progress throughout the Americas. My Administration is 
committed to the promise of a new day. We will renew and sustain a 
broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on 
behalf of our common prosperity and our common security.

9. Apology for the Mistakes of the CIA ("Potentially We've Made Some 
Mistakes")

Remarks by the President to CIA employees, CIA Headquarters, Langley, 
Virginia, April 20, 2009.[9] The remarks followed the controversial 
decision to release Office of Legal Counsel memoranda detailing CIA 
enhanced interrogation techniques used against terrorist suspects.


So don't be discouraged by what's happened in the last few weeks. Don't 
be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some 
mistakes. That's how we learn. But the fact that we are willing to 
acknowledge them and then move forward, that is precisely why I am proud 
to be President of the United States, and that's why you should be proud 
to be members of the CIA.

10. Apology for Guantanamo in Washington ("A Rallying Cry for Our Enemies")

President Obama, speech at the National Archives, Washington, D.C., May 
21, 2009.[10]


There is also no question that Guantanamo set back the moral authority 
that is America's strongest currency in the world. Instead of building a 
durable framework for the struggle against al Qaeda that drew upon our 
deeply held values and traditions, our government was defending 
positions that undermined the rule of law. In fact, part of the 
rationale for establishing Guantanamo in the first place was the 
misplaced notion that a prison there would be beyond the law--a 
proposition that the Supreme Court soundly rejected. Meanwhile, instead 
of serving as a tool to counter terrorism, Guantanamo became a symbol 
that helped al Qaeda recruit terrorists to its cause. Indeed, the 
existence of Guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world 
than it ever detained.

So the record is clear: Rather than keeping us safer, the prison at 
Guantanamo has weakened American national security. It is a rallying cry 
for our enemies.
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