Did Obama Negotiate With Our Enemy?
Feb 4, 2009 Political
Barack Obama was pretty quick to point out that there was only one president at a time. He usually pointed this out when something tough came up and he did not want to commit himself to it. The Israeli/Hamas conflict comes to mind.
The one president meme did not stop Obama from injecting himself into other things and if one of them that is now being reported is true, he should be tried for treason. The Washington Times is reporting:
According to GeostrategyDirect.com, a newsletter published by The Washington Times’ ace national security reporter Bill Gertz, “Diplomatic sources said Barack Obama has engaged several Arab intermediaries to relay messages to and from al Qaeda in the months before his elections as the 44th U.S. president. The sources said al Qaeda has offered what they termed a truce in exchange for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. ‘For the last few months, Obama has been receiving and sending feelers to those close to al Qaeda on whether the group would end its terrorist campaign against the United States,’ a diplomatic source said. ‘Obama sees this as helpful to his plans to essentially withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq during his first term in office.’ ” [emphasis mine]
Now, I don’t know who the diplomatic sources are or if they even exist. If this is true then I imagine the source will eventually be disclosed.
This is very serious for several reasons. First of all this probably violates the Logan Act. Not that it matters because Nancy Pelosi and some of her Democrats did that on a regular basis when Bush was president. The most serious issue with regard to this is that al Qaeda is our enemy. If Obama was contacting them to work a truce or work some other kind of deal in return for the removal of our troops from Afghanistan then he was aiding the enemy. I wonder if Obama has been watching how Hamas honors truces? Does he think al Qaeda would be different?
He was in no official capacity. He was a Senator running for the presidency. If he acted in his capacity as a Senator he definitely violated the Logan Act and since he was on an unsanctioned mission and met with our enemy secretly, he committed treason. This, of course, is contingent on the story being correct.
Like I said, the source is not known so this might either not be true or we will never be able to prove it. The accusation is damaging enough especially in light of Obama’s outreach to Muslims in the last week. His first interview was with a Muslim news organization and he blamed America for the problems. He has had them stop playing Hail to the Chief and has replaced it with a Sting song, Desert Rose which is noted for the duet with an Algerian singer. Maybe this outreach is to make good on promises undertaken prior to the election.
I am a bit skeptical because this indicates he bargained to leave Afghanistan but Obama has stated that he was sending more troops there. There is no telling what his intentions are but right now it would appear as if he will draw down from Iraq and move troops to Afghanistan.
However, al Qaeda might have wanted us to leave Afghanistan but settled for something else.
Remember when Obama was holding secret meetings telling Iraq not to make any deals until he took office? Those meetings were denied at first but it turns out he had them.
That means he is not above holding secret meetings.
As for meeting with the enemy? That remains to be seen but considering his past associations he already consorted with the enemies of this country.
Of course, he did say he would be willing to meet with anyone without precondition…
Others:
Power Line
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Tags: al-qaeda, Obama, secret meetings, treason