PDA

View Full Version : Obama Refuses to Apologize to Pakistan



Conley
12-01-2011, 09:49 AM
WASHINGTON — The White House has decided that President Obama will not offer formal condolences — at least for now — to Pakistan for the deaths of two dozen soldiers in NATO airstrikes last week, overruling State Department officials who argued for such a show of remorse to help salvage America’s relationship with Pakistan, administration officials said.


On Monday, Cameron Munter, the United States ambassador to Pakistan, told a group of White House officials that a formal video statement from Mr. Obama was needed to help prevent the rapidly deteriorating relations between Islamabad and Washington from cratering, administration officials said. The ambassador, speaking by videoconference from Islamabad, said that anger in Pakistan had reached a fever pitch, and that the United States needed to move to defuse it as quickly as possible, the officials recounted.


Defense Department officials balked. While they did not deny some American culpability in the episode, they said expressions of remorse offered by senior department officials and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were enough, at least until the completion of a United States military investigation establishing what went wrong.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/world/middleeast/for-pakistan-no-formal-remorse-yet-from-obama.html

I definitely agree on letting the investigation take its course. The problem is of course that even if the report shows that the Pakistanis are to blame for the incident, they still won't accept that as an answer. I guess in the streets NATO = the U.S., which let's face it is basically is. Unless the French are leading us into Libya. So, maybe this will be the straw that ends the relationship between the two countries. The elections went in favor of Muslim extremists in Egypt and they'll be gaining more power in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well. The political landscape is being redrawn and it isn't pretty.

jgreer
12-01-2011, 10:19 AM
Obama is right again. Some say he's too soft on our enemies but he has to do a balancing act and he's doing an awesome job. Call me partisan if you want but those are just the facts.

Pendragon
12-01-2011, 12:07 PM
Jgreer, I must admit my dear man while I recognize your good heart, some of your past statements have been more than a little outlandish. Here however you are one hundred percent correct. I applaud Obama for remaining true to his beliefs and not taking the easy way out.

ritchie
12-01-2011, 12:17 PM
EXcept the thing is that Obama got us into this mess in the first place. He's like a ball player who overruns a ball and then makes a good catch. Pakistan shouldn't be in a position of authority over us in the first place! I did vote for him last time over McCain but I'll vote GOP this time for sure.

jgreer
12-01-2011, 01:17 PM
Jgreer, I must admit my dear man while I recognize your good heart, some of your past statements have been more than a little outlandish. Here however you are one hundred percent correct. I applaud Obama for remaining true to his beliefs and not taking the easy way out.

Thanks, I think?

Mister D
12-01-2011, 01:50 PM
Good move on BO's part. I applaud the decision.

Conley
12-01-2011, 02:13 PM
Obama never should have let Pakistan think it was in any position to make demands of the United States. It is unfortunate that it's come to this.

Captain Obvious
12-01-2011, 07:30 PM
You think the resident liberals would be applauding GW if he made a similar move?

Captain Obvious
12-01-2011, 07:31 PM
I agree with BO's decision to snub the Prickastani's, btw.

Mister D
12-01-2011, 07:32 PM
You think the resident liberals would be applauding GW if he made a similar move?

:grin: Not for a moment.

Conley
12-01-2011, 07:33 PM
You think the resident liberals would be applauding GW if he made a similar move?

Definitely not. I'm still astounded by the hypocrisy I've seen regarding Obama's military actions. At least some are beginning to see the light...

MMC
12-02-2011, 01:14 AM
I agree Obama should not apologize. The Pakis didn't want to wait until the investigation was even being conducted and they immediately closed down the borders. I agree with Bachmann on this one. Close our Embassy and Pull our people out of that country. Then stop the rest of that 2.1 billion we give them annually.