Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., says President Obama continued to project weakness in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, and he asserts Obama’s characterization of America’s fight against terrorism and a nuclear Iran is not backed up by the facts.
In his speech, Obama claimed the shadow of crisis has passed when it comes to the threat posed by radical Islam. In one of the most striking statements, Obama said the U.S. has halted progress in Iran’s nuclear program.
“Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first time in a decade, we’ve halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material,” Obama said.
But Pittenger said Iran is doing just fine because the nuclear program has not stopped, more money is pouring in after the easing of sanctions and Iran is only too happy to string the West along by suggesting the prospect of some breakthrough agreement that will probably never come.
“Now we’re on our second extension (of nuclear talks with Iran) for another seven months,” Pittenger said. “We’ve unfrozen billions of dollars of more assets for them. We already provided $8 billion of economic aid. This is a terrorist state that has funded terrorism for the past 30-plus years.”
Obama also stated his administration is leading a successful coalition to defeat the Islamic State, or ISIS. Pittenger said that appraisal clearly fails the smell test.
“Syria is the staging ground for al-Qaida and ISIS throughout the world,” Pittenger said. “There are over 90 countries represented in Syria today, over 3,000 Western passports. It would be the most naive statement to say that we are winning the war in Syria.”
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C.:
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He said ISIS is still freely exporting oil to finance its bloody assault on the region and has recruited anywhere from 60,000-80,000 foreign fighters while the United States is planning to train about 5,000 Syrian rebels.
“We are very much challenged by the commitment, the assertiveness, the aggression and, frankly the technical capabilities of ISIS and what has taken place in Syria,” Pittenger said.
On Tuesday, Obama also hailed the end of combat operations in Afghanistan and said after once having 180,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are now 15,000 remaining in Afghanistan, and that number is expected to decline even further.
Pittenger said Obama should think long and hard about forecasting stability in Afghanistan by pursuing the same strategy he employed in leaving Iraq.
“He did the same thing in Iraq, didn’t he? We didn’t have a force to retain there,” he said. “As a result, we did not have the intelligence capabilities. We didn’t have the support to get to the Iraqi army. It dismantled. We didn’t have support to give to the Kurds to strengthen them. All of that dissolved. It created anarchy and chaos and the destruction that happened as a result of it. If he fully intends to withdraw [from] Afghanistan, we’re going to see the same type of collapse there.”
For the congressman, who also blasted Obama for seeking to normalize relations with Cuba, Obama is sending exactly the wrong message to America’s enemies. Pittenger said it’s a pattern that began in 2009, when Obama decided to abandon U.S. missile defense commitments in Poland and the Czech Republic, and he believes it has only gotten worse.
“We’ve taken our armed forces down to the lowest level since before World War II,” Pittenger said. “He’s sent every signal out to our adversaries that we’re not going to stand strong. That has made them more assertive and more provocative.”
When it comes to the fight against radical Islamic terrorists, Pittenger believes Obama shows a particular weakness.
“He more or less gives a blind eye to the assertiveness and the focus of the Islamic terrorists,” he said. “I reminds me of what occurred with (former British Prime Minister) Neville Chamberlain prior to World War II. He never understood what Hitler was all about.”
Beyond Obama’s refusal to identify America’s enemy is the uncertainty he leaves with allies in the Middle East. Pittenger has taken multiple trips to the region to meet with leaders there. He said America’s friends in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere have no idea what Obama believes or what to expect from him.
“They don’t know where this president stands,” he said. “They don’t know, when he makes a commitment, if he’s going to be there tomorrow. I heard that time and again, so that’s why you have someone like the emir in Qatar playing both sides.”
Pittenger said the lessons America learned from the end of the Cold War and from the Obama years ought to be crystal clear.
“The world is safe when America is strong,” he said. “When Ronald Reagan was president, he never fired a shot, and the (Berlin) Wall came down because we stood strong. We haven’t stood strong.”
The congressman said national security priorities for the Republican-controlled Congress include stronger border security and collaborative efforts with U.S. allies to improve intelligence on enemies and cut off their sources of funding.
