Obama Promises to Defend Israel
If Israel is Attacked by Iran Obama would take "Appropriate Action"
This article is about Senator Barack Obama's foreign policy on the Middle East. It states how he wishes to withdraw from Iraq, but would continue support for Israel.
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama defended the United States' policy to support Israel during a debate with democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia. The debate was held the same day Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana was killed in Gaza, Wednesday, April 16. Reports indicate that Shana was killed by a blast of darts, or flechettes, released from a projectile which exploded after an Israeli tank was seen firing toward the journalist.
Neither Obama or Clinton mentioned the journalist's death during the debate, but both said they would support Israel if elected president.
"An attack on Israel is an attack on our strongest ally in the region," Obama said during the April 16 democratic debate aired on ABC.
The statement came after ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked the two democrats if it should be U.S. policy to treat an attack on Israel as if it were an attack on the U.S.
Obama did not give specifics as to how he would respond to an attack on Israel, but he did say that the U.S. would "take appropriate action."
Obama stated that it was unacceptable to allow Iran to continue its nuclear weapons program and military support for Hezbollah and Hamas during the debate. Shana was killed after reported fighting between Hamas and Israeli soldiers had occured earlier in the day. Reuters news reported that Israeli troops killed 17 Palestenians, after three Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes in the Hamas controlled enclave. The news agency reported that fighting had ceased when Shana was killed.
Some online bloggers believe the person who fired on Shana thought he was a threat because he was holding a television camera that could have looked like a weapon. Other bloggers have said that it was impossible to mistake Shana as anything but a reporter because his vehicle was clearly marked and because Israeli optics are too powerful for the soldiers using them to not be able to clearly identify their target.
The Bush administration has labeled Hamas and Hezbollah as Iranian backed terrorist groups. The administration openly disapproved ex-president Jimmy Carter's visit to the region where he has met with Hamas leaders in hopes of opening dialogue between rivaling factions.
As U.S. president, Obama said he would take no options off the table to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He said the carrot and stick approach was a possible route in preventing the Iranian nation from becoming a nuclear power.
Clinton agreed with Obama that Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons, and said that if she is elected president she would use "massive retaliation" against Iran if the country launched an attack on Israel during the debate televized on ABC.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made anti-Israeli and anti-American statements in the past. It was reported that he wants to "wipe Israel off the map", and has made remarks that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon never occurred. More of the Iranian president's anti-American and anti-Israeli comments can be found on his official blog site at http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/.
U.S. intelligence has reported that Iranian made explosives and Iranian trained militants are being used against American troops in Iraq. Both Obama and Clinton said they would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 60 days of taking the presidential oath.
"We do know what will happen if we stay mired in Iraq," Clinton said during the ABC debate. "We will not be able to reassert our leadership and moral authority in the world."
"The president sets the mission," Obama said at the debate. "Unfortunately we have had a bad mission set forth by a civilian government which the military has performed excellently. Ultimately the buck stops with me as commander in chief."
Neither Clinton or Obama commented on how Iran's support for Hamas would be effected if the U.S. withdrew from Iraq.
Muqtada al-Sadr's alleged connections to Iranian clerics could cause more conflict in Iraq as recent reports indicate a possible end to the al Mahdi militia's cease fire. A U.S. troop withdrawal could leave the militia in an advantageous position to reclaim parts of Baghdad. A withdrawal could also create more instability for Israel who have close military support from the U.S. military.
