Kerry Would Weaken America's Standing

By Christopher G. Adamo

Few people, old enough to remember the taking of American hostages by Iran in November of 1979, can recollect the incident without also recalling the shame and humiliation of America 's spineless response to Iran 's aggression. Far from taking decisive action against what was clearly a premeditated attack, then President Jimmy Carter reacted by seeking every means possible of appeasing and consoling the militant Islamists, led by the Ayatollah Khomeni, who had gained control of Iran shortly prior to taking the hostages.

As the months dragged on, Carter's obsequious behavior only served to confirm that America would never be able to pander and appease its way into the good graces of a nation whose ideology demanded perpetual hatred of western culture. Fortunately, the election of Ronald Reagan, which occurred in part because of America 's frustration with Carter's bungling of the hostage situation, convinced the Iranians that a new approach by the Americans, likely involving the use of military force, would shortly ensue.

Soon after Reagan's election, and well before inauguration day, Iranian leaders began responding in earnest to American efforts at negotiating for the release of the hostages. Not coincidentally, they were freed by their captors at the exact moment Reagan was sworn in as America 's fortieth president.

More recently, the “Carter model” was tried once again during the 1990's. With Carter himself representing American interests, Bill Clinton sought to negotiate an agreement with the North Koreans in order to appease his way out of a nuclear impasse. The “success” of Carter's mission, so loudly touted by Clinton, Congressional Democrats, and the media, amounted to the U.S. giving North Korea the very means of developing a nuclear arsenal, in exchange for the absurd promise that it would not do so. Of course North Korea 's leaders never had any intention of abiding by such a laughable agreement, since it possesses neither the diplomatic honesty to keep its word, nor sufficient respect for the U.S. that might have compelled it to do so.

By all indications, a Kerry presidency would quickly revert America back to the embarrassment and abject failure of the Carter and Clinton years. In a press release on June 28, Kerry somewhat reluctantly conceded that the handover of sovereign power to the newly established Iraqi government constitutes an improvement in that situation. But the initial focus of his comments was his contention that President Bush ostensibly needs to “repair relationships with NATO allies.” England , Poland , Italy , Turkey , and even Spain (initially) were supportive of American action in Iraq to the point of sending their own military forces into the region. So what Kerry suggests is that America needs to come together with France and Germany , who for the sake of their own selfish interests, diligently worked to undermine any American efforts to oust Saddam Hussein from power.

While President Bush has, in recent weeks, been somewhat conciliatory to the French and Germans, this reflection of his personal character is a far cry from Kerry's oft-repeated assertion that it is the U.S. which needs to make some sort of amends, as if America , by not deferring to French and German pacifism, somehow committed an offense against them. Kerry would instead have had the United States appease the French and Germans, who in turn wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and thus the terrorists with whom he collaborated, as if such action might actually be in the best interests of the United States .

France and Germany may never have expressed displeasure regarding Carter's deal with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. And to individuals who approach international relations in a manner similar to John Kerry, the approval of such European “allies” might signify something more worthwhile than America 's success in Iraq . However, the end result of that fiasco was that North Korea achieved nuclear capability and now threatens America and the rest of the hemisphere.

In spite of what he obviously considers to be a flawed approach Kerry closed his brief statement by expressing “hope” for President Bush's success. Worse than mere posturing, his words convey a suggestion that American victory in Iraq resulted from nothing more than happenstance, since he is openly critical of the conditions under which it occurred. While Kerry now warns of the insufficiency of sheer “words” and “resolutions,” before the Iraq operation commenced last year, the absence of such things evoked severe disapproval from him. Should America ever dare to trust its future to such incoherent thinking?

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.