This past January an absurd negotiation was made between the United States and Iran. That negotiation has been a heated topic in the political scene in recent news. President Obama has sealed the deal on his lying legacy with the agreement to pay $400 million to the terrorist sponsoring state in return for American lives taken hostage. Plot twist: the $400 million is merely "the resolution of a dispute over Iranian payments to the United States for military equipment before the 1979 Revolution." The timing of this "resolution" is a bit fishy, don't you think?
While many look to this as the POTUS weakly submitting to the ransom demands of Iran, Obama continues to insist that, "...we have a policy that we don’t pay ransom. And the notion that we would somehow start now...defies logic.”
There are many things to take away from this, and also very thought provoking concepts that we as a future generation need to consider when this world is passed on to us.
1. Obama was not the first president to turn his back on his promise to not negotiate ransoms/give in to the demands of terrorists and their supporters. He will also not be the last.
Take note: Don't make promises that you can't keep. As frustrating as the politics behind these sorts of activities are, negotiating with those that we know will only wreak havoc is simply not logical. Not only do we place a price tag on what we believe an American life is worth, but we are also telling the enemy that we are willing to cooperate because we do not have the leverage/ability to do otherwise. We legitimize the cause of the enemy by recognizing them as strong enough to make demands, while simultaneously weakening our own stance as a strong nation.
2. The morality of our values and stances comes at a cost, especially when we act opposite of what we say we would do.
Going off of the previous point, as the future leaders of this nation we must decide the morality of our decisions. Yes, we did get the American lives we sought after in this recent ransom (and yes, it was a ransom). However, the long term effects that this has on our policy in diplomacy with complex nations such as Iran are detrimental. What does this say about how we look upon negotiation today? Is it possible to "not negotiate" at all in times like these? Are Obama's actions justifiable to a certain point (remember, we'll never know the entire story)? Lastly, what does this say about previous hostage situations, current ones and future ones? We certainly cannot respond with $400 million every single time.
3. Transparency and truthfulness are probably impossible feats for American politics to achieve.
I'm not just knocking on Obama here. The broken system we use domestically and abroad hasn't been working for us too well. Weighing the importance of benefitting domestic versus international interests becomes an issue far too often for our leadership, and understandably so. However, being dishonest and vague to the point that our own people have a completely different picture painted or don't even know what is going on is not acceptable. In the end the decisions our leaders have been making were made for the sole sake of covering their own sorry asses--not cool.
To all of you future politicians and foreign affairs people out there: Observe one of Obama's final actions in his presidency as yet another example of what to/not to do when you end up in office. Think about everybody but yourself, be a decent honest human being and change the vicious system that has taken ahold of this country. Legislation and decision making can be disputed and talked about for a long time, but you ultimately have to live with that decision and a guilty conscience...assuming you even have a conscience left.
