WarSclerotic

Too many American politicians, whose reservations on Israel have been “misunderstood,” are being appointed to key positions in U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration.

First it was Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Now it is the slated ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, who, 10 years ago, voiced her opinion that the U.S. would be best served if it would establish a Palestinian army to fight Israel rather than funding Israel’s army. All in the name of protecting human rights, of course.

The great American concern for human rights and support for every shred of democracy are worthy qualities, and should be commended. The problem arises when protecting so-called “human rights” comes at the expense of common sense in foreign policy, and then the Americans lose more than they gain.

Iran is a clear-cut case of this, but it is not the only example. The rule of the shah collapsed in 1979. In his place, the Iranian people got a terrible regime. Recently, an Israeli official who was in the loop in Tehran at the time revealed that the Iranian military commanders were willing to assume the leadership themselves, but only if they had the support of then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

An authorized American representative was supposed to meet with them, but at the last minute, the human rights people in the failing Carter administration got the upper hand, and they opposed the shah. Carter sent someone from that school of thought to the meeting in Tehran. The next day, the generals fell into line with the ayatollahs’ regime. And what has become of human rights in Iran since then?

At every junction, Obama’s U.S. has supported whatever looked prettiest on paper but in reality ended up hurting not only the U.S. but also the people left to suffer under unworthy regimes. The U.S. contributed to the ousting of bad tyrants only to replace them with even worse ones. Carter’s conduct in Iran appears to have served as a model for Obama in Egypt, and everything we expected him to do in Syria does not appear to be materializing.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s failures, despite shuttling back and forth between Jerusalem and Ramallah in efforts to rekindle the stalled peace process, are a line being drawn from Cairo and Tehran. The line will keep getting stretching the more American politicians, whose reservations on Israel have been “misunderstood,” are appointed to key positions in Washington.