Obama ignores evil in our enemies

Cal Thomas:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is the polar opposite of John F. Kennedy.

Judging from recent comments, Obama apparently would pay no price, bear no burden, forsake any hardship, support any foe and oppose any friend that wished to pursue liberty. Kennedy understood that evil exists in the world. He saw it in World War II as his generation defeated the evil that gripped Europe and Japan. And he witnessed it as president when Nikita Khrushchev approved the building of the Berlin Wall and the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba, acts that flowed from Khrushchev's perception that the young president was weak and inexperienced.

Obama thinks he can negotiate with evil and transform evil into something else. Initially his foreign policy platform was a naive pledge to meet "unconditionally" with the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and other nations dominated by dictators. In recent days he has changed his tune somewhat. He would still meet with the heads of these mini evil empires without preconditions, but "there must be careful preparation. We will set a clear agenda."

This leads to an important question: On what basis does a free nation negotiate with nations that are not free? Does Obama expect leaders who got where they are by undemocratic, even violent means, to embrace press freedom, religious liberty, political pluralism and rights for women? What would evil leaders demand of him? Any concession given to dictators, who are not known for keeping their promises, would surely result in the United States being taken less seriously and contribute to the undermining of our national security.

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Actually it would be much worse. The Geneva Accords negotiated by the Kennedy administration are a good example of the problem with agreements with people whose word is no good. They were supposed to guarantee Laotian neutrality. Instead what they guaranteed was that North Vietnam could build the Ho Chi Minh trail with minimal interference from the US and South Vietnam. In other words, it became a unilateral contract which only the US observed.

It lot a lot of American and South Vietnamese killed and the communist admit that if we had cut that trail, they would have lost the war.

In the case of Iran, we already know they have violated the nuclear non proliferation treaty they signed. What makes Obama think they will honor a new agreement?