Obama Erased His Red Lines Only To Be Replaced With Red Lines Soaked In Blood

"The good news. Some of Pres. Obama's threats still strike fear in their targets' hearts. The bad: It's not the hearts of America's enemies." Benny Avni, Middle East columnist

In September of 2012,  Mr. Obama drew his now famous "red line" against Syria. He warned Syria not to use chemical weapons. A year later, he clarified his "red line" statement to proclaim it wasn't his red line, but rather a line drawn by Congress and the international community. In other words, he conveniently erased his red line. Unfortunately, global events since his threat, have replaced his red line with red lines soaked in blood. And let's be clear. Hillary Clinton was also complicit. The road to the chaos we're now witnessing in the Middle East and in parts of Africa were paved by her incompetence as Secretary of State. John F. Kerry, her successor, hasn't done much better either. For a moment, let's review this bungling legacy:

• Syria is now a total disaster. It's estimated that over 200,000 people have lost their lives. In addition, ISIS is now slaughtering innocent civilians.
• Egypt's "Arab Spring" was a myth created by the Obama administration and its enablers in the media. If you recall, it was the Obama administration that praised Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
• Yemen, once hailed by the Obama administration as a success against the war on terror, has literally fallen apart. Its president fled. And the Shiite Muslim terror group is known to have ties to Iran. Even more disturbing, if the terror group gains control of the naval passage at the Red Sea, they can shut down an important global trade route to that area. It also marked the third time the Obama administration had to close its diplomatic presence in a country (earlier closures were in Libya and Syria).
• Iraq is now plagued with the omnipresent ISIS savages.  While ISIS was beaten down in Tikrit, it still holds large portions of the north-eastern part of the country as well as some key attacks zones outside of Baghdad, Aleppo and Mosul---all areas where many American troops lost their lives.
• While Obama genuflects to Iran, Iran has long been known to flood Iraq, Lebanon, the West Bank and parts of Africa with arms and munitions. Keep in mind, Iran remains the regime that keeps chanting "Death To America."
• And there's Putin's Russia. Putin interpreted Hillary Clinton's "reset" button as a green light to attack the Ukraine.  Crimea fell over a year ago to the Russians. Last week, Russia announced it would be sending Iran some surface-to-air missiles.
• Last year, the Obama administration decided to address the Boko Haram violence in Nigeria using an ineffective and useless hashtag ("BringBackOurGirls"). Since that time, Boko Haram has murdered thousands and continue to kidnap young girls. Boko Haram recently announced its allegiance to ISIS.

Linda Chavez, a political columnist, reminded us not long ago: "If fighting this evil is not worth sacrifice, nothing is." Our troops learned this lesson by shedding their blood. They chose courage while the Obama administration chose appeasement and submission. As I wrote not long ago, this is an era when America needs a gunslinger as president---not a bystander.

Postscript: And now we are watching a refugee crisis unfold---a direct result of Obama's failed foreign policy.