On January 16, Marco Rubio said on Meet the Press that Obama had "put a price on the head of every American abroad" by allowing a prisoner swap in order to free Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other US citizens held by Iran. You know a foreign policy myth is having a moment when two competing GOP candidates trot it out almost simultaneously on different Sunday news shows.
Rubio and Cruz: If I'm elected, I'll have Tehran-controlling superpowers just like Reagan did The answer tells us a lot about the state of Republican Party foreign policy - and what the candidates think Republican primary voters want to hear. But the bigger question is not just whether the story is true (it is not), but why it is so appealing to the current GOP candidates. While there is a kernel of truth - the hostages were, in fact, released on the day Reagan was inaugurated - the rest of the story bears no resemblance to the myth that has risen around it. It will perhaps not surprise you to learn that this version of history is not remotely accurate. The moral of the story, therefore, is that negotiating with Iran or any of America’s enemies is a sign of harmful weakness, whereas refusal to negotiate shows Reagan-like strength that will protect Americans. The story goes that on the day of his inauguration, in January 1981, President Reagan convinced the Iranian regime to free the American Embassy hostages more or less just by glaring harshly in the direction of Tehran, which quailed in the face of his unyielding toughness and released the Americans immediately.Īccording to this appealing version of recent history, Iran had kept the hostages during the Carter administration because they knew Carter was "weak," but they so feared Reagan’s red-blooded American resolve that they acquiesced the second he was sworn into office. We’ve seen that dynamic in action all month, as GOP presidential candidates trot out their favorite foreign policy anecdote: the Parable of the Hostages. Some stories are too good to check, and some myths are too perfect to bust.
0 kommentar(er)
