Obama stated that he plans to use diplomacy in order to get the Middle East situation under control. He said that he plans to hit the ground running so that “on day one, we have the best possible people who are going to be immediately engaged in the Middle East peace process as a whole.” I think it is very positive that he plans to take immediate action to secure peace in the Middle East. However I can’t help but wonder if he is overestimated how easy it will be to secure peace in such an unstable region. For years there has been a sticky relationship between the US and Middle East nations. I wonder if all that can be repaired in such a short time frame.
He plans to engage both the Palestinians and Israelis so “both Israelis and Palestinians can meet their aspirations.” He was reluctant to specifically comment about Israel’s offensive on Gaza.
Obama also commented on Guantanamo Bay Prison stating that he is planning to shut it down. Specifically he said it would be challenging to close down the prison within his first 100 days of presidency. Do you believe it is a mistake to close down this prison? I know that there have been an abundance of human rights issues related to Guantanamo but you have to wonder what the ramifications for closing this prison will be. Will we now have less intelligence if we close this prison?
