Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Bashes Obama on Cuba and Iran

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, tore into President Barack Obamas policies in regard to Iran and Cuba even as Roberta Jacobson, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. leads a delegation to Cuba this week.

As Assistant Secretary Jacobson continues the administrations misguided efforts to re-establish diplomatic ties with the Castro regime in Havana this week, President Obama continues his push to treat Iran as if it were not on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, Ros-Lehtinen said on Monday. Not only do both countries merit staying on the list, but removing them would also undermine the viability and intent of the terrorist designations that would have serious repercussions for U.S. national security.

The parallels between the administrations Cuba and Iran policies are clear: the president is making political moves in order to advance his agenda, but not based on any real assessment of actual threats, and has been using Cuba as the test case for normalizing relations with Iran, Ros-Lehtinen added. In fact, last month the director of national intelligence released the intel communitys worldwide threat assessment while conveniently never once tying Iran to terrorism nor mentioning Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

The president cannot continue to play games with the national security of our country in the interest of forging his foreign policy legacy, Ros-Lehtinen concluded. The sad reality is that by continuing to pursue these avenues of engagement and concessions, he is putting the U.S. and the world at greater risk.