State of the union - Movie Review Example

The address on the of the union by president Obama had some few interesting points especially onforeign policy and the wars that America has been involved in. The first instance where the president mentioned anything related to America’s foreign policy was regarding the war in Afghanistan. The president, Mr Obama, said that more than 60, 000 of American troops that were in Afghanistan have been brought back to America with those remaining in the country only providing a support role to the afghan forces which have taken the lead; the president said that America, together with its allies may withdraw from Afghanistan completely before the end of this year.

However, Obama hinted that a small number of American troops will be left in Afghanistan after 2014 to train afghan forces and to pursue any remnant of al Qaeda that may be remaining; the chance of this happening is solely dependent on the ability of the Obama administration to strike an agreement with Hamid Karza regime. President Obama also commented on the use of drones for military purposes where he said that they will only be used in foreign countries when need be and in such a way that the people of those countries will be comfortable with the actions.

He went further ahead to comment on the Guantanamo bay prison which he wants closed and the prisoners transferred to other places. This comes after the new review boards held their second hearing on the closure of the facility and the transfer of more than 150 remaining prisoners.In his state of the union speech, president Obama also touched on the relationship of United States of America and Iran where he said that he would veto any new sanctions on Iran that the congress may bring before him since it may derail the talks on the country to abandon enrichment of uranium for making atomic bombs.

Obama seemed to lean more on giving diplomacy a chance to end the crisis than using a more combative approach. He said this while dismissing his critics on the ability of his government to negotiate with Iran by comparing the situation with that of john F Kennedy and Soviet Union, which was more delicate. Obama praises the role that American diplomacy has played in ensuring global peace by rallying more than 50 countries to help prevent nuclear weapons from being used by terrorists while at the same time helping America reduce its reliance on such weapons that it had piled during the cold war (Friedman, 02).

Obama went ahead to argue that it is because of American diplomacy and the threat of using force that made the Syrian government desist from using any more chemical weapons on its citizens and that America will continue to work with other international stakeholders to ensure that the people of Syria are safe. American diplomacy was also hailed as one of the factors that are helping Israel and Palestine to end their conflict over Gaza region and work towards finding a lasting solution to the crisis, which involves one of America’s greatest allies, Israel.

Works citedFriedman, Benjamin H. "The State of the Union Is Wrong: How Washington Left the Public Behind on Foreign Policy." Power (2014).