In the Middle East, we must draw a red line

As Americans came together to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, we once again became the victims of a senseless attack, this time overseas.

In Libya, an angry mob rushed the U.S. embassy, protesting an anti-Islamic movie produced in the U.S. that mocks the Prophet Muhammad and refers to Muslims as homosexuals.

This supposedly peaceful protest turned into a military-style attack when approximately 50 gunmen surrounded the embassy, opened fire and then set fire to embassy offices. When the smoke cleared, four American diplomats, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were dead. Stevens was the first American ambassador killed since 1979.

On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney has been calling out President Obama, asking him to clarify what our policy is overseas, especially in places like Libya and Egypt. Romney has accused Obama of sending mixed messages to the world.

The Obama administration has also not indicated to Israel, our most important ally in the region, whether we will support it if it chooses to deploy an air strike targeting Iran’s nuclear reactors, which are being used to create weapons of mass destruction.

What signal does it send to the other regions if the U.S. refuses to join our most strategic ally, an ally that stands between a nuclear Iran and the U.S., that we would not join it in war?

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused the Obama administration of going soft on Iran and not creating concrete benchmarks, or “red lines.” Over the weekend, Netanyahu took to the airwaves and, despite repeatedly saying he didn’t want to get in the middle of an American election, made an appeal to American voters, urging them to “elect a president willing to draw a ‘red line’ with Iran.”

As the prime minister said, we must establish a red line with our enemies if we want to prevent war. In Iran, if they cross this line with their nuclear weapons programs, there will be consequences.