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Friday, September 20, 2013

Sound the Alarm

America is facing a potential cataclysm.  Iran is about to get nuclear weapons unless something is done to stop that from happening.  Right now, it is beginning to look like president Obama is moving towards accepting a nuclear armed Iran.

Let's step back for a moment.  Iran has been working on its nuclear arsenal for more than a decade.  The mullahs in Teheran have thousands of centrifuges working at multiple sites to refine the uranium they need to produce weapons.  We know that; they know that; the world knows that.  While the Iranians deny having any intent to produce a bomb, there is no question that a bomb is exactly the goal of the Islamic Republic.

For many years, there has been an ongoing debate about the best way to stop the Iranian nuclear program.  Some have advocated a military strike; others have wanted to use diplomacy.  The constant refrain of president Obama has been that he will try diplomacy but he will not allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon.  In the meantime, Obama has strongly advised Israel not to attack this potential existential threat to the Jewish state.  The world has watched four party talks, six party talks, UN led efforts (okay, attempted efforts) and one on one diplomacy fail.  Iran has talked and talked but has never agreed to anything.  The latest intelligence is that Iran is within a year of achieving its goal of nuclear weapons.

So why the alarm now?  Iran has a new president, a man who for years was the chief negotiator at those fruitless talks about the nuclear program.  President Rouhani has admitted that his plan for those negotiations was delay, delay and more delay.  He wanted to keep talking while the scientists could keep working on the nuclear program.  And guess what?  Rouhani now has proposed more talks with America about the nuclear program.  Indeed, Rouhani has now enlisted Russia's Vladimir Putin to help arrange those talks.  This duo is the same pair that just totally outfoxed Obama with regard to Syria.  They wanted to keep Assad in power and they sacrificed at most a part of Syria's chemical arsenal in exchange for preventing any American help to the rebels fighting Assad.

The initial response from the White House has been to encourage a meeting between Iranian and American representatives.  No time line was set.  There were no limits beyond which talking would be over.  No, the all talk president is gearing up again to talk some more.  I assume that Obama will be talking with the Iranians on the day that they set off their first nuclear blast.

Obama's plan regarding Iran ought to be a variation of the old Russian proverb that they keep quoting in Washington:  "Don't Trust, And Verify Too!!!!"  Instead, we seem to be moving down the path of "Trust and Talk and Talk and Talk".

Remember this.  There are eight countries in the world now with nuclear weapons.  Of these eight, North Korea has the most anti-American regime, but even it would not launch an attack against an American target since it does not want to be destroyed in response.  The theocracy in Iran, however, is a totally different group.  They follow a sect of Islam that believes that the return of the hidden Imam will come when the world is in total chaos and that by promoting that chaos they can speed his return.  They believe that if they launch an attack on the infidel West, they will all be martyrs who will be rewarded in paradise.  In other words, they are just nutty enough to actually launch a nuclear attack on New York or Washington or Los Angeles.  The attack would not even have to come directly from Iran; they could use one of their terrorist allies to do the dirty work.  And if the attack is not on the USA, it will surely be on Israel or the UK. 

We cannot allow Obama to lose sight of the true goal which is stopping Iran's nuclear program.  He seems focused right now on two other goals:  avoiding military action and avoiding difficult decisions.  That avoidance, however, moves us closer to a nuclear disaster. 




 

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