Steven P. BarrettTALKING WITH IRAN WON'T BE APPEASEMENT: IT'LL SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES (LINK)
July 18th 2008 19:49
By Steven Barrett
A few days ago I wrote about the Bush administration’s sudden willingness to talk with Iran, something many of us never would’ve thought possible given all the recent saber rattling and missile launches. While in another post about Israel, I pined for a harder line from Israel to take against any and all Palestinian terror groups, the circumstances between the U.S and Iran and that of the Israelis and their Palestinian tormenters is different.
Israel’s not dealing with a real nation, nor truly civilized groups, particularly Hassan Nazrallah’s Hezbollah to her north in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Pathetically enough, one of the terrorists who didn’t come back alive, a woman “suicide” (read: mass murderess) bomber, Dalal Mughrabi. There’s nothing to gain by keeping the gloves on.
All Israel received in return for her efforts to get two soldiers who were kidnapped from their Israeli homeland was a war it wasn’t allowed to win thanks to its rudderless and spineless Olmert government, notwithstanding the enormity of the prospect of endless urban warfare and a psychological threat posed to her by Hezbollah’s use of longer range rockets and use of public relations. It was Israel’s Tet. The IDF won on the field despite Olmert’s “leadership.”
Like our armed forces in Southeast Asia who beat the hell out of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese once we regrouped after the Tet Offensive began; Israel’s Defense Force (IDF) especially her Air Force, pummeled Hezbollah and the cities and their captive civilian populations -- only to get a pummeling in the media. And did the 4th estate howl loudly about that, moreso than even about the terrorists’ rocket fire into Israeli cities and towns. There was some tut-tut-ing, about that, but the press was mostly transfixed by Hezbollah’s sudden ability to launch payloads much deeper into Israeli territory than ever before.
Two years after the war, what did Israel and the families of those two soldiers who were kidnapped and killed to start a war receive in return? Their bodies dropped off from a van in two plain pine boxes on an empty road. The terrorists got their murdering heroes back, one of whom Samir Kuntar, who promised during the woman terrorist’s celebratory funeral to commit more atrocities in her honor. According to columnist Mona Charen, (World Jewish Review 7/18/08):
Really Long Link
What does this tragedy in the perennially desecrated “Holy” Land have to do with Iran? Well, what has Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad long called for? Israel’s final holocaust. Could the stakes be any higher in that area with a nut job like him in office with the backing of the theocracy? With talks we have a chance of demonstrating that we can defuse this area, get Ahmadinejad to back off of all this genocidal gibberish because it’ll be his nation that’ll suffer the most and the quickest if it doesn’t back off and decide to join the modern civilized world.
Teheran is a city of 15 million people. That’s almost double that of the Big Apple. Iran, despite her outside image of a backwards theocracy that doesn’t hesitate to hang her criminals, both regular and political, by hanging from building cranes, is by and large a fast-growing nation teeming with millions of younger Iranians who’re sick and tired of a bunch of old long beards telling them how to live every facet of their lives. These young Iranians know their clergy (which has more power than the goofy little guy in the golf jacket) is where the power lies -- and they’ve had it with them as many Britons had it with Cromwell’s Roundheads forced the Restoration of the Monarchy.
If we don’t talk with them, several things -- none of them good -- could happen. Ahmadinejad might just be able to obtain enough nukes to pass off to Nazrallah and his newly released henchman Kuntar to use in Tel Aviv. (Jerusalem is “too sacred” to nuke, but they’ll settle for plenty of blood dripping from shattered bus windows.) When that happens Ahmadinejad might just one morning wake up thinking he saw the messianic “Mahdi” appearing off in the western sky and decide THIS IS THE DAY and give the go-ahead to Nazrallah to give his go-ahead to nuke Tel Aviv. If he’s been able to sidestep the Mullahs, all this hell could break loose. Literally. If Israel gets even the slightest hint of such an event in the works, Teheran with her 15 million people will get hit first, possibly without a warning, and not certainly not conventionally.
As odious as the prospect of holding talks and breaking down barriers with the Mullahs will seem to most conservatives coming around to John McCain, the reasons for these talks and stakes for not having them couldn’t be any higher or more perilous.
Besides, holding talks opens Iran up now to demonstrate that it doesn’t want war any more than we or Israel. If it takes a united front of Israel, the United States and an Iran that’s effectively neutered or removed Ahmadinejad from the picture, permanently -- any talks with Iran will save millions of lives.
If we can’t control Iran, how on earth can we expect anybody to control Nazrallah, Kuntar; Israel (and her hardliners, plus the ever unpredictable so-called Christian Zionists); Hamas, and the never-reliable PLO in the West Bank -- not to mention what an attack on Iran will bring back to Europe and our shores.
We won’t be able to count on as many European “allies” like we did right after 9/11. They’ll be blaming us and Israel for whatever happens to them, even though we’ll be doing the dirty work -- as usual.
We’re in the driver’s seat: What we offer Iran is life itself by making it fully known what’s likely to happen if she continues on this suicidal path towards a war she cannot win. Talking’s not the same as appeasing. Opening up trade barriers isn’t the same as giving half of Czechoslovakia away to keep Hitler happy. President “What Me Worry” isn’t getting an inch of Israeli soil for Nazrallah, the PLO or Gaza. So long as he keeps his yap shut and out of the way, he’ll be doing everyone a favor, especially Iranians.
Strategically and morally speaking, we have no reason to hit Iranian population centers, unless they hit back through a “dirty” bomb or any other form of mass destruction. But if Tel Aviv or any other Israeli city is nuked or hit with chemical/neurobiological weapons, Teheran and millions of people will be gone in a flash. And for what?
A few days ago I wrote about the Bush administration’s sudden willingness to talk with Iran, something many of us never would’ve thought possible given all the recent saber rattling and missile launches. While in another post about Israel, I pined for a harder line from Israel to take against any and all Palestinian terror groups, the circumstances between the U.S and Iran and that of the Israelis and their Palestinian tormenters is different.
Israel’s not dealing with a real nation, nor truly civilized groups, particularly Hassan Nazrallah’s Hezbollah to her north in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Pathetically enough, one of the terrorists who didn’t come back alive, a woman “suicide” (read: mass murderess) bomber, Dalal Mughrabi. There’s nothing to gain by keeping the gloves on.
All Israel received in return for her efforts to get two soldiers who were kidnapped from their Israeli homeland was a war it wasn’t allowed to win thanks to its rudderless and spineless Olmert government, notwithstanding the enormity of the prospect of endless urban warfare and a psychological threat posed to her by Hezbollah’s use of longer range rockets and use of public relations. It was Israel’s Tet. The IDF won on the field despite Olmert’s “leadership.”
Like our armed forces in Southeast Asia who beat the hell out of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese once we regrouped after the Tet Offensive began; Israel’s Defense Force (IDF) especially her Air Force, pummeled Hezbollah and the cities and their captive civilian populations -- only to get a pummeling in the media. And did the 4th estate howl loudly about that, moreso than even about the terrorists’ rocket fire into Israeli cities and towns. There was some tut-tut-ing, about that, but the press was mostly transfixed by Hezbollah’s sudden ability to launch payloads much deeper into Israeli territory than ever before.
Psychological Terror
Two years after the war, what did Israel and the families of those two soldiers who were kidnapped and killed to start a war receive in return? Their bodies dropped off from a van in two plain pine boxes on an empty road. The terrorists got their murdering heroes back, one of whom Samir Kuntar, who promised during the woman terrorist’s celebratory funeral to commit more atrocities in her honor. According to columnist Mona Charen, (World Jewish Review 7/18/08):
Kuntar, Hezbollah Butcher
This week, Kuntar, dressed in fatigues and sporting a Hitlerian mustache and haircut, walked down a red carpet arrayed for him in Beirut. The government closed all offices and declared a national day of celebration. Tens of thousands of Lebanese cheered, waved flags, threw confetti, and set off fireworks as Hezbollah staged a rally to celebrate their "victory" over Israel. Mahmoud Abbas, the "moderate" leader of the Palestinian Authority, sent "blessings to Samir Kuntar's family." PA spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman sent "warm blessings to Hezbollah … on the return of the heroes of freedom … headed by the great Samir Kuntar."
The statement went on to laud the "heroic" actions of "martyr" Dalal Mughrabi, whose body was returned to Lebanon. She had participated in the worst terror attack ever against Israeli civilians, the hijacking of a tourist bus in which 37 people including 12 children were murdered. The Palestinian Authority spokesman took the opportunity to vow that the Fatah party "will continue to struggle in the way of the pure Martyrs, until the state is liberated and the Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital." Kuntar, acknowledging the adulation of the crowd, took the microphone and declared, "I return from Palestine only to go back to Palestine."
The statement went on to laud the "heroic" actions of "martyr" Dalal Mughrabi, whose body was returned to Lebanon. She had participated in the worst terror attack ever against Israeli civilians, the hijacking of a tourist bus in which 37 people including 12 children were murdered. The Palestinian Authority spokesman took the opportunity to vow that the Fatah party "will continue to struggle in the way of the pure Martyrs, until the state is liberated and the Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital." Kuntar, acknowledging the adulation of the crowd, took the microphone and declared, "I return from Palestine only to go back to Palestine."
Really Long Link
What does this tragedy in the perennially desecrated “Holy” Land have to do with Iran? Well, what has Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad long called for? Israel’s final holocaust. Could the stakes be any higher in that area with a nut job like him in office with the backing of the theocracy? With talks we have a chance of demonstrating that we can defuse this area, get Ahmadinejad to back off of all this genocidal gibberish because it’ll be his nation that’ll suffer the most and the quickest if it doesn’t back off and decide to join the modern civilized world.
IDF Submarine
Teheran is a city of 15 million people. That’s almost double that of the Big Apple. Iran, despite her outside image of a backwards theocracy that doesn’t hesitate to hang her criminals, both regular and political, by hanging from building cranes, is by and large a fast-growing nation teeming with millions of younger Iranians who’re sick and tired of a bunch of old long beards telling them how to live every facet of their lives. These young Iranians know their clergy (which has more power than the goofy little guy in the golf jacket) is where the power lies -- and they’ve had it with them as many Britons had it with Cromwell’s Roundheads forced the Restoration of the Monarchy.
If we don’t talk with them, several things -- none of them good -- could happen. Ahmadinejad might just be able to obtain enough nukes to pass off to Nazrallah and his newly released henchman Kuntar to use in Tel Aviv. (Jerusalem is “too sacred” to nuke, but they’ll settle for plenty of blood dripping from shattered bus windows.) When that happens Ahmadinejad might just one morning wake up thinking he saw the messianic “Mahdi” appearing off in the western sky and decide THIS IS THE DAY and give the go-ahead to Nazrallah to give his go-ahead to nuke Tel Aviv. If he’s been able to sidestep the Mullahs, all this hell could break loose. Literally. If Israel gets even the slightest hint of such an event in the works, Teheran with her 15 million people will get hit first, possibly without a warning, and not certainly not conventionally.
Is Iran Willing To Pay This?
As odious as the prospect of holding talks and breaking down barriers with the Mullahs will seem to most conservatives coming around to John McCain, the reasons for these talks and stakes for not having them couldn’t be any higher or more perilous.
Besides, holding talks opens Iran up now to demonstrate that it doesn’t want war any more than we or Israel. If it takes a united front of Israel, the United States and an Iran that’s effectively neutered or removed Ahmadinejad from the picture, permanently -- any talks with Iran will save millions of lives.
If we can’t control Iran, how on earth can we expect anybody to control Nazrallah, Kuntar; Israel (and her hardliners, plus the ever unpredictable so-called Christian Zionists); Hamas, and the never-reliable PLO in the West Bank -- not to mention what an attack on Iran will bring back to Europe and our shores.
We won’t be able to count on as many European “allies” like we did right after 9/11. They’ll be blaming us and Israel for whatever happens to them, even though we’ll be doing the dirty work -- as usual.
We’re in the driver’s seat: What we offer Iran is life itself by making it fully known what’s likely to happen if she continues on this suicidal path towards a war she cannot win. Talking’s not the same as appeasing. Opening up trade barriers isn’t the same as giving half of Czechoslovakia away to keep Hitler happy. President “What Me Worry” isn’t getting an inch of Israeli soil for Nazrallah, the PLO or Gaza. So long as he keeps his yap shut and out of the way, he’ll be doing everyone a favor, especially Iranians.
Strategically and morally speaking, we have no reason to hit Iranian population centers, unless they hit back through a “dirty” bomb or any other form of mass destruction. But if Tel Aviv or any other Israeli city is nuked or hit with chemical/neurobiological weapons, Teheran and millions of people will be gone in a flash. And for what?
| 59 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
That being said, I have heard that the Iranian people are not (in the majority) unfriendly to the USA. If the anti-Semitic moron Jimmy Carter hadn't dumped our former friend and ally, the Shah of Iran, none of this would be happening. If small scale discussions can keep the Iranian people from supporting Ahmadinejad and starting a terrible war with Israel (thus bringing us in to protect our friend and ally) it would be a good thing. Any war that can be negotiated out of happening is a good war, Steven! My only concern is what Ahmadinejad will be doing during the talks and how tight a leash he is holding on the diplomats.
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
A Global Citizen
Paranormal Paranormal
Is Why
Alaska Chronicle
The mullahs have been talking each other into the grave for centuries. How will this effort differ?
Comment by Anonymous
But, putting our people back in there when the stakes couldn't be any higher for THEM and making it as clear as spanking new glass (oh, that's "transparency"! LOL) that if they screw up, and get us and Israel really ticked off, not to be surprised to see us leaving our embassy FOR GOOD: because chances are there'll be no building -- or anything else in that city left.
Or, in another more informal way, think of how Don Vito and Don Michael Corleone handled their potential enemies: They kept 'em closer than they did their friends. The Mullahs have to know that they'll be speaking to the graves alright if they don't rein in Goofy or Alfred E. Newman.
Another fear I have of the Big O is that some of the same damn anti-Semites in the M.Eastern Desk at State will find some way to keep their places and screw it all up just to show their perpetual generational lines of old boy network prejudices are still alive. FDR couldn't weed 'em out. Truman had to shove Israel down their throats but Jimmy Carter came along and put 'em to work. I still remember Tip O'Neill's shock at one of Carter's first questions about life on the Potomac. "Is the Jewish lobby that strong" or words to the same effect.
He's been a major disappointment to me in a personally political way because I'd supported him in 80. I was very strongly pro-Democrat and anti-Ted, so JC was the only alternative. But his backstabbing of Somoza and the Shah should haunt him like two ghosts in the night. For a man so dedicated to Biblical studies, he sure gets hung up on that name Ishmael.
Any luck getting rid of that "censorship" icon? See if you can copy it and use it for the Big O. LOL! But instead of censorship, changed the word to WRONG!
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
heads of state speaking to each other about economics and politics and human rights etc isnt the same as negotiating with a terrorist who is holding hostages in an attempt to free prisoners
as usual i think the media should hang their heads in shame for the terrible beat ups they perptrate by twisting the stories into something theyre not
Comment by Anonymous