The Enemy is Iran
by Jeff Jacoby
Jul 21, '06 / 25 Tammuz 5766
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Opening a security conference in Tehran on July 8, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad exhorted the Islamic world to mobilize against
Israel and "remove the Zionist regime." The nations of the region are
growing furious, he said. "It will not be long before this intense fury
will lead to a huge explosion."
Four days later, Hizbullah terrorists staged a raid across Israel's
northern border, kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing eight
more. Over the next day, more than 120 rockets rained down across
northern Israel. Among the communities struck was Haifa, Israel's
third-largest city and home to its busiest port and a large oil
refinery. It was the first time rockets fired from Lebanon had
penetrated so far into Israel; Haifa had been thought to be out of
Hizbullah's range.
Israel replied to Hizbullah's artillery barrages and hostage-taking
with a military invasion, much as it did in Gaza last month in response
to incessant rocket fire and the Hamas kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. In
short order, Israel's warplanes struck Beirut's international airport,
Hizbullah's offices and two Lebanese army bases; the Israeli navy put
Lebanon under a blockade.
And so, by week's end Israel was at war again, this time on two fronts
against two of the most lethal terrorist forces in the world. Except
that the real enemy confronting it is not Hamas and Hizbullah.
Terrorist organizations cannot function without state sponsorship, and
no state anywhere sponsors more Islamist terrorism than Iran.
Was it just a coincidence that Ahmadinejad's prediction of "a huge
explosion" came only days before Hizbullah's assault across the border
and its unprecedented attack on Haifa? Or did the rabid president of
the evil regime that bankrolls Hizbullah with an estimated $200 million
a year know what was coming? It was Iran that supplied Hizbullah with
its immense arsenal of artillery rockets. When Hizbullah launches them
at Israel, it is doing the bidding of its patron.
The same is true of Hamas, which is likewise financed by Iran. The top
Hamas mastermind held a press conference in a Damascus ballroom last
week, where he extolled the Syrian regime that shelters him. Syria is
in turn protected by Iran, with which it signed a military cooperation
pact in June. So, it came as no surprise when Ahmadinejad warned Israel
not to extend its military offensive to Syria, and threatened "a
crushing response" if it did.
Israel has to repair its deterrent threat, which was weakened by the
unilateral retreats from Gaza and southern Lebanon, and by too many
listless responses to terrorist provocations. A sustained assault into
southern Lebanon, one that leaves Hizbullah in shards and Israel's
northern border at peace, would be welcome evidence that the old Israel
is back. And it would represent a significant victory in the worldwide
war against Islamist terrorism.
Gaza, Hizbullah, Iraq, Al-Qaeda - it is all the same fight. "No one
should have any lingering doubts about what's going on in the Middle
East," writes Michael Ledeen, an expert on terrorism and Iran. "It's
war, and it now runs from Gaza into Israel, through Lebanon and thence
to Iraq via Syria. There are different instruments, ranging from Hamas
in Gaza to Hizbullah in Syria and Lebanon and on to the multifaceted
'insurgency' in Iraq. But there is a common prime mover, and that is
the Iranian mullahcracy, the revolutionary Islamic fascist state that
declared war on us 27 years ago and has yet to be held accountable."
Twenty-seven years ago was 1979, the year that Islamist radicals loyal
to the Ayatollah Khomeini invaded the US embassy in Tehran and held
dozens of American diplomats hostage for the next 444 days.
Washington's response was weak and feckless, as it would be time and
again in the years that followed. Only after 9/11 did the United States
finally acknowledge that it was in a war with militant Islam and begin
fighting back in earnest. But not against Iran, which continues,
unscathed and unrepentant, to stoke the terrorist fires. Its goals,
unchanged since Khomeini's day, are to become the dominant power in the
Middle East, to create Islamist regimes worldwide, to annihilate
Israel, and to kill Americans.
We will never win this war, Ledeen and others argue, until the Iranian
theocracy is brought down. That does not have to mean military action.
Our aim instead should be to empower Iran's restive population, which
is largely pro-Western and moderate. Give them as much support as
possible, much as the Reagan administration did for Lech Walesa and
Solidarity in Poland - and let them find the means to reclaim their
government for themselves.
Israel may be able to inflict a punishing defeat on Hizbullah, but
regime change in Tehran will require American resolve. Will we muster
that resolve before - or only after - the mullahs get the bomb?
This article originally appeared in the Boston Globe on Sunday, July
16, 2006.
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| User: "John Lemke" |
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| Title: Re: The Enemy is Iran |
21 Jul 2006 07:11:08 AM |
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"lkgeo1" <lkgeo1@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1153481927.546203.246180@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
The Enemy is Iran
Bear in mind, while you're identifying your enemies, that America had the
opportunity to nurture and bond with a democratically elected government in
Iran in the early 50's. Instead the Eisenhower/Dulles administration
orchestrated a coup that overthrew that government, brought a tyrant to
power, radicalized Muslim opposition there over a 25 year period resulting
in the coming to power of a group of fascist theologians.
It's clear that nurturing democracy is only an option when you can no longer
rely on brute force and corruption to maximize your oil profits.
It isn't hard to understand why Iranians and other Muslims are still rather
indignant about all this and other unwarranted influence Western capitalism
has brought to their homelands.
Come to know your "enemies" and what inspires them. Look at your own sin,
repent a bit and perhaps we won't have to keep fighting the same kinds of
wars over and over again.
.
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| User: "an angry little stinker whos been a failure at everything" |
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| Title: Re: The Enemy is Iran |
21 Jul 2006 11:47:12 AM |
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John Lemke wrote:
"lkgeo1" <lkgeo1@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1153481927.546203.246180@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
The Enemy is Iran
Bear in mind, while you're identifying your enemies, that America had the
opportunity to nurture and bond with a democratically elected government in
Iran in the early 50's. Instead the Eisenhower/Dulles administration
orchestrated a coup that overthrew that government, brought a tyrant to
power, radicalized Muslim opposition there over a 25 year period resulting
in the coming to power of a group of fascist theologians.
It's clear that nurturing democracy is only an option when you can no longer
rely on brute force and corruption to maximize your oil profits.
It isn't hard to understand why Iranians and other Muslims are still rather
indignant about all this and other unwarranted influence Western capitalism
has brought to their homelands.
NO MY FRIENDS NORTH KOREA IS THE REAL THREAT......
Come to know your "enemies" and what inspires them. Look at your own sin,
repent a bit and perhaps we won't have to keep fighting the same kinds of
wars over and over again.
.
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|
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| User: "lkgeo1" |
|
| Title: Re: The Enemy is Iran |
21 Jul 2006 07:09:24 PM |
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Dennis Miller on Palestine
"A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service
to
all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the
Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need.
Here we go:
The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about
that:
There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called
Palestine
for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but
is
really a modern invention. Before the Israelis won the land in the 1967
war,
Gaza was owned by Egypt, the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there
were
no "Palestinians."
As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as
basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians," weeping
for
their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation."
So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any
more to
describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our defeats until
someone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what
they
are: "Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything In Life And Would
Rather
Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And
Death."
I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this,
then:
"Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own
country. Oops, just one more thing: No, they don't. They could've had
their
own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago
at
Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic
lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you
actually
have to figure out some way to make a living.
That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the
region
want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course
--that's
where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel.
Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity"
as
their textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed the
rulers
of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from
the
fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and
tribally
backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth,
you
know that's really saying something.
It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic
about
the great history and culture of the Muslim Mid east. Unless I'm
missing
something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra,
and,
by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.
Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five
Million
Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel
as a
pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks
swear
that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will
be
pals.
Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to
obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths
to
drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.
My friend, Kevin Rooney, made a gorgeous point the other day: Just
reverse
the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs.
I was
stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews
strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course
not.
Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations
to
drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at
the
murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible
lies
about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children?
Disgusting.
No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews
would ever do to people is debate them to death.
Mr. Bush, God bless him, is walking a tightrope. I understand that with
vital operations in Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as
Americans, to
try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all,
that
can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of super models who've
just
had their drugs taken away.
However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing
moral weight. We've already lost some. After September 11th our
president
told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the
countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after
months
and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and
then
every day) start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show
restraint.
If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we
would all
very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with
it and
kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan.
an angry little stinker who's been a failure at everything wrote:
John Lemke wrote:
"lkgeo1" <lkgeo1@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1153481927.546203.246180@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
The Enemy is Iran
Bear in mind, while you're identifying your enemies, that America had the
opportunity to nurture and bond with a democratically elected government in
Iran in the early 50's. Instead the Eisenhower/Dulles administration
orchestrated a coup that overthrew that government, brought a tyrant to
power, radicalized Muslim opposition there over a 25 year period resulting
in the coming to power of a group of fascist theologians.
It's clear that nurturing democracy is only an option when you can no longer
rely on brute force and corruption to maximize your oil profits.
It isn't hard to understand why Iranians and other Muslims are still rather
indignant about all this and other unwarranted influence Western capitalism
has brought to their homelands.
NO MY FRIENDS NORTH KOREA IS THE REAL THREAT......
Come to know your "enemies" and what inspires them. Look at your own sin,
repent a bit and perhaps we won't have to keep fighting the same kinds of
wars over and over again.
.
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