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The Obama administration has consistently demonstrated an abominable lack of
negotiating skill and a total absence of intestinal fortitude in their dealings with the ruthless leaders
of Iran.
”There is no disputing that the American military and economic colossus was not up
to the task of forcing a third-rate military power and economically desperate nation like Iran to knuckle
under at the negotiating table
- - -
“. . . President Obama’s oft-repeated claim that the U. S. had no choice but to accept
what he said was the best deal possible, if our goal was to restrain Iran, is a sad commentary on these
negotiations that took place on his watch.
“In practical terms, there . . . is great significance in how Iran emerged from the
initial nuclear talks. For one thing, there was no mention during the negotiations about countering or even
restraining Iran’s efforts to support insurgencies and terrorist organizations in the Middle East and the
Gulf. . . .
- - -
“. . . {It seems that} after a period of years – apparently between ten and fifteen
years – Iran will be free to pursue a nuclear weapons capacity. The message to other Middle East and Gulf
countries is clear. If they wish to maintain their security vis-s-vis Iran, they will need to develop nuclear
capabilities of their own. The seeds of a regional nuclear arms race are being planted even as we contemplate
the tentative agreement between Iran and the P5+1.
- - -
“{Iran has stated its position -} ‘Death to America’ . . . The Obama years have been
a witness to political disintegration in . . . Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Tunisia – everywhere a
challenge presented itself to the U.S.” (Ref. 1)
It’s bad enough that the United States, along with other timid nations, have been
idly standing by while North Korea has been developing nuclear weapons and the missile systems to deliver
these weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. and these other nations might claim that the regime in Pyongyang
would not commit national suicide by using its nuclear weapons – The same cannot be said of
Iran!
“North Korea continues to refine nuclear weapon capabilities and deploy long-range
ballistic missiles. Likewise, Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technologies capable of
delivering WMD {Weapons of Mass Destruction}.
“. . . Iran continues to export its various forms of terrorism across the Middle East,
and it wants to increase its arsenal of capabilities from improvised explosive devices (IEDs}, to long range
armed unmanned aircraft, to rockets/missiles with WMD warheads.”
(Ref. 2)
In face of this threat, our president does nothing. Worse than nothing, he wants an
agreement with Iran that realistically does not terminate their nuclear weapons program – maybe it
delays it.
Our president and our secretary of state are pushing for an agreement that lifts the
sanctions that have been crippling Iran – the removal of which will allow Iran to obtain the funds it needs to
continue fostering terrorism and regional instability in the Middle East. These same sanctions have also been
impeding Iran’s ability to fund its nuclear weapons development program.
What ever happened to the option of telling Iran, “Either you stop your nuclear weapons
development program or we will stop it for you? By such and such a date, you either agree to stop your nuclear
weapons development program, destroy your nuclear weapons material facilities, turn over the nuclear material
you have already manufactured, allow international inspectors complete access to any and all sites that they
wish to inspect, and finally, immediately cease funding, arming and supporting terrorist activities and
organizations throughout the world. If you refuse, keep on stalling, or continue lying about Iran’s activities
and intentions, we will bomb and destroy all your nuclear facilities, embargo all your international trade, and
impose the strictest sanctions possible on all your international dealings. Take it or leave it!”
If President Obama is afraid to take on Iran now, imagine taking on a martyrdom-glorifying
theocracy when they have “the bomb”!
History should have taught President Obama how to negotiate with terrorists from the
actions of one president more than a century earlier. In 1904, an American named Ion Perdicaris,
together with his stepson, was kidnapped from Tangier, Morocco by a Berber tribal leader named Mulai Ahmed
er-Raisuli, who wanted to extort money and concessions from the sultan of Morocco. The American president at
that time, Theodore Roosevelt, sent a simple telegram to the kidnapper that read, This government
wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead. President Roosevelt also sent warships to Tangier harbor,
and a small detachment of Marines was landed. The Berber kidnapper understood that President Roosevelt meant what
he said. Perdicaris was released.[3][4]
Other nations have developed nuclear weapons. With Iran, however, the situation is much
different. Those nations with nuclear weapons do not want to commit national suicide by using these weapons. But,
as we have repeatedly witnessed, Islamic fanatics consider suicide to be a rational form of martyrdom. We
cannot tolerate nuclear weapons in the hands of Islamic fanatics like those in power in Tehran. The
United States should either force Iran to cease the development of nuclear weapons or it should do what needs
to be done to stop the Iranian nuclear development program! Because America’s leader doesn’t have the guts
to do what needs to be done, the United States is forcing a country like Israel, or perhaps one or more of the
other Middle East Arab states threated by Iran, to do our dirty work – for shame!
Rather than acquiescing to the intractable position of Iran, our president might have
gained courage from the words of some of his predecessors:
"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause
we believe to be just; it shall not deter me." ---
Abraham Lincoln
"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall
never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission." ---
John F. Kennedy
As someone recently said, “sometimes no deal is better than a bad deal!” It
takes guts to come to this conclusion, to take the necessary steps that follow, and to accept the consequences
of this conclusion and actions.
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References:
- The Iran Deal in Perspective, Editorial, The Jewish Press, 10 April 2015.
- Rogue Countries and Space Countermeasures, Maj Gen Kenneth Israel, USAF (Ret.),
The Journal of Electronic Defense, Page 12, 1 April 2015.
- “This Government Wants Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead”, David C. Stolinsky,
Stolinsky.com, 22 May 2014.
- Something About Everything Military: Barbary Wars, Victor Davis Hanson,
http://www.jcs-group.com/military/warsmaller/1801barbary2.html, Accessed 15 April 2015.
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