Imagine a Nuclear Iran
It’s easy if you try.
JULY 22, 2010
It’s been said that a diplomat is a gentleman paid to go abroad and lie for his country. Sometimes, however, diplomats slip up and tell the truth. In response to a question at the hopefully named Aspen Ideas Festival this month, Yousef al-Otaiba, the ambassador from the United Arab Emirates, said bluntly: “We cannot live with a nuclear Iran.”
Al-Otaiba went on to add that, if sanctions fail to stop Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons, military force will be the only option left and it should not be ruled out. “A military attack on Iran by whomever would be a disaster,” he said. “But Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a bigger disaster.”
Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed, director-general of Al-Arabiya TV, followed with an article for the English-language edition of Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, in which he not only agreed with the ambassador, he declared the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran “the most dangerous threat that is facing our region in a hundred years.” He called upon readers to “imagine what Tehran will do when it has nuclear capabilities!”
Al-Rashed then did a little imagining himself: Iran, he said, would soon “dominate . . . and perhaps take over” the Gulf states, the small, wealthy Arab countries so tantalizingly close to its borders.
Such an anschluss would not require tanks or troop deployments. As Ambassador al-Otaiba said at Aspen, the region’s leaders will “start running for cover towards Iran” once it becomes clear that Washington, having said under both the Bush and Obama administrations that it would be “unacceptable” for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, has accepted that after all.
One can only imagine that other nations will draw the conclusion that being America’s enemy is less risky than being America’s friend. The implications for Iraq — where the U.S. has invested so much blood and treasure — are obvious. Imagine you are an Iraqi leader. American troops have departed and the mullahs next door are stockpiling nukes and commanding death squads. What would you do?
In Pakistan, Islamists will advance, while democrats will retreat. That will further complicate matters in Afghanistan, where Iranian interventions (e.g. the supplying of roadside bombs to insurgents) will escalate in an effort to frustrate an already challenging American mission. If America does not respond, Iran wins the battle of Afghanistan. If America does respond — well, since neither the Bush nor the Obama administration responded to Iran’s interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past, there is no basis to imagine a policy change once Iran’s rulers have their fingers on nuclear triggers.
Turkey’s Islamist government already has moved closer to Iran. Syria has long been an Iranian client. Hezbollah, Iran’s terrorist proxy, will be strengthened within Lebanon, within Latin America (where it has been making substantial inroads in recent years), and, of course, along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
In that regard: Four years ago this month, Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war. It ended with U.N. Resolution 1701, which called for Hezbollah’s disarmament, prohibited Hezbollah from acquiring new missiles, and banned the group from operating near the Israeli border. International troops were dispatched to make sure all this happened. It didn’t. Hezbollah has not been disarmed, thousands of new missiles have been imported, and Hezbollah forces go where they like. One has to imagine this is instructive to those who lead vulnerable nations.
Hamas, too, is funded by Iran. Hamas’s leaders have never entertained the possibility of making peace with Israel. With a nuclear Iran supporting them, their bellicosity will increase. By contrast, the Palestinian Authority will become weaker than ever. A Hamas takeover of the West Bank is within the realm of possibility.
Israel will come under further pressure from both Hamas and Hezbollah, and perhaps Fatah as well. Military responses to terrorism and missile strikes will be denounced by Iran. The U.N. will agree. The Europeans will not disagree. The possibility of a direct conflict between Israel and Iran will rise. Could that escalate into a nuclear exchange? As Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis has noted: For those who hold the fanatical religious convictions of a Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “mutually assured destruction” is not a deterrent — it is an inducement.
Is there a chance that Iran will give nuclear weapons to anti-American terrorists — or attack the Great Satan directly? That is hard to imagine — almost as hard as it was a few years ago to imagine that a stateless terrorist group based in southern Afghanistan would organize the hijacking of passenger jets and use them as missiles to attack Washington and New York.
Jim Woolsey, who served as CIA director under President Clinton, and Rebeccah Heinrichs, an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, recently noted: “Iranian military writings show the mullahs recognize the potential” of launching a nuclear-armed missile from a ship near one of our coasts to create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that would destroy “the electric grid and electrical systems across a wide swath of U.S. territory.” The result: “unimaginable economic devastation” and tens of thousands of deaths.
At present, we are not building the missile-defense architecture that could prevent such an attack. Nor are we hardening the grid so that it could withstand such an attack. We are choosing to remain vulnerable.
Congress has passed, and President Obama has signed, legislation that would impose crippling sanctions on Iran. The questions now: Will Obama seriously enforce these sanctions? And will the Europeans help or hinder? If sanctions fail, there will be no good choices — only bad choices and worse choices. To figure out which is which will require imagination — more than most Western leaders have demonstrated in recent years.
The article was originally published here.
Clifford D. May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism and Islamism.
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Mr Ahmadinejad is a JEW- when his parents couldnt get work they migrated to Iran.-- When they arrived they had a choice to convert or pay the fee to live there. They chose to become what they are. muslim.That is in the history books. There is also a photo of when he became president and it shows him with papers that show he is JEWISH. This a guy who has hidden it and when asked about it in interviews gets rite wound up and wont answer which to me sounds the trumpet. When you see on a face and you know that you know and he wont answer one way or the other and you have the goods in your hand to show wow does he get angry. We know that he knows and he knows that we know so he has to live with it. so do we . It will all get sorted out someday. For he who denies The CHRIST also denies GOD and i would want to near him when it happens. Get it right- and be on the winning side. as for ground zero - no aint gonna happen-
When JESUS comes back and stands on the Mt of Olives that will be the NWO- in the sense that GOD will rule- That is what it says in the BIBLE. I have read the end of the book also. .So in the GOD wins and that is that- the muslims can think what they want. greed and flat out evil have never ever won. Truth will always prevail and for those who know CHRIST as their Saviour will only be allowed in GOD,s kingdom. That is what the BIBLE says. So i really dont think muslims have a chance. As for Jefferson saying to annihalate them all is probably rite but they will do it to themselves when they bring it on. Choose sides and be ready. When the trumpet sounds the game is on and GOD wins before it starts. In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth and everything in it-. 1,st BOOK OF the BIBLE.Be ready be watchful be careful be on the winning side-
This is the Gog/Magog war foretold by the prophet Ezekiel. According to Ezekiel 38, the children of Magog(Russia and Iran) will form and alliance and attack the people of Israel. This is where God will intervene and destroy the armies of Magog. He will cause fire and sulfur to rain down from heaven and burn them. He will shake the mountains of Israel and cause the rocks to tumble down and crush them. Then the world will know that He is God. But the threat of nuclear Iran will fall on America as well. The president of Iran has already chosen the cities he wishes to attack in the United States: Texas, Houston, Miami, New York, and Chicago. London will be one of the targets as well. The Iranian President believes that by causing a global war he will speed up the coming of the Mahdi- the Islamic messiah. Little does he know that the Mahdi is actually the Antichrist! And so following that war, the Antichrist come to power. Then he will establish the New World Order foretold in the book of Revelation.
clifford may looks like a gentle man but is known as a muslim hater.
he is not aware of the fact that man proposes and God disposes
The Prophetic Word will take place! If we do not believe, do not know, or understand it,does not change the out come!It will still take place."My people perish for a lake of knowledge"!May OUR G-D have mercy upon US all!
Open your eyes, the muslims don't want peace, they want to rule the world! what gets me is that Mohammed was the son of Abraham, and Abraham was a Israilite. So doesn't that make Mohammed an Isrialite too? heaven forbid that I should offend the muslims by calling Mohammed a Jew, but guess what I don't care. I'm not afraid of these rag heads, and if they a looking for a way to heaven I'll be more than glad to show them the way. Oh, by the way there are no virgins in heaven waiting to serve these bastards.
Sempeer Fi
The God of Hellfire, Snake and Nape,let 'em burn
First,Abraham in the Bible,Ibrahim in Quran are not the same person.
When Abram was 99 years old God changed his name to Abraham(Gen:17:5)
Ibrahim according to Quran always called Ibrahim(Quran 21:60)
Abraham's father was Terah(Gen 11:31,32)Ibrahim's father was Azar(Qur 6:74)Ishmael's mother Hagar was Egyptian and he had egyptian wife(Gen 21:21)
He dwelt in the wilderness of Paran(Gen 21:21) not Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
"(They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria.) He died in the presence of all his brethren.(Gen 25:18)"
Bukhari Hadith(2nd sacred book of Islam,words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Mohammad)Islam persist Mohammad is descendant of Ishmael,according to Hadith
Ibrahim brought Hagar and infant Ishmael to Mecca left them there(Sahih Bukhari volume4 book55 number584)then no one live in Mecca,Angel of Allah digged ZamZam well water drained Jurhum tribe approached them to live together.
Jurham tribe taught arabic to Hagar and Ishmael,so Ishmael became ancestor of Arabic people? Ishmael's second son Quidar's 24th generation is Mohammad(Syed Yusuf)Abraham was about BC 2000, Mohammad was born AD 570 simple math 2,570 years, How could you explain 23 generation filled up that much gap?
Islamism,is not a religion of Abraham.Quraish tribe's Allah(moon god:crescent) Mohammad created so from the beginning called "Mohammedanism"
Actually, Abraham was not an Israelite. The name Israel was given to Jacob, the son of Issac. Thus, all the descendents of Jacob are Israelites. And, yes Abraham was their great-grandfather through Jacob. Thus, Mohammed was not a Jew since his linage did not come through Jacob.
However, that being said, Iran is a major danger to the world, and I feel military action needs to be taken against them. But, who of us believes the Dems will ever let that happen?
Everybody is talking and talking, making promises and treats, but it's all a waste of time.It's obvious that the corporate world is ruling here where the money invested that's what counts, beckose of the greed we are the little people are nothing to them, corporate world is not just investors from not only Middle East, and as long the oil from Iran is flowing and filling up they pockets nothing will happen.Replacing oil as the world energy will end all the problems from ME, but will the investors allow it?They will not!!Other ways it would have been no Islamic threat to the world and the Towers would be still standing.Wake up word before is to late!
x
free daily with the Historyscoper:
http://historyscoper-islamwatch.blogspot.com/
What most westerners have a hard time grasping is that the rest of the world does not think like we do. For instance; when we say peace, we mean we both do our best to get along with each other and try to resolve our differences in a peaceful manner, doing everything we can to avoid conflict. The Arab / Islamic understanding is totally opposed to this concept. Their word for peace is HUDNA, which means a strategic cease-fire, in order to regroup, rearm and oraganize. Arabs / Islamics will keep peace with us only until they have gained the upper hand, whether it be politically, militarily, or by overwhelmingly outnumbering us. That is why they have the highest population growth statistics in the world.
We are talking about an entire region of people groups that have been deliberately kept impoverished and uneducated while being indoctrinated from the day they were born that infidels (that means you and me) are worthy only of death and that they are doing Allah (Satan) a service when they murder us. If they die in the process, so much better for them, since they are then guaranteed a place in their Heaven (Hell), being eternally serviced by 70 perpetual virgins.
Thomas Jefferson, in order to understand the enemy, studied the koran when he was in conflict with the Barbary pirates, who were muslims. After he learned abouth their "religion" he understood why they were so blood-thirsty and murderous. He said the only way to win a war with muslims is total annihilation. Leave them any room at all to regroup and eventually, maybe not in his lifetime, but someday, they will come back and destroy us all.
Until all governments of the world understand this fact, Islam will be a constant danger to all peace-loving people in the world. You can't make peace with a neighbor whose sole purpose in life is to destroy your way of life.
Haven't we had enough of wars and wholesale destruction? What has any war on this planet ever proved? I have little patience with rank stupidity and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be the biggest fool in the world to attack Israel or any other nation. It would be like the dog chasing a car, once he catches it, just what does he do with it? Most thinking humans would prefer to live their lives as simply as possible, not really asking for all that much, primarily to be left alone. It is that small percentage of humans who seem to control the destiny of everyone else and this small percentage should be easily told to take a hike. If the world would rid itself of these ego-maniacs, we would all be better off. Everyone could put away his or her nukes and go about the job of living for a change. We all need a break from all of the world-wide crap.
Clifton Lee West Woodburn, Oregon