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April 17, 2006
Iranian nutjobs and nukes: Oh, my!
In case you haven't been paying attention, the lunatic leader of Iran -- in between promises to wipe Israel from the map -- has also been saying that Iran has achieved a breakthrough in its efforts to produce nuclear bombs.
Mark Steyn sums up the West's reaction to these threats -- er, diplomatic pronouncements -- better than anyone else.
You know what's great fun to do if you're on, say, a flight from Chicago to New York and you're getting a little bored? Why not play being President Ahmadinejad? Stand up and yell in a loud voice, "I've got a bomb!" Next thing you know the air marshal will be telling people, "It's OK, folks. Nothing to worry about. He hasn't got a bomb." And then the second marshal would say, "And even if he did have a bomb it's highly unlikely he'd ever use it." And then you threaten to kill the two Jews in row 12 and the stewardess says, "Relax, everyone. That's just a harmless rhetorical flourish." And then a group of passengers in rows 4 to 7 point out, "Yes, but it's entirely reasonable of him to have a bomb given the threatening behavior of the marshals and the cabin crew."
That's how it goes with the Iranians. The more they claim they've gone nuclear, the more U.S. intelligence experts -- oops, where are my quote marks? -- the more U.S. intelligence "experts" insist no, no, it won't be for another 10 years yet. The more they conclusively demonstrate their non-compliance with the IAEA, the more the international community warns sternly that, if it were proved that Iran were in non-compliance, that could have very grave consequences. But, fortunately, no matter how thoroughly the Iranians non-comply it's never quite non-compliant enough to rise to the level of grave consequences. You can't blame Ahmadinejad for thinking "our enemies cannot do a damned thing."
It's not the world's job to prove that the Iranians are bluffing. The braggadocio itself is reason enough to act, and prolonged negotiations with a regime that openly admits it's negotiating just for the laughs only damages us further. The perfect summation of the Iranian approach to negotiations came in this gem of a sentence from the New York Times on July 13 last year:
"Iran will resume uranium enrichment if the European Union does not recognize its right to do so, two Iranian nuclear negotiators said in an interview published Thursday."
Got that? If we don't let Iran go nuclear, they'll go nuclear. That position might tax even the nuanced detecting skills of John Kerry.
I was listening to the Distinguished Senator --Gag! -- from California bloviating this past week. Boxer was claiming that Iran was five-to-ten years away from being able to make an A-bomb, based upon "experts" who had been whispering in her ear.
Five to ten years? The United States was able to make two bombs in three years more than SIXTY years ago, when it had never been done before and no one was sure it would work. Who -- apart from Babs Boxer -- thinks that the Iranians are so stupid that they'll mosey on down the nuclear path, giving the world plenty of time to gather 'round the cracker barrel and jabberjaw for a DECADE before finally squeezing one out?
Oy! My head hurts.
Here's a tip: when a nut with an army tells you he intends to invade and pillage and -- oh, by the way -- destroy an entire people, it usually makes sense to take his threats at face value.
I seem to recall an Austrian fellow who made no bones about his desire to rule the world and wipe the Jooos off the map; published a book about it, too, called "My Struggle," laying it all out. Wouldn't you know it, the crazy bastid actually meant what he said, ended up killing eleventy-bajillion people.
Can we afford to wait and see if the Iranian fuhrer is bluffing?
As with all of Steyn's writing, read the whole thing.
Posted by Mike Lief at April 17, 2006 07:32 AM
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