Engagement With Iran?

This is progress?


President Obama seems to be holding on to any thread of hope that he can engage with the rulers of Iran, bring about a cancellation of their nuclear weapons development and coax them into the family of nations. I think it is a fool's errand.

We should ask ourselves this question; how has the government of Iran changed since it took power 30 years ago? True, some faces have changed. The odious Ayatollah Khomeini died and has been replaced by other mullahs and Ahmadinejad. But what has changed?

The nasty government that was founded on taking of diplomats as hostages, subsequently sent millions of young boys against the machine guns of Iraq mainly to clear the mine fields for their regular troops. They then were implicated in acts of terror and kidnapping of our diplomats and CIA personnel in Lebanon. In subsequent years, this government has fomented terror and violence throughout the region. They have funded-and still fund Hizbollah and Hamas. And all the while, they have operated a police state at home. Dissenters wound up in the notorious Evin prison to be tortured or murdered. Gays have been hanged in Iran leading Ahmadinejad to declare that the county literally had no homosexuals. Speaking of hangings, we're talking about public hangings from construction cranes. Women accused of adultery? Stoned to death. Members of the Baha'i faith, which is not recognized in Iran, are routinely persecuted. When I say persecuted, I mean arrested, tortured, raped and murdered by this regime. Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and calls for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map. The country ignores every call from the international community to act like a civilized member of the family of nations. And ever since they humiliated the hapless Jimmy Carter, they have played subsequent presidents like violins-or ignored them altogether. Now that their nuclear program has become an issue, everybody says that Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons (just like North Korea), but no one knows how to do anything about it. All we do is sit back, take encouragement from this or that "moderate" mullah who rises to power or influence and continue to read the tea leaves-as the Iranian government laughs at the West for our weakness.

Clearly, this current demonstration of wanton brutality should convince world leaders that this is an outlaw regime that cannot be dealt with as a normal nation. This is a government that sends out armed Basig militiamen, who are nothing more than goons, onto the streets to beat and shoot its citizens.

So now, what does Mr Obama intend to accomplish by talking to people like Ahmadinejad or "The Supreme Leader" of The Islamic Republic of Iran, as he so respectfully puts it? Will he use his famous charisma and charm to get the mullahs to end their nuclear weapons program? Will he convince them to renounce terror and support of Hizbollah and Hamas? Will he get them to stop sending weapons and fighters to kill our troops in Iraq? Will he get them to respect the human rights of its own citizens? Will he get them to forget about destroying Israel. Will he get them to forget about achieving hedgemony in the Middle East?

No.

What needs to be done, not only by the US, but by the entire international community is to isolate Iran completely. That means no diplomatic recognition, no Iranian embassies in other countries, no assistance with oil refineries (they have oil, but they don't refine it.), no nothing. Let that place simmer until overturning the government becomes a matter of national urgency. And as for those nuclear facilities? Let the US and Israel flip a coin as to who takes them out.

Of course, except for possibly the latter, none of this is likely. The rest of the world is too feckless and selfish over its own interests, namely Iranian oil and assurances that they won't foment terror in other countries, say in Europe. The UN is....well, the UN. They will be too busy arranging next year's Palestinian oppression week exhibits in the UN foyer.

Neville Chamberlain, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama...when will they ever learn? It's really no different from the schoolyard bully, the kid who makes you fork over your lunch money, the gang-banger, the guy who robs the liquor store, the Hitlers, the ayatollahs, the terrorists, the pirates, etc. The civilized majority need to band together and make these bad guys disappear. Then we can have that wonderful thing called PEACE.