Iran

Fire of Liberty

I guess the Bush White House is going wobbly with Iran. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't like what I see. According to a report on FOX News' Special Report, Secretary Rice is about to give the British, German and French delegation that is working with Iran, a go-ahead in offering inducements to the Mullahs in Tehran on their nuclear program. The only problem with this is that The White House is presenting a sign of weakness to the regime in Iran. What with the Iranians already proclaiming they have a nuclear program (the IAEA has already noted its existence) and the Mullahs inking deals with the Russians on nuclear fuel, what would lead anyone into thinking that making deals with the E3 delegation will do. Instead of making deals, the Bush White House should push the freedom quotient. They should demand the spread of more democratic freedoms to its people rather than on the nukes. We need less carrots and a bigger stick to get the Iranians to stop their dirty work. It would be a mistake to reward the Iranians for bad behavior like Bill Clinton did for the North Koreans in the 1990's.

This nonsense reminds me of Winston Churchill's old adage: "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." Well Mr President, this act of giving a go-ahead to the E3 to offer sweets to the Iranians is pretty much like feeding a crocodile. Unfortunately, this crocodile has a more deadly bite which could wipe out millions of people in the blink of an eye. Even if the Iranians promise to stop producing their nukes what guarantees that the Mullahs aren't cooking up their nukes somewhere else. Even worse, what do you do to prevent the Russians from selling nuclear fuel to Iran. No matter what, making deals with the Iranians is a fools errand. Time to boost VOA and other broadcasts into Iran on freedom and push for an internal regime change. Support the people of Iran (the real democracy movement- 60% of Iran is under 25 and are very pro American) not the Mullahs or their adopted and hand selected "Moderates". President Bush needs to read more of Michael Ledeen's The War Against the Terror Masters and his favorite book by Natan Sharansky, The Case for Democracy.