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Tue 6 Jan, 2004 02:33 pm
The choice: Accommodate or defeat evil[/u]
By:Cal Thomas
January 5, 2004
It seemed like a good idea at the time. The Bush administration would use the earthquake tragedy in Iran that killed at least 30,000 people not only as an opportunity to show the United States was eager to alleviate international tragedy but also as a diplomatic wedge. Some officials believed that, as humanitarian aid was provided, discussions might open that could lead to a new relationship between the two countries. President Bush stated the potential political benefits of the aid when he said, "What we're doing in Iran is we're showing the Iranian people that American people care, that we've got great compassion for human suffering."
The United States would follow up its international version of compassionate conservatism with a high-level diplomatic team, headed by Sen. (and former Red Cross President) Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.). There was talk of sending a member of the Bush family along in case further evidence was needed to persuade the Iranian dictatorship of our sincerity. It would have been the first public U.S. diplomatic effort in Iran since the 444-day hostage ordeal when Iranian "students" held 52 Americans, releasing them the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated because they rightly concluded that if they didn't, Tehran might be turned into a parking lot. The one "diplomatic" effort since then involved trading "arms for hostages" in the mid-'80s.
Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed optimism about the latest diplomatic overture to Iran even before the Iranian government responded. He cited "encouraging" moves by the Islamic republic in recent months, which have included an agreement by Iranian leaders to allow "surprise" inspections of the country's nuclear energy program and diplomatic overtures to moderate Arab governments.
Iran's President, Mohammad Khatami, threw cold water on the U.S. wishful thinking when he said that while American aid to earthquake victims was welcome, it would not alter relations between his country and the United States. Iran understands the impossibility of making bargains with "the Great Satan." The U.S. government should take a similar view. Evil cannot be accommodated. It must be defeated.
In the 1980s, there were pleadings by the American left to decrease tensions with the Soviet Union. The proposal was for the Reagan administration to cease deploying missiles in Europe to counter a Soviet buildup and, instead, to unilaterally disarm in order to show Moscow we meant Russia no harm. At the time I said the strategy appeared to have been designed to make the Soviet army laugh themselves to death, but there would be enough of them left over to invade and subdue us.
Reagan understood that the "evil empire" of the 20th century could not be accommodated but had to be defeated. He was right, and his detractors were famously wrong.
While the Bush administration's provision of humanitarian aid to Iran is the right and moral thing to do - and might, in fact, further encourage young reformers in the country - the old and hard-line religious leadership still dominates. Iranian radio, controlled by the mullahs, continues to spew anti-American venom.
What might hasten "regime change" in Iran and elsewhere in the region is a proposal contained in a "manual for victory" written by Richard Perle, a Defense Department strategist and an architect in the war on terrorism, and David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter. Part of a new book, "An End to Evil: Strategies for Victory in the War on Terror," the document calls for regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a preemptive strike on its nuclear sites. The manifesto also calls for Saudi Arabia and France to be treated not as allies but as rivals and possibly enemies.
The United States has two options. It can fail to follow through on its initial blow in Iraq, thus empowering and encouraging America's enemies everywhere, or it can deal a knockout blow to terrorism by finishing the job.
As we saw with the Soviet Union, resolve is often enough to achieve American objectives. As long as American diplomats think humanitarian aid and political niceties by people dressed in Western business clothes will lessen the threat against us, we will continue to be threatened.
It is to be hoped the administration knows these things. "Peace Through Strength" worked as more than a slogan against the Soviet Union. It will work again with members of the "axis of evil."
1) Cal Thomas is one of the most pitiful human beings on the planet.
2) Accommodate or defeat evil reminds me of another conservative idiocy: Better dead than red!
Isn't there anything in between?
And who gets to define "evil?"
:00 a.m.
Iran Quakes
Devestation, despair — and a touch of hope.
By Geesou Atasheen In the midst of death and mayhem in Bam last week, three children were born in the mobile hospitals set up in the outskirts of the ruined city. In spite of the zealous rule of the mullahs, two of the three pregnant women were birthed by male European doctors. The female European doctor who oversaw the delivery of the third woman held the infants up to the camera, after they had been washed and beautifully dressed, and said: "These three will rebuild this city!" The children were the first to be born there after the devastating earthquake of December 25th.
Though many aid workers were turned back, others were allowed to stay. Iranians were becoming angrier by the day as the mullahs arrogantly refused help from countries like Israel. A cab driver in Tehran was heard saying: "What nerve these mullahs have to turn away aid offered by the Israelis...those poor people over there are constantly dealing with those suicide bombers, who are probably financed by the clerics of the Islamic republic of Iran, and yet they are kind enough to offer us their aid and these audacious zealots over here threaten to attack them!"
Though the European aid workers are treated with respect, they also receive a great deal of aloofness. The arrival of a U.S. colonel and his aides in Hercules C130 military transport planes, however, proved to be a raging success. Iranians had gathered in the Kerman airport to greet them with arms full of flowers, shouting, "AMRIKAAYEE...KHOSH AMADEE" (American, you're welcome). Iranians hugged them and hung on to them as if their "saviors" had come. Departing Americans were met with pleas from the crowd, begging them to stay. One of the American aid workers involved said that she was shocked and deeply moved to receive such a reception.
Khatami and Khamenei's visits to Bam, however, lasted no more than a scant hour each. Though they were surrounded by "walls" of bodyguards, they could not be shielded from harangues and insults hurled at them. "It is your fault this happened to us," one woman cried. "You knew that this could happen and you liars never warned us." The hatred for the regime reached a fever pitch as it became clear that, in fact, all the information about the seismic activities and dangers of the region had been made available to the clerics for years, and they had simply ignored it.
The Iranian National Seismological Center had provided the regime with report after report and data upon data stating that the repopulation of the area could prove to be disastrous. But the mullahs had responded by saying that the 12th Imam, who is "invisible," would shield the residents of the city from harm!
The 1911 earthquake leveled this ancient city, but it was rebuilt in the '30's as a mercantile headquarters for dried goods. But in 1950 and 1966 it suffered two more catastrophic earthquakes. In the 1970's, when UNESCO declared the ancient landmarks as part of the "heritage of mankind," building in the area ceased and no further construction licenses were granted.
After the arrival of Khomeini and the Islamic republic, criminal elements appropriated large allotments of land in the region and created shoddy dwellings and markets. The local mullahs also received hefty kickbacks from the issuance of permits for such construction.
This disaster could not have been more damaging for the mullahs. As the February parliamentary elections in Iran draw near, the adamant threat of boycotting the elections looms over their turban-clad heads. The Islamic republic's refusal to allow Sen. Elizabeth Dole's humanitarian delegation to visit Iran is yet another sign of the mullahs' horror over the strengthening ties between the U.S. and the people of Iran. The Bush administration could not have been more politically savvy in offering their generous help to the devastated. This "experiment" did not only prove to the U.S. that the people inside Iran really do value their partnership in instituting a new and secular regime, but it also strengthened any and all ties that were already there.
— Geesou Atasheen is the pseudonym for a writer born in Iran
Rebuild?
"The 1911 earthquake leveled this ancient city, but it was rebuilt in the '30's as a mercantile headquarters for dried goods. But in 1950 and 1966 it suffered two more catastrophic earthquakes."
Is it really wise to keep rebuilding in an area such as this?
Yeah, the Mullahs and clerics are power mongering fools. Perhaps the Iranian people will one day figure out how to get them out of political power.
Buggered if I can make any sense of the inital article. Is the intention of giving aid to victims of the earthquake part of a diplomatic thaw with the Iranian government or part of a push to depose the regime? It can't be both, but he seems to be arguing that it is the case.
And I can't find a direct quote by Pres Khatami calling the US 'The Great Satan' in a media source related to the earthquake (although he may have done so previously). And whay the f@ck does he go on about Ronald-f@cking-Reagan not "accomodating evil"? Say what?
Khatami has actually been quite progressive.
All those among the righteous wishing to eradicate evil in our lifetime should be carted off to wherever they assert that evil to be located, given an assault rifle and all the ammon they can carry, and be allowed to have at it. But now with my tax money.
Setanta wrote:All those among the righteous wishing to eradicate evil in our lifetime should be carted off to wherever they assert that evil to be located, given an assault rifle and all the ammon they can carry, and be allowed to have at it. But now with my tax money.
Amen!
And they should be required to answer the question I posed up above:
Who gets to define what is evil?
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