Americans Taken Hostage in Iran, November 4, 1979
Responsible minds are hard at work trying to figure out what to do about Iran.
As I see it, it’s a no brainer. Thirty-three years ago, this Iranian regime took Americans hostage for 444 days. They humiliated our country on the world stage and have been fomenting dissent against the U.S. ever since. Iran is the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism. Its IEDs in Iraq have sent hundreds of Americans home in flagged-draped caskets, and thousand back to the U.S. missing limbs. On top of that, this Iranian regime has repeatedly stated its sober intention to “wipe Israel of the face of the map.”
When we bombed Iraq, we felt we had an obligation to rebuild the nation. That is, we felt we needed to put U.S. troops on the ground. We would have no such obligation with Iran. We would not be seeking regime change, we would be seeking to take out nuclear weapon facilities before they become operable — and cold revenge for what they did to us in 1979.
It may not be popular to think that way — or to admit it — but that’s what deterrent is made of in a nasty world. If you mess with us, we should be saying privately to the Iranians, somehow, some way, and some day we are going to make you pay for it a hundred times over.
That day has come. We have the rationale. We have support from within the Arab world. Bombs away.
Like I said, responsible minds are hard at work.
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Something weird is going on with U.S. foreign policy.
The United States is the only country on earth believed to have “bunker-busting” bombs capable of penetrating the fortifications atop Iran’s subterranean nuclear facilities. So why on earth would U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta publicly announce this week that our 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is not currently online? Defense secretaries don’t say things like that by mistake. So what possibly could be the purpose?
Is Mr. Panetta signaling to the Israelis that they better hurry up and attack those facilities now, before they are completed? Or is he telling them not to because the U.S. can’t stop Iran from completing them if the Israeli’s try and fail.
Is he signaling to the Israeli’s that they are on their own — or to the Iranians that the Israelis are? Whatever it is, it appears to be a high stakes, and perhaps badly played, game of poker, which is leaving a lot of spectators rightly uncomfortable.
The White House is reportedly upset with Mr. Panetta for predicting today that Israel will strike Iranian facilities during the spring, but on matters of this sensitivity who knows what is orchestrated and what is real. One only gets to know from history textbooks, and even then we rarely get the half of it.
Two things are clear, though: Things are moving fast in Persia. And the Obama Administration is sending mixed signals about its support of Israel.
That’s a dangerous combination of events. We need clarity from the White House, and we need it quickly.
