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| Islamist Iranians protest the assassination (Economic Times) |
The retort I get is that by dropping the ‘bomb’ on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it caused Japan’s immediate surrender - ending World War II. Had Truman not done that, many more American soldiers would have been killed in a prolonged war. Especially since the Japanese enemy used Kamikaze pilots willing to go on suicide missions against us.
There is not a doubt in my mind about the immorality of killing people to save people. We have no way of really knowing how many more people would have been killed if the war continued What we do know is how many people were killed in a single moment with a nuclear weapon. Besides - it is not a numbers game.
But at the same time, I’m glad the war ended. And it did in the end actually spare the lives of a great many American soldiers.
I bring up Truman in light of what happened in Iran this weekend. More abut that later.
One of Iran’s top nuclear scientists was assassinated in a surprise attack a few days ago. It is believed that Israel carried this out. Iran has promised to take revenge against Israel at a time of their own choosing. I suppose they can try. But the last time they made such a threat it never happened. It was when Qasem Soleimani - an Iranian major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. He was assassinated by the United States at the beginning of this year. Here in part is the statement released by the Defense Department at the time:
General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.
The target this time was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear weapons scientist. In my view his assassination was a benefit to all of humankind. It moves the needle on the doomsday clock a bit further away from midnight.
As for their threat of retaliation against Israel, I don’t have much faith in their accomplishing that. If they had the ability to hurt Israel that way they would have done so by now. Why wouldn’t they? ...if they have been promising to wipe Israel off the map ever since the Iranian revolution back in 1979? And it’s not like they haven’t tried. And are still trying. The bulk of their spread of terrorism is via their proxies in Syria, Lebanon (Hezbolah) and Gaza (Hamas).
Israel knows how to protect itself. The sooner we eliminate Iran as a threat, the sooner the world will become a safer place.
My fear is that the hard line taken by the current President will be considerably softened by the next President. Iran is actually salivating at the prospect.
There are very few Biden supporters that are happier than Iran is right now with the results of the election. Biden has already promised to return to the nuclear deal the previous President made four years ago. Which traded in tons of cash the US withheld from them and relieved them of the crippling sanctions that brought them to the table in the first place. All for their promise to delay production of a nuclear weapon for 10 years.
That enabled them to continue all their other nefarious affairs with impunity. Which they did with relish and complete abandon. Ballistic missile production capable carrying nuclear warheads and spreading terror across the region mostly at Israel was greased by the deal. In a short 6 years from now they will be able to continue right where they left off - enriching uranium to weapons grade levels. They are in fact already doing that because of our abandoning that deal
Biden has promised to use diplomacy instead of ramping up sanctions. I doubt he will be doing anymore assassinations. I’m sure Iran is thrilled about that too.
Here’s the thing, though. Iran is as much a danger to the world as Japan ever was. If they get the bomb and stay true to their ideals of spreading Islam across the globe by any means necessary, it does not take rocket science (no pun intended) to do whatever we can to stop them. The logic of what Truman did to end the war with Japan comes to mind. Trump is no Truman. But the path he has taken with respect to Iran is far more along Truman’s lines than Biden’s path will surely be. And that is without killing one innocent civilian.
I am not saying God forbid that we should drop a nuclear weapon on Iran. But I do think the hard line policy of the current President is a lot better than the more diplomatic conciliatory approach the next President prefers.
Sanctions should not only remain in place, they should be increased to the point where it will bring Iran to their knees -and back to the negotiating table for a better, more verifiable deal that will eliminate them as a threat in every way. Targeted assassinations like the two above-mentioned ones are putting additional pressure on them. Going back to a flawed deal and relieving them of those sanctions is a step backwards.
If that makes me a hawk, I wear that badge proudly. Because just like Truman took a hard line with Japan then, we need to take a hard line with Iran now. In both cases we are fighting a nation bent on taking over the world by any and all means necessary. Including suicide missions.
The counter to that is the fear of war with a country as iron willed and militarily strong as Iran. The blood shed by American soldiers that a war like that will produce will make the wars in Iraq and Afgahnistan look like a walk in the park.
I suppose that is true. But I do not believe A war will happen. The idea of fearing a war with Iran strikes me as defeatist. It will also give us an image as a paper tiger - unwilling to ever use our military might for fear of loss of life. We should never allow that to become our image to the world.
The plain fact is that the power of the US is so superior to that of Iran that it is laughable to worry about such matters. A war with Iran could annihilate them. And they know it. It would surely not be a cake walk. But what is lost on the left is that Iran will not risk being annihilated. Something they know we are very capable of. Their threats are just tactics to scare the American people to rise in strong opposition to yet another foreign war that will kill our sons (and now daughters) sent to fight yet another obscure enemy in a far away land. A proposition not to far from the truth.
Iran knows what they are doing with threats like that. But those threats are a bluff that we should not buy. In my view taking a hard line will not lead them into a war with us they know they will lose. What it will do is eventually cripple them to the point of giving the civilized world what it wants. An Iran free of nuclear weapons and delivery systems; and free of the ability to spread terror. Or maybe, just maybe the regime change that would return Iran to the secular state it once was before Islamist fanatics took over in 1979, shouting ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’. A country that once actually had relatively warm diplomatic relations with Israel.
If Biden would only have the courage and vision to carry forward the current US policy towards Iran. Unfortunately I don’t think he does. ‘Harry Truman, America needs you.’