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Hamas is making noises about being "blackmailed" and "looking for alternative sources" of financing.
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A top Hamas official said Tuesday the Islamic militant group will not be "blackmailed" by international threats to cut off aid to the Palestinians and is searching for new sources of funding.
Osama Hamdan, a member of the group's exiled leadership, spoke a day after international donors that support the Palestinian government said millions of dollars of aid could be in jeopardy if Hamas does not change its violent ways.
Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide attacks, is poised to lead the next Palestinian government after winning legislative elections.
"We are looking for alternative sources and we will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed," Hamdan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Beirut, Lebanon.
Wouldn't it be fascinating if Iran, Syria, North Korea or Saudi Arabia made itself still more of a blatant supporter of terrorism, and still more of an international pariah, by financing Hamastan?
It's a pathetic play on the part of Hamas. Iran or Syria would be happy to do it, but they may not want want to give away that much money. Hamastan has gotten itself caught in a wringer. It's dependent for financing on the free world it wants to destroy.
From Daniel Pipes:
I also expect that, despite bold statements how it will not change, Hamas will play along with the verbal demands on it. Feeling a financial pinch and diplomatic pressure, its leaders will adopt Arafat's habit of delivering opaque hints and saying one thing in English and another in Arabic. Like Arafat, they might even "renounce" terrorism or pretend to change their Protocols-laced covenant.
Indeed, what Yossi Klein Halevi calls "the era of the wink and the hint" has already begun, with Hamas largely desisting from terrorism against Israel during its declared tahdiya (calming down) in 2005, then somewhat moderating its rhetoric in recent weeks; for example, it proposed a 15-year truce with Israel. The makeover shows signs of success: former U.S. president Bill Clinton, often an opinion bellwether, has just urged the Bush administration to consider dealing with Hamas.
I predict Palestinian-Israeli negotiations will resume their glorious record of bringing goodwill, harmony, and tranquility, with Israel this time facing a far more determined and clever foe than the blighted Arafat or the hapless Mahmoud Abbas.
It appears very likely that Hamas will try to pull the wool over the eyes of the world. But this time the free world has Hamas on a leash, financially. It will be very significant to see how the free world uses that leash.
The snarky Washington Post headline on this reads, "The Vote to End Debate," as if confirming an official is an oppression of the free speech of those who oppose the confirmation. I doubt they ran similar headines when their choices for confirmation have been approved.
From AP:
Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said a Jan. 13 airstrike in the eastern village of Damadola killed "innocents," and he said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.
"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said, referring to Bush.
... "My second message is to the American people, who are drowning in illusions. I tell you that Bush and his gang are shedding your blood and wasting your money in frustrated adventures," he said, speaking in a forceful and angry voice.
Moore and the rest of the far Left have been accused of encouraging the enemy. The use of their arguments by Zawahri documents that this accusation has merit.
But some of Al-Zawahri's speech shows his racist, genocidal aims:
"The American planes raided in compliance with Musharraf the traitor and his security apparatus, the slave of the Crusaders and the Jews," he said, referring to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
... "The lion of Islam, Sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, offered you a decent exit from your dilemma. But your leaders, who are keen to accumulate wealth, insist on throwing you in battles and killing your souls in Iraq and Afghanistan and _ God willing _ on your own land."
Are Moore and Sheehan ashamed of having the same views as Zawahri, who wants to kill their countrymen?
Los Angeles's top talkradio station is under fire from a Muslim group because of comments made earlier this month by morning man Bill Handel. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has demanded an apology from Handel for making fun of a stampede that killed hundreds of Muslims during an annual pilgrimage.
But Handel is set to fire back, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Handel will apologize IF the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
1) Decries all acts of terror (described specifically, not generally)
2) Agrees that Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to defensible borders
3) CAIR has no ties of any sort, financially or otherwise, to any terror orgs or individiuals.
It's about time CAIR had someone put it on the spot.
There were widespread concerns that the world would accept Hamastan on a business-as-usual basis. Newsweek released a story on Hamas that was sympathetic to the killers of women and children:
The Palestinian Authority is a failed state in the making, a vast slum festering with crime and corruption. That was the issue that brought a commanding majority victory to Hamas, with a tally of 74 parliamentary seats out of 132, versus Fatah's 45. Talking to news-week on the eve of the vote, Hamas cofounder Mahmoud Zahar vowed, "The people will be rid of the disgusting situation they live in—the corruption within the weak and ineffective PA that can't even bring itself to arrest drug addicts, let alone other criminals."
Despite those lofty aims, the Hamas landslide poses a bedrock dilemma for U.S. policymakers....The main task for Hamas leaders now is to avoid making life even harder for the people who elected them. With outside support, they might succeed at cleaning up at least some of the rot the Palestinian people have inherited from Yasir Arafat and his Fatah party.
"The main task for Hamas leaders now," said Newsweek -- as if that was what the Hamas leaders themselves believed. As if genocide was the last thing on their minds, rather than the first. Newsweek unbelievably praised the "lofty aims" of Hamas -- as if the primary goal of Hamas wasn't to kill civilians. Newsweek is trying to shock, to get attention, and to show leadership -- but by doing it in this way it's continuing to destroy the trust the public has in MSM.
Fortunately the leaders of the free world are paying no attention to Newsweek. From the EU:
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- European Union foreign ministers called on Hamas on Monday to recognize the state of Israel, renounce violence and disarm.
...The European diplomats said the EU was calling on members of the Palestinian Legislative Council to support the formation of a government "committed to a peaceful and negotiated solution of the conflict with Israel," based on existing agreements, like the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which is meant to steer the Palestinians and Israelis to a peace deal.
From Britain:
"The onus is now on Hamas to renounce violence, to accept that the fundamental democratic principle is that matters are pursued by arguments and peacefully and not by violence," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.
From the U.S.:
"The Hamas party has made it clear that they do not support the right of Israel," Bush said after meeting with his Cabinet. "And I have made it clear that so long as that's their policy, that we will not support a Palestinian government made up of Hamas."
From Germany:
Ms. Merkel had said Sunday, after meeting Israel's acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that it would be "unthinkable" for aid to continue unless Hamas changed its policies.
Today, standing beside Mr. Abbas, she said that she "made it clear that Germany expects all political forces that carry responsibility to accept the preconditions for political activity.
"That means for me firstly, that Israel's existence is recognized, and secondly, there is no use of violence," Ms. Merkel said, news agencies reported.
Hamas has already realized it's in trouble. It's screaming for money:
Earlier, in Gaza City, a senior member of Hamas made the group's most direct call for a continuation of foreign aid.
"We call on you to continue moral and financial support, and to direct all aid to the Palestinian treasury so it can be used in keeping with the priorities of the Palestinian people," Ismail Haniyah said at a news conference.
"In keeping with the priorities of the Palestinian people" -- which means, killing as many Jewish people as they possibly can.
Hamas is running the state now, and it's got responsibilities that enforce a price it can't accept for its murderous, genocidal behavior. At last the free world has the upper hand on the terrorists of Hamas.
I may be showing some talent for political strategy-making. From a January 12th post here:
Can you imagine if GWB made a national commitment to hybrid cars, the way JFK did to putting a man on the moon? It would capture the imagination and enthusiasm of the nation.
And from ABC News today:
Bush Speech to Outline Energy Alternatives
WASHINGTON Jan 30, 2006 — Trying to calm anxieties about soaring energy costs, President Bush is using his State of the Union address this week to focus on a package of energy of proposals aimed at bringing fuel-saving technologies out of the lab and into use.
In Bush's vision, drivers will stop at hydrogen stations and fill their fuel-cell cars with the pollution-free fuel. Or they would power their engines with ethanol made from trash or corn. More Americans would run their lights at home on solar power.
From Autopia:
The Department of Energy's latest estimate for the beginning of the fuel cell vehicle era is just 4 years away. According to the just released Roadmap on Manufacturing R&D for the Hydrogen Economy (PDF), the challenges in streamlining the production of fuel cell membranes and storing hydrogen can be met soon.
Here's the timeline:
2010 - Initial market penetration
2015 - Commercial availability
2025 - Realization of hydrogen economy
This would defund the terrorists and change the world.
It's criminal for the U.S. to have had legislation in place that prevents law-enforcement personnel and intelligence agents from working together to save American lives. From Delroy Murdock, senior fellow with the Atlas Economic Research Foundation:
Seemingly fueled by theoretical fears of Big Brother more than the actual dangers of terrorism, President Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno, issued restrictions in 1995 that hindered communications between spies and gumshoes. As City Journal contributing editor Heather Mac Donald found, frustrated New York FBI agents placed signs on their desks that read, "You may not talk to me."
Indeed, in August 2001, FBI headquarters barred a New York intelligence agent, who sought hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar, from consulting colleagues on the Bureau's criminal side. "If al-Midhar is located, the interview must be conducted by an intel agent," FBI brass explained by e-mail. "A criminal agent CAN NOT be present at the interview." As former National Security Agency general counsel Stewart Baker noted in a December 31, 2003, Slate column, the New York agent replied that August 29: "Some day someone will die - and wall or not - the public will not understand why we were not more effective" against terrorists.
These restrictions embodied Liberal loathing of America at its most dangerous.
Liberals believe that America is the enemy of a never-defined notion of right behavior. So for example, you have Cindy Sheehan saying that all Presidents, both Democrat and Republican, are "monsters." You have Hillary Clinton saying -- while she was First Lady -- "I loathe the military."
The restrictions against communication between the institutions that protect our lives, show a distrust of America, its people and institutions. Clinton and Reno did not have the faith that the Americans who made up the people of these institutions could be trusted to protect American lives. Clinton and Reno took the position that they had to hobble the very institutions designed to protect Americans --- weakening those institutions and putting American lives in grave danger. This distrust led to a criminal (ethically and perhaps even legally criminal) restriction on free speech between government agencies, that put the lives of all Americans in danger, as in the case of 9-11.
"I think if the Patriot Act were in place in the summer of 2001 . . . connecting the dots would have been so basic and easy and fundamental," says Debra Burlingame, co-founder of 9-11 Families for a Safe and Strong America. "With basic detective work, the plot could have been cracked in a matter of days." Her brother, Capt. Charles Burlingame, piloted American Airlines Flight 77 until al Qaeda hijackers presumably murdered him, grabbed the controls, and smashed his Boeing 757 into the Pentagon, killing all 58 passengers and six crew members aboard and another 120 individuals on the ground.
How might the Patriot Act have snared Mohamed Atta and his band of mass murderers?
First, Patriot Act Section 218 would have eliminated "The Wall" that prevented intelligence agents and law-enforcement officials from sharing information.
...Were the Patriot Act in place, "The Wall" would not have prevented Minneapolis FBI agents from getting permission to examine the laptop and possessions of "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui. Had they done so, they might have discovered leads to 9/11 conspirator Ramzi Binalshibh and Atta's Hamburg cell, which hatched this atrocity.
..Third, Patriot Act Section 806 might have allowed federal officials to seize the financial assets of Atta and fellow pilot Marwan al-Shehhi if they suspected terrorist intent. According to The 9/11 Commission Report, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, a nephew of al Qaeda bigwig Khalid Sheik Mohammed, sent Atta and al-Shehhi five wire transfers from Dubai totaling $114,500. The Patriot Act might have de-funded the hijackers before they were airborne.
"The Patriot Act would have saved 3,000 lives, and what's scary about that is once they start tinkering with it, it could cost not just 3,000, but tens of thousands of lives," says Debra Burlingame. "September 11 whetted the terrorists' appetites. Now they know the possibilities. There's nothing like success to motivate people."
Murdock reports that the Patriot Act has already made it possible for 401 suspected terrorists to be charged -- 212 of whom have already plead guilty or been convicted.
The Liberal loathing of America is a self-loathing, since the Libs are Americans. It is dangerous to the Liberals themselves, as well as to all their countrymen.
The restrictions against inter-agency communication present a clear and present danger to American lives. The Patriot Act must be renewed.
Update 7-7-07: I've just noticed that there appear to be thousands of people coming in to see this post - over another thousand in just the past 24 hours. Welcome to the site! I'm curious to find out how people are hearing about this article. It would be great if some readers could leave a comment and tell me how you found out about this post.
From Dick Morris:
The United States should:
1) Cut off all direct subsidy of the Palestinian refugee population or its political or charitable organs.
2) Demand that the United Nations follow suit.
3) Immediately suspend all payments to the United Nations until it does so.
After all, Israel is a U.N. member. How can the United Nations subsidize an entity that is dedicated to the destruction of one of its members?
If the U.N. fails to take action against nations that threaten the destruction of a U.N. member state, then it will have betrayed its own charter and forfeited any possible claim on a rightful existence -- not to mention on U.S. financing.
What good is the U.N.? If it weren't for the U.N., the U.S. would find it far easier to take action to keep its own citizens safe. The U.N. is an obstacle to free nations, and a facilitator of dictatorships. It functions primarily as a means of siphoning off billions of dollars for corrupt uses.
Donald Trump has a great suggestion: force the U.N. to move into the World Trade Center when it is rebuilt, and use the real estate the U.N. building is currently on for something more beneficial to the world -- for example, a federation of the world's free nations.
This press release was issued today by the Association for World Education:
ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION
(Case Postale 205 – 1196 Gland – Switzerland)
INTERNATIONAL HUMANIST AND ETHICAL UNION
Press Release, United Nations-Geneva: 27 January 2006. For immediate release
Call to bring President of Iran to trial before the International Criminal Court
The call by the Iranian President for the destruction of the State of Israel in defiance of article 2:4 of the UN Charter demands a firm reaction from the international community. On this, the First International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, we call upon States to invoke the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and bring the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran to trial before the International Criminal Court.
Three months ago at a Teheran Conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejed called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." He predicted that "very soon the stain of this disgrace will be purged from the centre of the Islamic world." He also warned all peacemakers: "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury." In an early December speech in Mecca to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, President Ahmadinejed again insisted that the major problem in the Islamic world was "the presence of the Zionist occupation in the heart of the Islamic region," and that its "judicious removal will pave the way to the appearance of Islam’s power in the successful management of global matters."
A week later, in a televised speech on 14 December 2005, the Iranian president called the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews a fabrication: "They have created a myth in the name of the Holocaust and consider it above God, religion, and the prophets…" On 5 January 2006, Iran’s state controlled television screened a discussion on "the myth of the gas chambers" and "the truth of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." On 15 January 2006, the president proposed the convening of a Holocaust ‘Myth’ Conference in Teheran.
We urge the international community to heed these words, and to note in particular the parallels between the ideological reference in the president’s Teheran speech to "the struggle between the Islamic world and the front of the infidels" and Hitler’s Mein Kampf (‘My Struggle'), with the ‘true Aryans’ pitted against the non-Aryans. Is the history of the 20th century’s bloodiest genocide to be repeated in the 21st?
The Iranian leader’s "direct and public incitement" for the destruction of a Member State of the United Nations – in total defiance of article 2:4 of the 1945 UN Charter – requires a firm reaction from the international community. Article 3 of the Genocide Convention indicates what acts shall be punishable, as defined under article 4. Among them is 3(c): "Direct and public incitement to commit genocide." States should be encouraged, on the occasion of this First International Day of Commemoration of Holocaust Victims to invoke article 8 of the Genocide Convention – and for President Ahmadinejed’s call for genocide to be punished by the International Criminal Court.
René Wadlow, Main Representative
David G. Littman, Representative
Association for World Education to the United Nations Office in Geneva
Roy W. Brown
President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and Main Representative in Geneva
ENDS
For further information call:
David G. Littman: +41 (0)79 460 7185
Roy W. Brown: +41 (0)79 212 5603
Iran and the Palestinians have formed an axis with the destruction of Israel as an official goal. The U.N. Charter states that the primary purpose of the U.N. is to prevent states from taking action to destroy other states. With Iran and the Palestinians saying explicitly that their state goal is the destruction of a U.N member state, it will be difficult for the U.N. to avoid any response, without making it unmistakable that it is betraying its charter.
The Palestinians support a horrific culture. Suicide bombing is encouraged; there is no punishment to men for so-called "honor killings" of women; candies are handed out to children to celebrate death. It's a nightmare world. Now all this is officially sanctioned behavior by the government of the state. Now Europe can no longer look the other way:
The EU has given millions of euros (dollars) in aid to the Palestinian Authority to help reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank _ funding that was called into question following Hamas' win.
"It is obvious that the EU would never countenance funding a regime that continued an armed fight against Israel," said Ignasi Guardans, a Spanish member of the European Parliament.
Even Liberals in the U.S. may start to face up to the facts of what evil is being done in the Palestinian territories.
COHOES, N.Y. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday the United States and all other governments should not recognize any Hamas-led Palestinian government unless the group renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist.
It will be far more difficult now for the world to condemn Israel for actions it takes -- as any nation would -- toward a nation that has an official policy of destroying it.
Even the U.N. will likely have to face the fact that the Palestinian nation is a rogue state. From the U.N. Charter:
Article: 1
The Purposes of the United Nations are:
* To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
* To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
* To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
* To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.
The Hamas government is undeniably in violation of the state actions required by the U.N. charter.
Cindy Sheehan is now on record supporting a head of state on the grounds that he opposes the U.S.:
CARACAS (AFP) - Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan, mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq, joined more than 10,000 anti-globalization activists in Caracas, where she hailed Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez. "I admire him for his resolve against my government and its meddling," said Sheehan...
When I first read that, I figured, well, she's just saying she opposes the current Republican administration -- not (as she said) the U.S. government. She's not saying she opposes the U.S. in general. But it turns out she can't stand the Democrat party either:
And about Bill Clinton . . . . You know, I really think he should have been impeached, but not for a blow job. His policies are responsible for killing more Iraqis that George Bush. I don't understand why to rise to the level of being president of my country one has to be a monster. I used to say that George Bush was defiling the Oval Office, but it's been held by a long line of monsters. (link via Alarming News/Instapundit ).
So Sheehan just wants people to know she 'admires' heads of state who have a 'resolve against the U.S. government.' Whether that government is led by Republicans, or Democrats, doesn't make any difference -- if you oppose the U.S. government, you have Cindy Sheehan's support.
It appears that we can now officially question Cindy Sheehan's patriotism. How can you not question her patriotism, after that?
Here's her defense (same link):
We don't have to support our administrations to love our country. True patriots of my country dissent when our country's doing something so wrong.
She's very patriotic, if by patriotic you mean someone who opposes all Republican and Democrat U.S. administrations. And I'm a fan of Cindy Sheehan, if by fan you mean someone who opposes everything she says.
And since she considers 'a long line' of Presidents of both parties to be 'monsters', it's evident that she takes the position that Democracy itself doesn't work. Her claim that she 'loves our country' is empty. It's just lip service. She doesn't love our country. She opposes Democrat and Republican administrations, and believes Democracy elects 'monsters'.
This appears to merit immediate attention:
Texas border standoff with Mexican military
Foreign personnel mount machine guns on U.S. side while helping drug smugglersTexas law enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents engaged in an armed standoff with Mexican military personnel and drug smugglers just inside the United States along the Rio Grande yesterday afternoon.
According to a report in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., both Texas law enforcement and the FBI stated nearly 30 American agents were part of the incident.
Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department told the paper Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.
Border Patrol agents called for backup after seeing that Mexican Army troops had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border - near Neely's Crossing, about 50 miles east of El Paso.
The drug runners were driven back.
Last Sunday, former Israeli Minister (and former Russian political prisoner for ten years) Natan Sharansky spoke at a Temple in Los Angeles. He resigned from the Israeli government in 2005 due to Sharon's plan to pull Israeli citizens out of the Gaza strip. However, he began his remarks by praising Sharon for having brought Israel some of its greatest successes.
He said many fascinating things. From my handwritten notes (not verbatim):
GAZA
Sharon urged me to stay in office and to vote against him on Gaza. But I felt I could not be part of a government that was pursuing that policy.
...Many people apply to Israel a standard which is not applied to any other country in the world.
...Three years ago, Sharon said the world is unfair to us, pressing us to make concessions. We will never have a partner for peace and democracy in the Palestinians. We must do something dramatic to show the world we did all we could. It will give us ten years without pressure. And I said, 'No, we will not have ten years. We will not have ten days.'
...Hamas is getting all the political credit for the Gaza pullout. They are saying, 'We killed 1,000 Jews, we got Gaza. We kill 2,000 Jews, we will get the West Bank. We kill 3,000 Jews, we will get Jerusalem.'
AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES: CENTERS OF PROPAGANDA
...American universities are centers of anti-Israel propaganda. The Israeli narrative has been erased from lectures, from reading materials. It may become politically correct to seek a world without Israel. I've visited 40 campuses in the U.S. in he last 3 years, and I faced many demonstrations. Jewish students have told me they feel they may have more chances of success in future professional life, if they distance themselves from Israel. But if 30, 40, 50 people get together and take the pro-Israel side of the argument, that ends, because the truth is on our side.
LIBERAL BLINDNESS TO THE HORRORS OF PALESTINIAN CULTURE
...The punishment for the honor-killing of a Palestinian woman is 6 months. Do you know, no Palestinian has spent 6 months, or even 6 days in prison for an honor killing of a woman. And the only escape for the woman from an honor killing is to be a suicide bomber. How is it that people can overlook these things?
IRAN
...Recently the Defense Minister of Israel mentioned that Israel will have to take military action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
...Ten years ago the Israeli secret service came to the conclusion that in ten years Iran would have the technology to make nuclear weapons and the rockets to deliver them to Israel and many other places in the world. On my first visit to Russia after my release from prison -- which had a great deal of publicity, since the former prisoner was returning as a government official -- I had a secret meeting with the Russian government. I told them we knew they were giving nuclear technology to Iran. The next day we met again, and they said all the right things. They said, you're right, we found out you were correct, and the people involved have been punished. We had many more meetings about this over the years, and they were taking only half-measures about it. On one occasion I met with Putin, who said, "When this all comes out publicly you will find -- and I know you will check me on this -- you will find that that the most advanced technology being used by Iran, is coming from the free world." Unfortunately he was right. Much technology came from Russia, but the most advanced came through Pakistan from Britain, from Holland, and from a number of other European countries. Iran is now very close -- maybe months away -- from having weapons of mass destruction.
Iran is doing very good PR for us. If we had said Iran had these intentions, it would not have been believed. But the President of Iran is saying Israel must be removed, at least from that part of the world. This must not be permitted.
One way to address this is military. But this will not be as easy as it was [for Israel to remove the nuclear weapons facilities] in Iraq. It is much more complicated. But we have no choice.
The only other way is a change of regime in Iran. In fear regimes, the population is in three groups: true believers, dissidents, and double-thinkers. The double-thinkers are those who disagree with the regime, but are afraid to say it. In one generation Iran went from true believers, to double-thinkers.
If only the free world will support the people of Iran, I believe things can change very quickly. In a few months either there will be regime change or the free world will have to act.
GWB, THE WAR IN IRAQ, AND SYRIA
A year ago, Syria seemed to be the world's most unshakable totalitarian regime. Today it looks like the Syrian regime's days are numbered. This is because of George W. Bush. He is not given sufficient credit here for all he has achieved.
In Iraq there is no civil war. There is no patriotic war. There are fighters from Iran and Syria who are there. If the problem of the insurgents is solved, things will continue to improve, and then there will be the first democracy in the Arab world.
Commenter Olah Chadasha points out why Iran's Arabic neighbors would be menaced in the event that President Ahmadinejad used nuclear weapons against Israel:
Even if [President Ahmadinejad's government] didn’t believe that Israel would strike back, or even if they decided to utilize a small tactical nuclear strike, they fully understand that the fall-out on the Arab world would be disastrous. For example, what about the cross winds and weather patterns on the day they decide to strike? It could very well happen that they don’t account for a glitch in their weather analysis and the nuclear fall-out heads back right in their direction. Or, they could be off by a mile or two, and the bomb could land or detonate in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or any of the other countless Arab neighbors that reside alongside Israel.
Ahmadinejad's view of current times as providing an opportunity for an apocalyptic confrontation between Islam and the west -- which Ahmadinejad may hope to bring about -- indicates he might not hesitate to risk nuking an Arabic nation.
