Iran: Decisive Action Needed Now

We are not prophets here at Sixth Column and 6th Column Against Jihad, but we can easily see that we in the West are marching to war. That means total war and includes nuclear war. Our opponents will be the Islamic nations, lead by Iran, and possibly joined, directly or indirectly, by China and Russia. We being pulled into this black hole of war by Islamism, and we are being pushed into war by decades of suicidal behavior.

The suicidal behavior is read simply within Islamia as weakness. From the capitulation on the Suez Canal, to the nationalization of the oil fields which only the West developed, to the stream of unanswered (effectively) terrorist attacks, to Jimmy Carter and Iran, Beirut, and right to the present, through all the now familiar events, we have appeared weak to the Islamists. We have appeared weak because we have been weak. We have been bowing, scraping, accommodating, and appeasing those who told us a long time ago that they are coming to kill us and wipe out our civilization.

Our governments and intellectuals have been trying to find a way to live with them. The national policies of the West have been nothing but conflicted and lacking purpose. Worse than that, our national policies have broadcast for the Islamists to see that we are consumed with moral uncertainty and have lost our will. Biggest of the losses has been the will to live, as the Islamists see it.

We have blown every opportunity to squash these Islamic vermin and to do so with such overkill that they could only sink back into the sand and silence for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Every missed opportunity from us has simply strengthened their resolve.

Ironically, they are using all the ideas, principles, and materiels of the West to destroy us, and we are letting them. Islamia produces nothing. It simply destroys. Whatever they have that represents modernity, they got from us. That includes their weaponry. We have enabled them, directly and indirectly, and continue to do so at this very minute regardless of the evidence.

Islamists came to our countries and studied our principles. Never once giving up their creed of Islam, they began parastically using our constitutions, laws, and institutions against us, just as they parasitized our technology. They have become very successful parasites.

Iran is now reaching its version of "1 September 1939." Following a path highly reminiscent of Nazism and Hitler, using a creed that is all but identical with Nazism, Iran has armed itself and become very full of itself. It has met nothing but success in the face of a quaking and retreating West since Khomeini in 1979. Iran can be expected to lead the Islamic war against the West, with all of Islamic strap-hangers pitching in, whether Sunni, Shia, or Sufi.

We will also have to deal effectively with our internal fifth columnists, who exercise treason and sedition with impunity.

With everything else tending to crowd out what we must attend to, we must keep Iran and war always very high in our hierarchy of concerns.

To follow is a terrifically good article that summarizes the past and present, and outlines a fascinating course for dealing NOW with Iran so that our cities do not experience nuclear disaster.

Iran: Decisive Action Needed Now

By

Rachel Neuwirth

High Noon with Holy Terror?

Diplomatic efforts by America and the West have thus far failed to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The clock of military danger is ticking faster than the clock of a diplomatic solution. Our American leaders have failed to reveal the full extent of the danger that will soon confront us all. To assure that Iran's WMD are disarmed in time may ultimately require a major military intervention by America. For many, the prospect of another military campaign seems too daunting, especially in light of our difficulties in Iraq.

In 1962 the Kennedy administration discovered Soviet missiles being installed in Cuba. We believed those missiles had nuclear warheads. President Kennedy promptly addressed the American people to explain the gravity of the situation and the need to directly confront the threat without delay. We learned later that America and the Soviets were eyeball to eyeball with nuclear weapons and the Soviets blinked first. Kennedy argued that in the nuclear age we could not allow the enemy to strike first and he was willing to risk war, if need be, to force the removal of the Cuban missiles.

After World WarII we lamented that in the 1930s Hitler's threat was underestimated. He was allowed to rearm Germany in violation of the disarmament treaties after the German defeat in World War I. Germany foiled the arms inspections program of that day, and the West even traded with, and appeased, Nazi Germany while ignoring the growing danger. Stopping Hitler in the 1930's would have had a price but the West's failing to do so assured World War II which cost fifty million lives.

The world was lucky in World WarII because the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, mobilized American opinion and brought a united America into the war with full force. We had a few precious months to mobilize and back up England, which was fighting Germany virtually alone. We have already been warned that today America could be facing a nuclear Pearl Harbor on our homeland with dire consequences and with no time to mobilize. In Iran we also face an enemy with an ideology that sees a major war as anticipated fulfillment of a religious destiny. Such an enemy cannot be deterred by the prospects of massive casualties. Iran, in fact, has already so stated.

The Iranian regime, observing American weakness and lack of resolve, becomes emboldened and all the more provocative. We seem too eager for a deal to bribe the Iranians. We seem helpless in the face of widespread national humiliation by more and more countries. We may not realize just how much our superpower image has faded in the world but our adversaries are watching closely. In the 1930s Hitler was emboldened by western weakness. Have we forgotten that lesson? For a superpower to appear irresolute in the face of Iranian provocations is to invite trouble.

We remain overly focused on the cost of a pre-emptive war against Iran while insufficiently focused on the dire consequences of doing too little, too late. President Bush has failed to tell Americans, in plain talk, just how vulnerable America is to a WMD attack and the dire consequences that would follow.

Our borders remain wide open and vulnerable to penetration by sleeper cells with nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons. Iran has also been working on an electromagnetic pulse weapon (EMP). A nuclear bomb detonated about 200 miles overhead would emit an electromagnetic energy pulse over a huge area that would burn out civilian electronic circuits below. America's vital communications would be blinded and our economy would be paralyzed (go here).

Iran's existing missiles could be mounted on commercial cargo ships and moved two hundred miles off both of our shores in international waters. The missiles and the nuclear warheads need not be long range, nor accurate nor highly sophisticated, to do the job. Al-Qaeda is reported to have a fifteen-ship navy, which could be used for such a mission. In conjunction with such an EMP attack, terrorist sleeper cells could be activated inside the U.S. to attack population centers with any combination of their WMD. Such a combined attack would greatly multiply the damage by spreading panic and confusion. These scenarios have already been conceived of and warned about.

We must assume that Iran and Al Qaeda are capable of planning and executing such a diabolical attack. It is necessary to comprehend the full extent of the danger we face in order to justify launching another pre-emptive war and bearing its costs.
We have been told of the difficulties of trying to take out Iran's nuclear facilities. They are dispersed, buried deep underground in hardened sites and heavily defended. We can also anticipate a strong reaction from Syria, which has a military alliance with Iran, and from the Muslim world. Having waited too long, we now face a formidable adversary that had time to prepare.

To make the best of a bad situation we might consider the following as an example of a possible approach that would play out in stages. We must also act quickly to replace our image of weakness with one of resolute determination to take down Iran's entire nuclear program, both civilian and military.

1. The President addresses America and the world. He cites the failed negotiations and the extreme danger in allowing Iran to go nuclear and proliferate WMD to Al-Qaeda, Hezbolla, Hamas, etc. Having exhausted all diplomatic options, America is now free to act unilaterally in its national interest and will do so. He declares that he will not shift our responsibility to Israel. He reminds us of President Kennedy's warning that in the nuclear age we cannot afford to allow the other side to attack first. This address will inform Americans, mobilize public opinion, raise our morale and lower enemy morale.

2. Within hours of the President's speech we detonate a nuclear weapon, without warning, high above Iran, beyond EMP range, to be widely seen in the Middle East and lighting up the night sky. We issue an ultimatum to the Iranian leadership: Dismantle your nuclear program now or face the consequences. The President orders emergency civil defense preparations including stringent fuel saving. We go on a partial war footing. Friend and foe alike must know we mean business. To European complaints about expected hikes in oil prices they should be told their long appeasement of Iran has helped cause this crisis. The Iranian people must be told that we will try to avoid civilian casualties and anything they can do now to topple their regime will receive support from us.

3. When Iran refuses to capitulate we employ successive EMP attacks to progressively disable their national infrastructure causing internal disorganization and chaos. We warn Iranian civilians to immediately evacuate certain places, which sit atop underground military installations. Any Iranian military response will be met by crushing retaliation.

4. Concerning their deep underground nuclear facilities; we should bomb all entrances to entomb both facilities and technical personnel. We avoid a bloody and costly ground war and take down the regime with an air war. The regime may still retain power but its nuclear threat will be neutralized and the regime will now have immense internal problems in caring for its 70 million people. Any attempt by them to reconstitute their military would be promptly attacked. Any country that attempts to aid them such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt would receive the same treatment.

5. Along with Muslim rage would also come shock and then despair at the dashing of their hopes to finally conquer America and the West. It is futile to negotiate with enemies who are intractable in their determination to destroy the West. World War II showed that total defeat of an intractable enemy might be the only option left. Perhaps this limited exercise of force will cause our enemies to back off, at least for a long time to come, because our new tactics can now inflict severe punishment on them at low cost to ourselves. This will NOT become another Iraq. And Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia will now have to think twice about continuing to support the insurgency in Iraq.

6. We can expect oil prices to rise and remain high causing widespread economic hardship in oil-consuming countries including America, Europe, and China. This will require major adjustments in energy use to compensate. This will be a painful lesson but still much better than allowing ''kooks with nukes'' to kill millions. This scenario is only an example of a possible approach. Hopefully, we have military planners who can come up with even better options. The nagging question is whether America as a nation still retains the will to do what is necessary to assure national security.

Rachel Neuwirth is a freelance writer who resides in the Los Angeles area:
http://www.MiddleEastSolutions.com . Rachel receives e-mail at rachterry@sbcglobal.net.

There is no doubt that we can win this war. There is also no doubt that we can prevent this war. There is great doubt whether we will make the effort. We are not sure whether we can count on our "leaders" to think and act as clearly as Rachel Neuwirth outlines.

If we are to win, we must begin by identifying the enemy, and that enemy is Islam. Then, we must go for its heart and its brain. It will be us or them.