Oil prices fell. The stock market rose. Video images of smiling British soldiers with Iranian President Ahmadinejad were everywhere. So were pictures of the 15 freed hostages embracing family members back home. The relief over the return of the Brits was so tremendous; you could almost hear birds singing.
Maybe it’s because military action won’t be needed or maybe it’s just because the ordeal won’t drag on and on, but the world is breathing easier now. A lot of folks are happy. The problem, as I see it, is that Ahmadinejad seems to be the happiest.
And why shouldn’t he be? He has shown the world that his forces can kidnap British citizens, subject them to brutal psychological tactics to coerce phony confessions, finagle the release of a high-ranking Iranian terror coordinator in Iraq, utterly trash the Geneva conventions and suffer absolutely no consequences.
The UN Security Council summoned its vaunted multilateral greatness to issue a swift statement of sincere uneasiness. The EU, which has pressured Britain to rely on Europeans for mutual defense instead of the US, wouldn’t even discuss economic sanctions that might disrupt their holidays. Even NATO was AWOL.
[...]Some in the West seem part of Iran’s propaganda war; claiming that the release of the hostages was a victory that proves the Iranian dictatorship can be reasoned with. To misrepresent unpunished piracy as a victory is as Orwellian as the congressional mandate banning use of the term “the global war on terror.” What are we  Reuters?
[...]It is critical that we see this incident as part of a long pattern of behavior — that will continue as long as the current leadership is in power. More importantly, it will escalate unimaginably if Iran achieves nuclear status, and with it the ability to hold millions rather than individuals hostage.
I have no idea if Ahmadinejad and those who put him in power really believe the Shi’a Twelver doctrine that they can spur the messiah to return by triggering Armageddon. You have to admit, though, that the possibility that they look forward to entering paradise as martyrs would make them a whole lot scarier as a nuclear power than the USSR ever was.
[...]Unfortunately, we are hearing demands that we abandon the people of the Middle East who have stood up to Islamo-fascism because they believed us when we said we would support them.
If we retreat precipitously, the price for that betrayal will be paid first in blood and freedom by the Iranian people, the Kurds, the Afghanis, the secular Lebanese, the moderates in Pakistan and the Iraqis themselves. And America’s word may never be trusted again.
Right now, the pirate Ahmadinejad is clearly more confident about the outcome of the Global War on Terror than we are. That ought to give us pause.
It should be clear who can be trusted and who can not. The Europeans are repeatedly AWOL in spite of their insistence that we all comply with the organizations they have set up to oversee the world. As much as many want to deny it, we know that if anything is to be done it will be Americans who will do it. You don’t have to look any further than this war so far. Americans are the ones fighting, all others are in ’support’ roles. We will do the heavy lifting.
Ahmadinejad is smiling a smug smile and appears to be quite pleased with himself. At the announcement and celebration of National Nuclear Technology Day in Iran, Ahmadinejad was pictured praying earnestly with a look on his face that appeared sincerely satisfied.
Fred Thompson has their number and that is encouraging.
I don’t know who I will vote for in 2008. There are pros and cons to several of the candidates, including Fred Thompson. I will say, that I hope we can find a Statesman who understands the dynamics of the battle ahead. Both domestic and foreign.
hat-tip: Flopping Aces
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