Iran Threatens U.S.
In what might be its dumbest statement yet, Iran has threatened the U.S. with harm and pain. Here’s the summary of the U.S.-Iranian exchange:
“The United States has the power to cause harm and pain,” said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, a senior Iranian delegate to the IAEA. “But the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll.” He did not elaborate but suggested Iran was awaiting additional American moves. Diplomats accredited to the meeting and in contact with the Iranians said the statement could be a veiled threat to use oil as an economic weapon. Iran is the second-largest producer within the OPEC, and a boycott could target Europe, China or India.
The White House dismissed the rhetoric out of Tehran. “I think that provocative statements and actions only further isolate Iran from the rest of the world,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with President Bush to the Gulf Coast. “And the international community has spelled out to Iran what it needs to do.”
John Bolton, America’s ambassador to the United Nations, said Iran’s comments showed how much of a menace it was. “Their threats show why leaving a country like that with a nuclear weapon is so dangerous,” he told The Associated Press in a phone call from Washington. Bolton classified the Iranian comments as “reflecting their determination to acquire weapons.”
I’ve consistently maintained that sanctions likely wouldn’t hurt the mullahs who run the country. They’d only hurt the average Iranian. I’ve also maintained that, irrespective of our troop deployments, declaring war with Iran isn’t smart policy. Even if we weren’t in Iraq, I’d suggest a different tack: start supplying Iranians who hate the mullahs with weapons so they can take out their own government.
Before anyone starts saying that that’s how the Taliban and Saddam gained power, I’d note that we’re dealing with a different dynamic in this instance. In this instance, we’re dealing with people who actually like America and want to live a western lifestyle. Saddam liked the western lifestyle but he hated America. The Taliban and al-Qaida hate the West and they don’t want anything to do with western lifestyles.
It’s also worth noting that in both instances, we chose people that hated our enemies but who were, at best, the least objectionable of two lousy choices. In both instances, we chose the group that we saw as the lesser of two evils. If we started arming Iranians, we’d be supporting people that love the internet, western clothing and the western civilization in general.
This isn’t to say that we should expect this type of operation to be quick and clean. The mullahs are in power because they’re willing to crush rebellions so that they can implement their worldview. In their minds, it’s their religious duty to crush western societies. That their own countrymen and women want western civilization is of little consideration to them. They’re as much infidels as Americans.
I suspect, though, that the U.S. has a presence in Iran, most likely special forces teams who are befriending Iranians in preparation for whatever future actions are taken.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing
March 8th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Militant Islam hates America, but they don’t hate the technologies that are the product of western societies, hence the use of cell phones, video and explosives.
I also support the arming and funding of the mullahs opposers, afterall we know the iranians are helping terrorists in Iraq fight the US Army, at best, it’ll blow up the skirts of the mullahs and install a proper democracy in Iran, at worst its just payback for the iranians support of the terrorists in Iraq.
Alternatively it will make the iranians think twice about their nuclear forays, something the pathetic EU diplomats have failed in miserably.
March 10th, 2006 at 11:26 am
I agree that declaring war on Iran may not be the best idea. But you are only assuming that the Iranian people want to be westernized. You say we should arm those for technology and western civilization so that they may over throw their government who according to you want to crush western society. I think you are basing your opinion on the militant Islamic circles, rather than the peaceful everyday Muslim. I’m not saying that the traditional values held by westerners and Iranians are always the same but I am saying that we, as people, are compatible and should not always jump to a conclusion that involves disruption of an entire global region.
November 20th, 2006 at 11:03 am
[...] We are talking about the country whose national leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, condemns Israel by publicly stating it should be “wiped off the map,” calls the Holocaust a “fairy tale,” they rejoice in the memory of 9/11, and threaten the U.S. with “harm and pain.” [...]