Pull the Plug on the Ahmadinejad Administration

I know that may sound harsh, but we are at a very critical point with Iran.

In a report released yesterday, a “well-placed American source” stated that if Iran were to attack Israel with a nuclear weapon, President-elect Obama would authorize the use of nuclear weapons by the United States in a counter-attack against Iran.

If this report is accurate, this is the most hawkish statement made by the Obama camp to date.

However, despite all of this hawkish talk, Obama also came out earlier in the week and expressed interest in negotiating with Tehran and offered economic incentives for their cooperation in the nuclear discussion.

So what is really going on here?

Let’s deal with the Israeli protection plan first.

While I wholeheartedly support taking the gloves off when dealing with Iran, this is a rather flawed approach in my opinion.

First, while this policy is designed to help Israelis, what will it actually do for them? I am quite sure that the vast majority of Israelis will not find this action very comforting, considering most of them will be dead if Iran were to attack them with nuclear weapons.

Secondly, why should we provide this type of guarantee exclusively to Israel? Why not expand this type of protection to all of our allies around the world, especially Iraq?

While I am not a strong proponent of such a plan, if we are going to go through with it, we should do it the right way.

As I have previously stated, Iran’s nuclear aspirations are the chief source of instability in the Middle East. By assuring all of our allies that we will be there to protect them in the event of an Iranian nuclear attack, a small degree of insurance may be provided to areas that could be reached by such a strike.

Thirdly, and the biggest reason this is a flawed policy, this announcement concedes that Iran will possess nuclear weapons. I cannot stress this enough…Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon under any circumstance. I view any resignation to Iran obtaining such weapons as being totally unacceptable.

Many of you already know this, but as a brief refresher, if Iran has nuclear weaponry, all of our gains in Iraq have a strong possibility of being erased, there is a definite probability that a terrorist organization could get their hands on the bomb and it is almost guarantees that Israel will be attacked by Iran.

Listen, we still have time to take care of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Whether it is us, Israel, NATO or someone else that decides to take out these facilities, I don’t really care, so long as it gets done.

The elimination of the Iranian nuclear program would not only stabilize the entire Middle East it would also stabilize the entire world.

Let’s move on to the open negotiations with Tehran.

Now is not the time to be negotiating with, and therefore propping up, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration.

Despite what the Iranian propaganda machine would like the rest of the world to believe, Ahmadinejad is unpopular in Iran and his administration is on the verge of collapse. The last thing we want to do is negotiate a plan that would help Ahmadinejad as frustration with and a lack of patience for him spreads like wildfire all over Iran.

In Iran, December 7 is known as “Student Day”. The origins of this day go back to 1953. On December 7 of that year, Iranian students poured into the streets of Tehran to protest the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadegh by the CIA and MI6. The students were venting their anger at the West, and at the Shah, whom they accused of collaborating with the West in what was yet another Western-initiated regime change in the Middle East. The Shah’s police brutally put down the demonstrations, thus etching this day in the history of Iranian students and their struggles for political change in Iran.

On this year’s Student Day, Iranian college students openly protested against President Ahmadinejad for a number of grievances including imprisonment and torture of students, expulsion of lecturers, poverty, abuse of human rights, dictatorship, and looting of their country’s wealth by foreign powers such as China and Russia.

These grievances are on top of Ahmadinejad’s paltry economic performance.

Currently, Iran faces an annual inflation rate of over 30%, an unemployment rate of over 10% and an incredible shortage of funds for governmental programs due to the declining price of crude oil.

Right now, we need to help provide the deathblow to the Ahmadinejad administration, not resuscitation, especially with their elections right around the corner.

The fear with any Iranian election is that the new leader would be even worse than their predecessor. While that scenario is a possibility, it does not appear that it is likely in this case.

The most likely person to replace Ahmadinejad is former nuclear negotiator and moderate conservative cleric Hasan Rowhani. Rowhani is highly respected throughout Iran and the world after working with Great Brittan, France and Germany in nuclear negotiations.

His balanced and measured approach would be in sharp, and welcomed, contrast to Ahmadinejad’s nonsensical rants about Israel and the U.S.

I know that Obama views himself as a “citizen of the world” and prefers a soft power approach to foreign policy, making these actions potentially unsettling to him. However, there is no greater gift he could give to the world than a nuclear free Iran.

Pulling the plug on a dying Ahmadinejad administration by not negotiating with them or, better yet, taking out their nuclear facilities would go a long way in accomplishing that goal.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John