WarSclerotic

Our strategic failure on Iran requires action – Bakersfield.com.

Iran celebrates as Russia loads nuclear fuel into the Bushehr reactor, Iran’s first atomic power station. Spent fuel from this reactor can be used for nuclear weapons.

Of course, Iran “agrees” to return all spent fuel back to Russia. Really? Will Iran’s Revolutionary Guard surrender their ballistic missile programs?

Going forward, Iran and Russia will use each other to serve their own strategic interests. With Russia’s newly secured foothold in the Middle East and increased weapons sales to Muslim countries, along with Europe’s dependency on Russian energy exports, Western influence in the region will diminish. A stronger Muslim-Russian balance of power will increase.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration remains either unconvinced that an Islamic Iran wants a nuclear weapon and will try to destroy Israel and other Western nations, or it lives under the false illusion that somehow sanctions will still work.

Sanctions against Iran were unsuccessful during the Bush administration just as sanctions and diplomacy have been an abysmal failure under Obama’s leadership.

Furthermore, Iran will not be coerced into a dialogue with the United States. So be it. Engaging an undefeated foe in negotiations is appeasement and it never works.

The United States cannot hope to redirect the policies and methods of those ideologically driven — to whom jihad is a religious obligation and an acceptable path toward political power and expansion.

Although Obama is viewed by the Islamic world as one of its own due to his own father and stepfather’s Muslim heritage, he also is perceived as weak and ineffective by his Islamic opponents and their allies.

As the Obama administration panders to the Islamic Republic of Iran, consider the escalation in Iranian intransigence:

* Iran launches the “Ambassador of Death” — a new unmanned jet bomber, August 2010.

* Iran test fires a new surface-to-surface guided missile, August 2010.

* Iran takes aggressive military action against American and allied soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

* Iran builds and installs 7,200 centrifuges to enrich uranium, stockpiling nuclear fuel.

* Iran disallows international inspectors to verify all of its nuclear facilities.

* Iran supports terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

* Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatens to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth,” and destroy the United States.

A pre-emptive attack on Iran by the United States or Israel is the only option left for the security of the West.

Denice Gary-Pandol of Bakersfield is a freelance writer who specializes in Middle Eastern affairs. Her website is http://www.Strategic SolutionsForANewMiddleEast.com.

This entry was posted on August 28, 2010 at 12:01 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.