RUTHFULLY YOURS

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked into the House of Representatives the applause was deafening. Watching the broadcast on C-SPAN, one could hear the audio feed constantly clipping in and out because the microphones were overloaded. The decibel level was bursting from an enthusiastic Congress cheering a man who had come to speak for the West, to speak for democracy, and to speak against the terrorism and barbarity of Iran.

Some members of Congress weren’t as embracing of Netanyahu’s speech as most — Nancy Pelosi in particular exhibited a sort of physical discomfort and immediately bolted for the exit after the speech. Even though Mrs. Pelosi said after Netanyahu’s oration that she “was near tears throughout the prime minister’s speech — saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States”, any impartial observer could see that the speech given on March 3rd in the House of Representatives will echo through history as an important moment in the defense of democratic nations, as a declaration against genocidal mania, and as a principled defense of societies birthed by the values of the enlightenment.

There are several important things that the prime minister said that needed to be heard. Several precisely worded, focused passages made quite clear to the American Congress as well as to the American people why Iran achieving the status of a nuclear state is unacceptable. Prime Minister Netanyahu hit on the very important point of the nature of Iran’s regime, how it has been an unapologetic sponsor of state terror, and its past misdeeds that have set it squarely against not only Israel, but also against the United States and Western society.

The Israeli leader rightly pointed out in his address that “Just last week, near Hormuz, Iran carried out a military exercise blowing up a mock U.S. aircraft carrier. That’s just last week, while they’re having nuclear talks with the United States.” That this news item should require highlighting, with the world already having had ages of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks in numerous countries and invasions throughout the Middle East, is more a commentary on the president’s ignorance than Netanyahu’s wisdom. Nevertheless, Netanyahu hammered this and several other points home, naming every significant Iranian transgression against the West, starting with the bombing of innocents in Buenos Aires. Netanyahu also spoke about Iran’s funding of heinous murderers like Imad Mugniyeh, a man responsible for more American deaths than anyone other than Osama Bin-Laden.

This constant duplicity, this bold-faced lying, speaking one way at the negotiating table all while still rallying the Iranian people in lively chants of “Death to America”, is the Iranian modus operandi. To assume that there will be some benevolent show of gratefulness on the part of the world’s largest state sponsor of terror this side of Syria is nothing other than stupidity.

Members of Congress who listened to Netanyahu’s speech would do well to peruse Ayatollah Khameini’s Twitter page (for the moment I will refrain from commenting on the obvious incongruity of the mullah’s benefiting from the West’s technological superiority all while denouncing the openness of its systems). With the frustrated syntax of an angry illiterate, the Supreme Leader indulges himself in the most putrid, dumb denunciation against not only Israel but also the United States. Since the English language is as beautiful as it is intricate, I’ll spare the reader from the cluttered twitterisms of Ali Khameini. However, the Ayatollah’s Twitter account is worth reading at some point, at least so that one can see the potency of combining idiocy with unmitigated hatred.

It is foolish to assume that Iran’s leaders will suddenly devote themselves to peace. If the barbarians are at the gate, does it serve the West to offer them the key? That is precisely the peril that Netanyahu outlined in his speech warning the most powerful deliberative body in the world not to operate in complicity in this bad, bad Iranian deal.

Two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson combated the medievalism active in his own era by sending the American Navy across the ocean to wage war against the Barbary pirates. Rufus King, a morally forthright delegate to the Continental Congress and fervent abolitionist, said to Thomas Jefferson of the Barbary pirates: “Our security against the Barbary Powers must depend on force and not upon treaties, upon ships of war instead of presents and subsidies”. It speaks volumes about our president that instead of aligning himself with our proper allies in a common fight for human dignity and liberty, Obama should seek to pacify Iran by rewarding them. The president should review his history, as well as the actions of our better leaders in combating evil.

It isn’t necessary to wage war against Iran, but offering them a clear path to nuclear weaponry aided by American appeasement isn’t the answer either. If Obama is serious about negotiations, he should negotiate from a point of superior leverage, a position that is more achievable with the manacles of sanctions on the maniacs of Iran. Then, if talks don’t pan out, contemplate an attack. We should assume that as unhinged as the Iranian regime is, they still have the presence of mind to recognize plainly America’s military superiority and vast reach. Like Netanyahu said: “If Iran threatens to walk away from the table — and this often happens in a Persian bazaar — call their bluff. They’ll be back, because they need the deal a lot more than you do”.