Western leaders provide comedy to Iran's dictators
By Glenn Woiceshyn
web posted July 24, 2006
When the mullahs of the Islamic dictatorship of Iran are not chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," or not issuing money, weapons and orders to their global terrorist networks, or not monitoring the progress of their nuclear weapons program, one can be certain they are not watching comedy shows on television. Why? Because they have been getting enough laughs from the comical behavior of Western leaders and the United Nations.
When Iran presumably ordered its child, Hezbollah, to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers and launch Iranian-made, Iranian-supplied missiles on Israel, to presumably divert attention away from Iran's nuclear ambitions, the West's dominant reaction was not to urge Israel to eliminate the enemy but instead to "show restraint." United Nations chief, Kofi Annan, once again behaving as though Israel was the guilty party, has called for an immediate ceasefire, which would allow Hezbollah to get away with its murderous attack and prepare for the next one, with Iran's help. President Bush was reluctant to point a finger at Iran because he apparently didn't want to jeopardize the West's recent proposal to give Iran economic incentives in exchange for halting its nuclear weapons program -- the same strategy that failed miserably with North Korea.
The Iranian dictators have had much more than this to laugh about over the years, ever since President Carter caved in to the Iranians who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Soon afterwards, Iran gave birth to Hezbollah which bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, Instead of retaliating against Iran, President Reagan effectively turned the other cheek to Iran. When an Iranian connection was identified in the investigation of the Khobar Towers terrorist attack, killing 19 U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia (1996), the Clinton Administration apparently called off the investigation, presumably to avoid irritating Iran. This Christian "virtue" of turning the other cheek, as consistently displayed by U.S. foreign policy, must make those worshippers of Allah chuckle. More hilarious is the spectacle of the U.S. allowing the U.N. -- dominated by anti-American countries -- to dictate U.S. foreign policy.
A lengthy comedy show was the Middle East "Peace" Talks where Palestinian terrorists, funded and armed by Iran et al, were relentlessly attacking Israel while Israel was forced by the U.S. and U.N. to negotiate and compromise with the terrorists. When Israel intercepted a ship, the Karine A, loaded with weapons from Iran and destined for Palestinian terrorists, no action was taken against Iran, and Western leaders continued to advocate "peace talks." The spectacle of such abject appeasement, particularly after the grandiose appeasement of Hitler by Neville Chamberlain, must have seemed as hilarious to Iran's mullahs as "The Three Stooges" comedy show to many Westerners. Equally hilarious is the naïve belief in the West that Western leaders can somehow talk Iran's dictators into abandoning their religious/political objectives and becoming peaceful and friendly to the West.
And then there's the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks that killed 3000 people. The mullahs, who apparently have been providing support to al-Qaeda, must have chuckled enviously at those American leftist "intellectuals" who appeared more anti-American than the mullahs. But that was only the beginning. After attacking the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, President Bush decided to attack Iraq -- Iran's primary enemy in the region -- even though Iran was identified by the U.S. as the primary sponsor of Islamic terrorism. And instead of staying focused on the war on terrorism, Bush shifted priority to that of "bringing democracy to Iraq," thereby implementing the Christian "virtue" of self-sacrifice. This disastrous move has allowed Iran to support the insurgency in Iraq, which killed over 2500 U.S. soldiers, and to manipulate Iraqi politics such that Iran-backed Shiites might someday get enough Iraqis to democratically vote for an Islamic Shiite dictatorship. Meanwhile, President Bush has become so discredited, and Americans so war-wary, that it seems impossible now that Bush will fulfill his promise, made shortly after 9/11, to end all states that sponsor terrorism, particularly Iran and Syria.
Yes, Western leaders have given Iran's mullahs much to laugh about as they gaily pursue their long-term goal of global Islamic dictatorship. Unfortunately, we cannot share their laughter because such comical behavior has cost tens of thousands of innocent lives and could cost millions more in the future (not to mention billions or trillions of dollars). In addition to grassroots activism, we can only hope that someday soon a U.S. President (or Israeli or British Prime Minister) will grasp that appeasement of evil promotes evil and that the only way to fight evil, and thereby achieve real peace in the world, is to militarily destroy evil. It worked against Japan and Germany in World War II where both countries were first brought to their knees by massive military force. It can work again in the Middle East by militarily ending the evil Islamic dictatorship of Iran. 
Glenn Woiceshyn is President of Powerful Minds Inc., a Calgary based firm that develops curriculum materials for K-12 education.