Iran Must Be Stopped

President Obama came to power believing that he unilaterally could disarm Iran with his charm and conciliatory demeanor. He was wrong.

The president’s naiveté has given the Iranian government time to step up their nuclear weapons technology and crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents.

Last fall, President Obama held a press conference and announced that Iran was in fact well on their way to building a second uranium-enrichment plant. This was a significant announcement and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Iran, in complete defiance of international law, is well on its way to building a nuclear weapon.

After his announcement did the president call for an emergency U.N. Security Council Meeting? Did he see to it that the most severe sanctions should be brought to bear on the Iranian government? No, he did not. He simply has called for more dialogue. Well, talk is cheap. The president squandered the perfect opportunity to lead the world in stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Why did the president let the perfect forum to bring the Iranians to task before the world community slip away? Isn’t that what the Security Council is supposed to be for? Is nuclear proliferation by rogue regimes not important enough to convene the Council? The president most surely knew all the facts.

This should have been debated, and Iran should have been called before the Security Council to defend itself.

The president was intentionally derelict or grossly negligent in this missed opportunity. He had the president of Iran in New York. When the president made his announcement this past fall, most of the world leaders who make up the Security Council were at the Opening of the General Assembly in New York. All members of the Security Council should have had their feet put to the fire and either condoned this illegal activity or condemned it and sought serious measures to correct it. Sadly, Obama will turn out to be the Neville Chamberlain of our time.

Just this past week Iran’s president boasted defiantly that his country was a nuclear power. I take him at his word.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, like Adolf Hitler, is warning the world about his country’s ultimate intentions and his own. Hitler penned "Mein Kampf" in a jail cell. He explained his intentions for the world should he come to power.

At the time he wrote "Mein Kampf," Hitler was a prisoner and was not able to make good on his wishful intent. The world chose to ignore his warnings, let him come to power and then let him implement most of his stated goals. The president of Iran is doing the very same thing.

Ahmadinejad has told the world all about his ultimate intentions. He seeks the destruction of Israel and of the United States. His country is building the instrumentalities by which he could achieve his goals, while the world sits back and watches. Sixty million people perished during World War II, with weapons far more primitive than can be even be produced today. If lone homicide bombers are willing to sacrifice themselves for religious fanaticism, why then is it beyond the realm of possibility, that a leader is willing to sacrifice millions for the same beliefs?

We have seen it before. It has been said that, “If we do not learn from history we are condemned to repeat it.”

Truer words were never spoken.

Hitler wrote the following words in "Mein Kampf" that have been parroted almost verbatim today by the president of Iran: “I believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” How many will needlessly die before we act to stop a repeat of what the world experienced during the time of Hitler?

Iran must be stopped, and stopped now. Either other responsible nations will join us or we must do the job alone. We have no choice. We must take these rogues at their word and pay attention to their deeds.

Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to the Fox Forum.

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