IRAQ PARLEY A PERSIAN PLOY AGAINST U.S.
By Mike Evans
There is some hope for the peace conference on Iraq later this week in the Egyptian resort of Sharm e-Sheikh, which is to include Arab foreign ministers plus leading officials from the United Nations and European Union. It will be chaired by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
But who are we kidding? Another leader who just announced his country’s participation is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a would-be Hitler on (nuclear) steroids who, when he is not proclaiming his intention to wipe Israel off the map, threatens to send thousands of suicide bombers to attack the US.
When Ahmadinejad is not threatening the US and Israel, he spends his time trying to undermine Iraq’s struggling democracy. It is a matter of record that Iran supports the insurgency in Iraq with manpower (suicide bombers), money, and materiel. It is Iranian terrorists and proxies, armed with Iranian weapons that are daily killing American troops and countless Iraqi civilians.
Of course Iran is pleased to attend the conference. It is behind most of the violence in Iraq, and can easily ease up on the throttle of its killing machine if this will relieve some of the international pressure on its nuclear armament campaign.
Asked whether US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would meet with Iranian officials at the conference, a State Department spokesman said he could “not rule out the possibility.” This is the same Rice who has repeatedly called for an end to the flow of arms and foreign fighters into Iraq from neighboring Iran. A US-Iran parley would signal the world’s terrorists that America is weak and can be manipulated by terrorist threats.
Iran is either an axis of evil or not; either Bush’s world war against terrorism is a working plan against evil, or perhaps we should just give up? When did we lose the moral clarity to let a petty dictator hold a nation hostage so he can buy time to develop nuclear weapons?
Just in case the US or Israel feels compelled to act against this threat, last week Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister of Security Affairs, Muhammad Baqer Zolghadr, was quoted by Reuters as warning that if Iran is attacked, it will attack Israel, the United States, and her interests around the world. “Nowhere would be safe for America with [Iran’s] long-range missiles,” he threatened. “We can fire tens of thousands of missiles every day. With long-range missiles Iran can also threaten Israel as America’s ally.”
Indeed, just because Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and threatens to destroy Israel does not mean the Jewish state is his only target. The nuclear-capable ballistic missiles Iran has developed with the help of North Korea can reach anywhere in Europe. Perhaps this is why the EU will be well represented in Sharm e-Sheikh.
Dr. Michael Evans is a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book is The Final Move Beyond Iraq – www.beyondiraq.com.
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