A MAD DETERRENT FOR A MADMAN?
By Mike Evans
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has often been described by various sources as “mad”; that is “mad” defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “completely unrestrained by reason and judgment.” He is certainly not constrained by what, during the Cold War of the twentieth century, was called MAD, “mutual assured destruction.”
In the twenty-first century, the players and the stakes have changed dramatically. Iran is well on its way to becoming a nuclear power, and its target is none other than what the Ayatollah Khomeini first dubbed “The Great Satan” (America), and “The Little Satan” (Israel.) With the exception of the two attacks on the World Trade Center in 1994 and 2001, America has, thus far, escaped the barrage of suicide bombers that have plagued Israel; but for how long? Ahmadinejad’s volunteer army of jihadists might see that approach as the most effective against the U.S. Israel, however, is well within range of Iran’s missiles – any one of which could be armed with a nuclear warhead.
According to all sources, Iran is very close to its determined results of possessing nuclear weapons capabilities. Pakistan, North Korea, and even Russia can be thanked for the advances in nuclear technology enjoyed by this rogue nation bent on destruction. While the world’s eyes are turned on Israel and Lebanon, how much progress has been made by the scientists at the enrichment facilities scattered across Iran?
Perhaps the most pressing question is this: Will the mad Ahmadinejad be deterred by “mutual assured destruction,” or does he, like Khomeini, believe “…let Iran go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.” This radical Islamic belief system is never more apparent than in various attacks around the world that have killed Americans, yes, but has also taken the lives of innocent bystanders, often Muslims.
Apparently, it is okay to kill Muslim brothers for they will attain heaven; the hated infidel will, however, go to their reward in hell. For the radical jihadists, the end justifies the murders of innocent Muslim passersby because, after all, they will attain their reward that much sooner. Young Iranian students are literally brainwashed by textbooks found in their schools. The youngsters are taught that to sacrifice themselves as martyrs for the “cause” is the ultimate goal, and they must be ready at all times to attain that goal.
We must understand that Ahmadinejad is not your run-of-the-mill madman. He firmly believes in the soon return of the Twelfth Imam, a character in Iranian mythology that can only be resurrected through some apocalyptic event. His grasp of this concept has spilled over into his speeches, including an address to the United Nations. It is at the core of his writings, and is taught in Iranian schools. This belief has shaped the life-vision and the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad has already laid the groundwork for an attack on Israel by spewing his vitriol at every opportunity. He has said, repeatedly, that Israel should be “wiped off the map”; that the Holocaust is a myth perpetrated by the Jewish people; and that the Jews should be relocated to a colony in Europe, or perhaps Alaska. He would not hesitate to launch an attack to obliterate Israel, even if it meant taking out the Palestinians, too. Of course, such an attack would mean immediate counterstrikes by Israel that would decimate the Iranian civilian population.
While such tactics might give the Palestinians and perhaps even the Iranian population pause for thought, it would be counted by Ahmadinejad as the ultimate in martyrdom. The indoctrination of the martyr complex has become so ingrained in the radical Islamic psyche that human life has no value; not even the lives of wives and children, mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors.
The world’s superpowers are being held hostage in the face of Ahmadinejad’s edict that he would reveal his answer regarding nuclear advancements by the end of August. Now, that date has been more precisely pinpointed as August 22. It has caused me to wonder just what else the Iranian President might unveil on that date, and what world reaction might be. After all, he did manage to divert attention away from the G8 meeting in Russia and discussions about what the world would do about Iran’s march toward nuclear armaments by having his proxies, Hizbullah and Hamas, incite a war with Israel. That is not a small diversion…and it remains to be seen just how Ahmadinejad will capitalize on it.
The question now is this: Why did he choose August 22? In the 2006 Muslim calendar, August 22 is the anniversary of the date that Mohammad supposedly flew his winged steed to what is purportedly Jerusalem, and then made a round-trip to heaven. Could it be that Ahmadinejad has a vision of grandeur? Could it be that he surmises August 22 to be the perfect date in the annals of mankind to launch a deadly attack on Israel and the United States? Perhaps not, but wisdom dictates preparedness for just such a plot.
One of Ahmadinejad’s heroes is the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini, and it was he who said: "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [all infidels, i.e., anyone that dares disagree with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all of them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."
With this in mind, MAD (mutual assured destruction] is not a restraint that will work with the ilk of Ahmadinejad and his cronies. Remember, Khomeini did say that it mattered not if all of Islam perished…as long as they took the infidels of the world with them.
What weapons are effective against an enemy such as this? Will those Muslims that do not share this Iranian president’s worldview be enticed to take up arms against him? Can we even convince them that they are in as much danger as any infidel on the globe? Or will we simply sit idly by and allow the madman, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahs in Iran that support him to take the world by nuclear storm on August 22, or whatever day they may choose to unleash yet another holocaust?
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