Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced yesterday that, in an attempt to persuade the leaders of Iran to back off from their march toward nuclear weapon capabilities, the US will be enforcing new sanctions against Iran. I am pleased that, in the process of making the case for the sanctions, the administration adumbrated the clear danger posed by the Iranian Regime. Said Rice:
The Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations, instead threatening peace and security by pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon, building dangerous ballistic missiles, supporting Shi'a militants in Iraq and terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories, and denying the existence of a fellow member of the United Nations, threatening to wipe Israel off the map. Because of the Revolutionary Guard's support for proliferation and because of the Quds force support for terrorism, acting under US law and consistent with our international obligations, the United States today is designating both of these groups. If Iran's rulers choose to continue down a path of confrontation, the United States will act with the international community to resist these threats of the Iranian regime.
National Review does a nice job in puzzling out the details and breadth of these sanctions but the editors also offer an ominous prediction that the sanctions may, in the end, prove ineffective. Time will tell of course, but I find their reckonings persuasive.
That the Islamic Republic engages in terrorism is beyond dispute. It has a long and bloody history of murdering civilians around the world. Hezbollah would not exist without it. It is a vital source of funds and weapons for Hamas and Islamic Jihad. More recently it has turned to Iraq, where it trains and arms Shiite extremists, the better to kill civilians and American soldiers alike.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGEyYzE4ZTgwYzVlMTg0OTRiOTEzODhkZmY0YzkyNzE=
No comments:
Post a Comment