Andrew McCarthy Tackles The ISG
As readers of NRO, Thomas and I enjoy many of the writers there, from Rich Lowry to Mark Levin to Michael Ledeen. Andrew McCarthy hits the nail on the head with his piece called "Can We Talk?":
When I grew up in The Bronx, there were street gangs. You mostly stayed away from them, and, if you really had to, you fought with them. But I never remember anyone saying, “Gee, maybe if we just talk with them ...”
Nor do I remember, in two decades as a prosecutor, anyone saying, “Y’know, maybe if we just talk with these Mafia guys, we could achieve some kind of understanding ...”
Sitting down with evil legitimizes evil. As a practical matter, all it accomplishes is to convey weakness. This spring — after trumpeting the Bush Doctrine’s “you’re with us or you’re with the terrorists” slogan for five years — Secretary of State Rice pathetically sought to bribe Iran out of its nuclear program with a menu of all carrots and no sticks ... and certainly no demand that the mullahs stop fomenting terror. The result? They’re still laughing at us, even as they build their bombs, harbor al Qaeda operatives, and arm the militias killing American soldiers in Iraq.
While our rhetoric blathers that we’ll never let them have a nuke, our talk begs them, pretty-please, to stop building one. And our actions all but hand them one. If all that makes you wonder who’s the superpower, what do you suppose they’re thinking?
Talk will accomplish nothing. Mr. McCarthy is quite correct--Iran is laughing at us. They have been laughing at us since 1979. When the students seized the United States embassy in Tehran, the Ayatollah was very afraid of what our response was going to be. He did not want the students going to those extremes out of fear that we might drop a nuke on them.
Then Jimmy Carter did his best "pretty-please" routine with the Iranians while our people had to sweat out 444 days in captivity. His point is that we still have not learned the lessons of the past. There is a time and a place for everything, even diplomacy. But when that comes as a detriment to the nation's security, I am left with questions as to why we are even contemplating a sit down with Ahmadinejad and Iran. That nation is an enemy of the United States. We have not fired one shgot at them, and yet here we are getting ready to go to the negotiating table.
We failed to take note that such talks are utterly useless and futile. We have accomplished little, if anything, in the six nation talks with North Korea. Arguing for sanctions that will never be enforced in front of the United Nations Security Council is a farce. Other nations have already begun their own steps towards cutting off people like Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-Il from trade and relations. Yet, as Mr. McCarthy puts it, we went to Iran with a bag full of carrots, and not stick to speak of. There must be a consequence if Ahmadinejad breaks his word, and I fail to see where those are in Sec/State Rice's repertoire.
Without the threat of consequence, there will be no abiding by any agreement, and we must understand this. We cannot negotiate with evil, and Ahmadinejad is indeed an evil man. He has made himself painfully clear about his intentions for the future, and the United States is walking around with blinders on, and earplugs in our ears. When this drama first started to unfold, we stood our ground, talked tough, and were not willing to give an inch in regard to them stopping their nuclear program.
We sure seemed to have changed our tune, and have resorted to begging them to stop. Forget begging. Forget the carrots. Let us get the stick, and end the program ourselves; right here and now.
Marcie
As readers of NRO, Thomas and I enjoy many of the writers there, from Rich Lowry to Mark Levin to Michael Ledeen. Andrew McCarthy hits the nail on the head with his piece called "Can We Talk?":
When I grew up in The Bronx, there were street gangs. You mostly stayed away from them, and, if you really had to, you fought with them. But I never remember anyone saying, “Gee, maybe if we just talk with them ...”
Nor do I remember, in two decades as a prosecutor, anyone saying, “Y’know, maybe if we just talk with these Mafia guys, we could achieve some kind of understanding ...”
Sitting down with evil legitimizes evil. As a practical matter, all it accomplishes is to convey weakness. This spring — after trumpeting the Bush Doctrine’s “you’re with us or you’re with the terrorists” slogan for five years — Secretary of State Rice pathetically sought to bribe Iran out of its nuclear program with a menu of all carrots and no sticks ... and certainly no demand that the mullahs stop fomenting terror. The result? They’re still laughing at us, even as they build their bombs, harbor al Qaeda operatives, and arm the militias killing American soldiers in Iraq.
While our rhetoric blathers that we’ll never let them have a nuke, our talk begs them, pretty-please, to stop building one. And our actions all but hand them one. If all that makes you wonder who’s the superpower, what do you suppose they’re thinking?
Talk will accomplish nothing. Mr. McCarthy is quite correct--Iran is laughing at us. They have been laughing at us since 1979. When the students seized the United States embassy in Tehran, the Ayatollah was very afraid of what our response was going to be. He did not want the students going to those extremes out of fear that we might drop a nuke on them.
Then Jimmy Carter did his best "pretty-please" routine with the Iranians while our people had to sweat out 444 days in captivity. His point is that we still have not learned the lessons of the past. There is a time and a place for everything, even diplomacy. But when that comes as a detriment to the nation's security, I am left with questions as to why we are even contemplating a sit down with Ahmadinejad and Iran. That nation is an enemy of the United States. We have not fired one shgot at them, and yet here we are getting ready to go to the negotiating table.
We failed to take note that such talks are utterly useless and futile. We have accomplished little, if anything, in the six nation talks with North Korea. Arguing for sanctions that will never be enforced in front of the United Nations Security Council is a farce. Other nations have already begun their own steps towards cutting off people like Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-Il from trade and relations. Yet, as Mr. McCarthy puts it, we went to Iran with a bag full of carrots, and not stick to speak of. There must be a consequence if Ahmadinejad breaks his word, and I fail to see where those are in Sec/State Rice's repertoire.
Without the threat of consequence, there will be no abiding by any agreement, and we must understand this. We cannot negotiate with evil, and Ahmadinejad is indeed an evil man. He has made himself painfully clear about his intentions for the future, and the United States is walking around with blinders on, and earplugs in our ears. When this drama first started to unfold, we stood our ground, talked tough, and were not willing to give an inch in regard to them stopping their nuclear program.
We sure seemed to have changed our tune, and have resorted to begging them to stop. Forget begging. Forget the carrots. Let us get the stick, and end the program ourselves; right here and now.
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 11:56 AM
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