IRAN DECLARED WAR ON THE U.S. & ISRAEL IN 1979: When will we respond decisively?

October 14, 2011 By in Epicenter
>> UPDATE: Joel appeared on the Sean Hannity Radio Show on Friday at 5:30pm eastern to discuss the Iran terror threat and The Tehran Initiative. He will also appear on the Fox News Channel at 12:40pm eastern on Sunday. Details on other programs coming.
 
The Islamic Republic of Iran declared war on the United States and Israel in 1979. They have since taken Americans hostage. They have murdered Americans in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. They have funded Hezbollah, Hamas, the PLO and other terrorist organizations that have murdered Israelis. They are developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. Now, it appears the Iranian government has tried to launch a deadly terrorist operation on American soil — in our nation’s capital. Yet Iran has never paid a real price for any of these acts of war.
 
When will we wake up to this growing threat and respond decisively and neutralize the Iranian threat?
 
In April 2010, the New York Times reported that the Obama administration had no comprehensive, decisive strategy to neutralize the Iran threat. The story began by stating: “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has warned in a secret three-page memorandum to top White House officials that the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability, according to government officials familiar with the document.” Unfortunately, eighteen months later, it is clear President Obama and his advisor still have no comprehensive, decisive strategy.
 
My new novel, The Tehran Initiative, is a political thriller that takes readers inside this Iranian threat and imagines a series of worst case scenarios — an Iranian terror plot unleashed inside the U.S.; Iranian radicals building nuclear weapons and preparing to launch them; an American President unwilling to move decisively to neutralize Iran; and an American government pressuring Israel not to defend the Jewish people from a Second Holocaust. The book is fiction. But it is based on facts.
 
Lest there be any doubt about Iranian intentions, consider the following statements made by their leaders over the years:
  •  “The governments of the world should know that . . . Islam will be victorious in all the countries of the world, and Islam and the teachings of the Qur’an will prevail all over the world.” —Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in January 1979
  • “We must strive to export our Revolution throughout the world.” —Ayatollah Khomeini on March 21, 1980
  • “We don’t shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world. . . . We must believe in the fact that Islam is not confined to geographical borders, ethnic groups, and nations. It’s a universal ideology that leads the world to justice. . . . We must prepare ourselves to rule the world.” —Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on January 5, 2006

Restoring the caliphate and building an Islamic empire that literally encompasses the entire globe is the expressed goal of the Radicals, be they Shia Muslims or Sunnis. It has been a goal since the seventh century, when Muhammad, whom Muslims revere as a prophet, walked the earth. But whereas once this notion was a dream—desired but far off—many Radicals now believe it is actually achievable as history, in their view, draws to a conclusion, the end of the world approaches, and their so-called messiah — The Twelfth Imam — arrives.

In 1979, there were three countries that, in the eyes of the Radicals, stood in the way of world domination: the Soviet Union, Israel, and the United States. The collapse of the U.S.S.R. on Christmas Day 1991 dramatically emboldened the Radicals. “One down, two to go,” they reasoned, and Israel was widely perceived as the next target.

  •  “It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region.” —Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in January 2001
  • “One bomb is enough to destroy Israel. . . . In due time the Islamic world will have a military nuclear device.” —Iranian president Rafsanjani in December 2001
  • “Rafsanjani Says Muslims Should Use Nuclear Weapon against Israel.” —Headline from the Iran Press Service, December 14, 2001
  • “Israel must be wiped off the map.” —Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on October 26, 2005

Israel, however, is not the ultimate objective. In the eyes of most top Radical leaders, the Jewish state is the “Little Satan.” The United States is considered the “Great Satan” and thus the most desired target.

  •  “God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism.” —Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on October 26, 2005
  • “Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come, and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started.” —Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 2, 2008, marking the 19th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini
  • “Get ready for a world minus the U.S.” —Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 4, 2008

Note carefully the language of the leading Iranian Radicals. At this point in the Revolution—post-1979, and post–9/11—the jihadists do not simply seek to frighten or terrorize the American people; they seek to utterly destroy them. They do not simply seek to repudiate or humiliate; they seek to annihilate.

Does President Obama have a clear and compelling plan to neutralize the Iranian threat? Do any of the GOP presidential candidates? None of us want another war. So if there is a multi-faceted plan we can take short of war, now is the time to hear it, approve it, and execute it. It is time for real leaders to step up and chart an effective way forward, before it is too late.

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