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Jewish World Review Nov. 6, 2009 / 19 Mar-Cheshvan 5770 The mullahs' big week By Caroline B. Glick
As Israel's political leadership noted, this shipment constitutes hard proof
that Iran is actively sponsoring terrorist armies in Lebanon, and doing so
in full breach of binding UN Security Council resolutions. The commando raid
also exposed the depth of Syria's collusion with Iran in arming Hizbullah.
After Israel's seizure of the Francop, voices claiming that Syria is but a
bit player in the terror game can be laughed off the international stage.
Israel's interception of the Francop came a week after Yemeni forces
seized an Iranian ship transporting armor-piercing weapons to Houthi Shiite
rebels in northern Yemen. As Saudi Arabia's al Watan reported over the
weekend, Iranian Revolutionary Guards are training Houthi rebels in Eritrea
and sponsoring their insurgency against the Yemini regime.
Earlier in October, the Hansa India, which sailed from Iran to Germany,
fell under suspicion as it made its way to Syria. It was diverted from Egypt
to Malta where its cargo of bullets and industrial materials intended for
weapons production was removed.
Wednesday morning, just as Israel was announcing the capture of the Francop
, scores of thousands of Iranians in cities throughout the country took
advantage of the regime's planned demonstrations celebrating the thirtieth
anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Teheran to protest against
the regime. These regime opponents willingly placed themselves in front of
the batons, tear gas cannons and guns of Iranian regime goons to protest
June's stolen presidential election and to call for the overthrow of the
mullahs' regime of tyranny and its replacement with a democracy.
The protesters turned regime supporters' calls for "Death to America," and
"Death to Israel," into big, deadly jokes by calling out, "Death to the
Dictator," (that is, Supreme ruler Ali Khamenei), and "Death to Russia."
Far from embracing the regime's thirty-year war against the US and the
nation-state based international system, representatives of the "Green
Revolution," asked the US to forgive Iran for taking 52 US embassy personnel
hostage in 1979.
Back in Israel, for the past two weeks some 1,400 US military forces have
been deployed throughout the country for the annual Juniper Cobra missile
defense exercise with the IDF. Although Juniper Cobra is a routine maneuver,
this year's exercise was unprecedented in size and scope. Observers claim
that there have never been so many American generals in Israel at one time.
No previous Israeli-American joint exercise has been conducted with such a
high profile. And Israeli leaders did not hesitate to name the enemy in this
year's exercise. This year's Juniper Cobra exercise, they said, was part of
the two nations' preparations for a joint response to a potential Iranian
strike against Israel. The obvious message Israel and the US hoped to
transmit to Iran was that the strategic alliance between the two countries
remains strong.
All in all then, on the surface, this past week seemed like a horrible week
for the mullahs. But appearances can be deceiving. Unfortunately and
counterintuitively, the past week has been one of the best weeks the mullahs
have had for a long, long time. Certainly, it was the best week the Iranian
regime has had since it falsified the results of the June 12 presidential
elections.
In January 2002, the IDF commandeered the Iranian Karine-A weapons ship en
route to Gaza. The Karine-A was carrying a tenth of the weapons that the
Francop was carrying. But the impact the Israeli commando mission then had
on Israel's political position was more than ten times greater than the
political impact of this week's successful operation.
The exposure then of Iran's support for Palestinian Authority-backed terror
forces caused the Bush administration to abandon its previous acceptance of
Yassir Arafat as a legitimate political leader. That in turn paved the way
for Israel's launch of Operation Defensive Shield three months later. In
that operation Israel wrested military control over Judea and Samaria away
from Palestinian militias and terror cells.
Wednesday's raid has had no discernible impact on US policy. The US did not
denounce either Syria or Iran for breaching the UN Security Council
resolution barring Iranian arms shipments as well as the Security Council
resolution prohibiting nations from arming Hizbullah. The US did not state
that in response to what Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called a "smoking
gun," it will reconsider its decision to send an ambassador to Damascus or
its commitment to appeasing Iran through its nuclear talks in Geneva. The
only thing a State Department official could bring himself to say was that
the US is concerned about "Hizbullah's efforts to rearm in direct violation
of various UN Security Council resolutions," and remark that the groups
remains, "a significant threat to peace and security in Lebanon and the
region."
Despite the government's energetic efforts to use the Francop interception
as a means to convince the nations of the world to unite against
Iranian-backed terror, no one seems willing to acknowledge the clear
strategic implications of Iran's exports of terror weaponry. Today no one is
any more willing to treat Iran as the enemy of the international system it
has been for thirty years than they were before Israel exposed the
Francopcargo of terror for all the world to see.
And the US-led international community's refusal to take any action against
Iran in response to this latest evidence of its rogue behavior is a great
victory for the mullahs. Thirty years after their first criminal challenge
to the US and the free world as a whole, no one seems to care when their
criminality is so graphically exposed.
With the international community making its unwillingness to confront Iran
for its support of global terrorism clear, the greatest single threat to the
Iranian regime today is the Iranian people. Since the likes of Khamenei and
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 Presidential elections, the Iranian
people have daily risked death in their desperate and courageous bid to
overthrow the regime.
The Iranian opposition movement announced weeks ago that its members would
be out in force at the anniversary rallies on Wednesday. And on Wednesday,
the protesters begged the world for support. They called out to US President
Barack Obama, "You're either with us or with them."
But Obama — in full appeasement mode — issued a statement ahead of
Wednesday's "Death to America" rallies announcing, "We do not interfere in
Iran's internal affairs." That is, when asked to choose between Iran's
freedom riders or their oppressors, he chose the oppressors. The US is with
the mullahs against the Iranian people.
No doubt Obama's statement brought contemptuous smirks to faces of the
illegitimate leaders in Teheran.
As for the Juniper Cobra exercise, far from being a cause for concern for
Teheran, it is a cause for celebration. As Iran's centrifuges churn on, by
loudly voicing its determination to defend Israel if Israel is attacked by
Iran, the US signaled that it is willing to take its chances with a
nuclear-armed Iran. More than anything, Juniper Cobra demonstrated that the
Obama administration has abandoned its previously stated pledge that it will
not accept a nuclear-armed Iran. Rather than working with Israel to prevent
Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, the US is using Juniper Cobra to
noisily demonstrate that it merely hopes to deter Iran from using nuclear
weapons once it acquires them.
While this was perhaps the mullahs' greatest reason for rejoicing this week,
three additional developments no doubt also warmed the cockles of their
hearts. First, Obama's pledge not to support the anti-regime protesters was
part of a larger message in which the President of the United States
effectively groveled at the mullahs' feet and begged them to allow the US to
enrich uranium for them.
Obama said, "I have made it clear that the United States of America wants to
move beyond this past, and seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic of
Iran based upon mutual interests and mutual respect…. We have recognized
Iran's international right to peaceful nuclear power. We have demonstrated
our willingness to take confidence-building steps along with others in the
international community. We have accepted a proposal by the International
Atomic Energy Agency to meet Iran's request for assistance in meeting the
medical needs of its people. We have made clear that if Iran lives up to the
obligations that every nation has, it will have a path to a more prosperous
and productive relationship with the international community."
And when Khamenei responded to Obama's obsequious bowing and scraping by
saying that negotiating with the US was a "naïve and perverted" enterprise,
the Obama administration had nothing to say.
The White House won't even acknowledge that the Iranians have already
rejected the IAEA brokered deal to have the US, France and Russia enrich
uranium for them. Indeed, rather than accept that the Iranians are playing
them for fools, administration officials were furious at Israel for Defense
Minister Ehud Barak's announcement early last week that their proposed deal
with Iran would have little impact on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
According to Channel 10, the White House demanded that Netanyahu applaud
their efforts. They threatened Israel with unspecified sanctions if he
failed to announce his support for their pathetic attempts at appeasement.
And so he did. And about five minutes after Netanyahu applauded the
Americans for their brilliant offer to enrich uranium for Iran, the Iranians
rejected their offer as insufficient.
Finally, Obama has threatened that if Iran rejects his nuclear appeasement
offer the US will move swiftly to enact painful sanctions against it. But
with the UN the only international institution the administration believes
can legitimately initiate sanctions, and with the UN currently busy
discussing the Goldstone report accusing Israel of committing war crimes in
its campaign against Iran's Hamas proxy in Gaza, no one can expect any
movement on yet another sanctions resolution against Iran any time soon.
(And as to Gaza, neither the US nor anyone else had any significant reaction
to Israel's revelation Tuesday that Hamas successfully tested an Iranian
missile capable of reaching Tel Aviv.)
Today we are in a waiting period. At the end of this period, either Iran
will emerge as a nuclear power or Iran will see itself disarmed of nuclear
power, its regime humbled, and its terror proxies deterred.
Through their actions again this week, the US and the international
community as a whole have demonstrated their preferred outcome. It must be
fervently hoped that like the brave Iranian people themselves, Israel will
not bend to their will.
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JWR contributor Caroline B. Glick is the senior Middle East Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC and the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post. Comment by clicking here.
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