Iran sets Monday deadline on nuclear deal; deadline delayed

The Americans have to get out of Iraq as soon as they can, in order to take care of the Iranian science project. This will offend many Iranians, not all of them convinced supporters of the regime. Too bad. And too bad if they argue that we were "just about to overturn the regime" and now "you came along and strengthened it."

There are two answers to that. First, promises of "overturning the regime" have been frequent over the past five years; now there are "demonstrations" everywhere, now the regime is "toppling" and so and so forth. Neither the American nor any other Infidel government can rely on the notion that soon, very soon, any day now, practicaly tomorrow, the regime will "fall."

Second -- for the safety of Infidels, those Infidels cannot rely on this or that regime in a Muslim country.

Imagine even the very best outcome. The Islamic Republic of Iran falls. Ten percent of young Iranians say they have "returned to Zoroastrianism." Another fifty percent say that never ever should Islam be allowed the role in politics and society that it had under the Islamic Republic. The Khomeni-Khamenei regime is despised and mocked, and a constitutional monarchy, with the Shah's son, and the former Shahbanou Farah Diba playing a kind of valide-sultan role, re-emerges. The French lycees reopen in Tehran, and the German High School, and the American High School. And all sorts of ancien regime figures flock back, or re-appear -- a Hoveyda here, a Tabatabai there, and the author of "Better Living Through Literature" Mrs. Nafisi, having offered American readers, snapping up her book like hotcakes with its feelgood message of Spiritual Freedom Through the Exercise of the Empathetic Imagination, could return as a much more charming and attractive czarette of culture (oh, those American students at Johns Hopkins are so --- so uninterested in literature, and so very disappointing) than the late Ekaterina Furtseva, who so enchanted Khrushchev with her feminine allure.

Suppose all that were true. So what? Islam remains, and the impulses that come directly from Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira remain. There will be those Zoroastrians. The Baha'i will breath freer. "Reform-minded" Iranian Muslims will emphasize that Islam red in tooth and claw was an import brought by the Arabs originally, and then they will claim that the "bad" Arab version was re-imported with Khomeini, whose strongest early supporters were Arafat and the PLO.

This, I'm afraid, is not enough for the American or other Infidel governments to take a chance on this sucdessor regime, for new regimes have a way of becoming old regimes, and if the Shah of Iran can be followed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Shah's son or grandson could be followed by another Islamic Republic of Iran. "Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds, but Harry Harry" was how Shakespeare described England. Well, what if the Amurath is succeeded by a most temporary Harry, which is the best Muslims can do, and that temporary or incidental Harry is followed by the same old Qur'an-toting Amurath? That is the problem. Infidels, for their own protection, need to eliminate the major weaponry, those famous weapons of mass destruction, from all Muslim countries. Sorry, time to profile, time to discriminate. No way out. There is a difference between -- yes, between Israel and Iran, just as there is a difference between Australia and North Korea. You may find it impolitic for us to admit to it -- but it's true.

This can't wait much longer. The Iraq Constitution farce may end in a shelving or postponement of the real problems, or it may not; , the civil war and real settling of accounts, ethnic and sectarian, which long predated any American entry into the MIddle East, and which the Americans are guilty only of failing to fully comprehend, be delayed a bit longer. But the civil war that has already begun between Sunni and Shi'a, and Kurd and Arab, and which began long before this war, will continue, becoming hotter or colder depending on all sorts of things that have little to do with American or other Infidels. There is no solution to this. The Americans should cease deploring this likely outcome. They should secretly be welcoming it, though they need not lift a finger to help push it along.

If, among the "good" Muslims -- such as Zalmay Khalizad -- in American employ, there is a horror of the idea of dividing, demoralizing, throwing into disarray as many Muslim peoples and polities as possible, that's too bad. , divide, and cause disarray in the world of Islam, that's too bad. Even those "Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only" Muslims, who are ready to denounce terrorism and all sorts of other things, will never be able to admit that the problem comes directy from the canonical texts, and will never be much help in coming to comprehend the kind of varied measures that must be relentlessly employed to constrain Islam -- it just is something they won't be able to handle. Sympathize with their plight, but ignore completely their prescriptions, their remedies -- for they have a stake in the American government continuing to imagine, or even attempting to fabricate, a "moderate" Islam (with a handpicked group of "moderates" who may remind some, alas, of the "anti-Zionist Jewish Committees" created, for its own reasons, by the Soviet government), which will, we will continue to be told, will help bring the "democracy" that is the only conceivable "solution" to the "problem" of Islam, by entangling Muslims in the quotidian matters of sanitation trucks and water supplies and so on, so that they won't have any time left over for the Jihad, and its many instruments. Just like in Saudi Arabia.

These people are not stupid but they do overplay their hands most of the time. They will use the developement of nuclear weapons issue for leverage to the hilt. When they announce that they have the weapon and a delivery system they will use that for leverage to gain concessions from Israel. I pray it won't get that far before Israel "lights them up". It has to be done boys and girls. Iran has already said what they are going to do to Israel and that should be enough.

Yea right the first second the iranians build a nuke they will immidiatly package it up and send it ups to either Israel or the USA..

You want to negotiate with these monstors...

Nuke them now before its too late for the entire world..

You cannot trust any muslim...
Period...

Even though this approach failed with North Korea during the Clinton administration, the EU plans to offer economic and political incentives in return for Iran’s indefinite suspension of uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel reprocessing. Looks like the EU's five-step program for ensuring that a murderous terrorist regime does not develop nuclear weapons is to:

1. Trust them
2. Negotiate with them
3. Act like good little dim-witted Dhimmis
4. Give them money
5. Act surprised and hurt when they violate the agreement

Here is a story from Iran Focus that should turn your stomach. From the story:

Read more here.

Time to stop the farce. These negotiations have as much value as the disarmament negotiations that Hitler's predecessors and Hitler himself kept going for years while they armed Germany to the teeth. Iran must be faced with a complete wall of hostility - luckily one can count on all its Sunni neighbours looking on it as just as disruptive and poisonous as it is for us. This is piece of good fortune we cannot rely upon in the future, so make use of it now. And while I do not think that war is an option, the ghost of war ought to be dangled in their faces. These men are bullies; we have to be bigger bullies.

The Iranians don't have a nuke yet, and they already dictate conditions! For some reason they feel confident, as if they know that we will not attack them, and even if we do, that they will win.

When the U.S. bombed tens of thousands of civilians during bombing runs on German cities during WWII, that was OK; when the U.S. denied entry to Jews who were fleeing the Holocaust, that was OK, when the U.S. dropped a second nuke on Japan, which was already devastated, that was OK.

Now, all of a sudden, we're compassionate, winning "hearts and minds", performing "surgical strikes, advancing "democracy". How many more American civilians have to die for the craven politicians in Washington to decide finally to reject political correctness imposed on unwilling citizens, treat Islam as a dangerous doctrine like the Nazi ideology, and take down Iran, using any weapons necessary, including nukes? When are these politicians going to stop thinking about the next election and start thinking about the good of the country? Don't they see what's happening in Europe?

The European Union has until Monday evening to provide Iran with a package of economic and political incentives in connection to Tehran's nuclear program, an Iranian official said.
Umm, blackmail?

Great post Hugh - yet again you have taken the words out of my mouth - only you are more eloquent & insightful than I could ever hope to be.

A few people here are under the impression that Iran does not have a viable ICBM Nuclear vehicle yet - I am not so sure. The Khan network would have seen Iran as a key "customer".

It is difficult to imagine that the US or Britain would get embroiled with the Mullahs in any kind of military scrummage - more's the pity - so I think we will have to rely on our good friend Israel to take care of business for us.

GBU-28 Bunker Busters anyone? I understand that Israel may have purchased 100 or so from somewhere in recent times? Easy credit, long term payment plan, deferred payment........use the force wisely, my Israeli friends, but please do use it.

Could this interest in Iran's Nukes be a distraction.

Where Terror and the Bomb Could Meet Saudi Arabi'as Nuclear Program

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's June 25-26 unscheduled trip to Saudi Arabia has raised many an eyebrow in Islamabad's diplomatic circles, where it is believed the visit was meant to seek the assistance of the kingdom to circumvent the ongoing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigations into reports that the Saudis might have purchased nuclear technology from Pakistan. The speculation goes that Musharraf aimed to chalk out a joint strategy on what stance the two leaders should adopt to satisfy the IAEA and address its concerns.

Saudi Arabia is under increasing pressure to open its nuclear facilities for inspection as the IAEA suspects that its nuclear program has reached a level (with Pakistani cooperation) where it should attract international attention. The pressure has also come from Europe and the United States, which want Riyadh to permit unhindered access to its nuclear facilities.

Hugh, you're terrific as ever.
What we might have here, my friends, is a strategy in search of an incident; what will put a boil under Sharon or George's ass such that one or t'other would leap up and start targeted persistant bombing of strategic targets - plants, port facilities, infrastructure - until the mullahs, or by then, the people holding them, cry uncle.
Hugh, I agree that Islam can be dormant for a period, but it is in essence a fixed text, a deadly virus that can and will , in any generation,become virulent.
Where is our global strategy ?
Tony just talks the talk.
The old hands at the state dept. just seems to "want them to like us".Dont believe Condi has what it takes.
God bless America. She needs all the help she can get.

And now they say Iran is ten years away from nuclear weapons. Lots of time to squeeze more 'gifts' from the EU...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/01/AR2005080101453_pf.html...or go to Drudgereport.com.

Sorry about the link screw-up...