THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 191, October 3, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
TO END IRAN STANDOFF, PLAN FOR WAR
By Dr. Michael Rubin
CONFRONTING IRAN, AS REGARDS ITS DETERMINATION TO BECOME A NUCLEAR MILITARY POWER: TO ELIMINATE
THE IMPENDING THREAT, THE U.S.A. & ITS ALLIES MUST CLEARLY DEMONSTRATE RESOLVE & FOLLOW THE OLD LATIN
MAXIM, "SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM" ("IF YOU WANT PEACE, PREPARE FOR WAR")
FULL STORY:
If a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear problem is to be found, it is time for Washington to plan for war. Diplomats
cannot break the current impasse simply by trying more aggressive diplomacy. Tehran will only change course if it believes
it faces a credible threat for defying the will of the world.
Think about it. In recent months, as international diplomatic deadlines have come and gone, and the threat of sanctions has
remained a possibility, Iran has only been emboldened. At the United Nations last month, Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that "Britain and America won the last world war, but they wouldn't
win the next one, Iran would."
If the U.S.A. is serious about stopping Iran's nuclear program in its tracks, it should adopt the Turkish model. For years,
Turkish diplomats begged and pleaded for Syria to stop hosting Kurdish terrorists. Despite the promises of Syrian diplomats
to engage, nothing happened. Then, in 1998, the Turkish Army staged military exercises along Syria's border. Within weeks,
the Syrian regime reversed course.
Iraq is another case in point. Prior to the Iraq war, then-U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice delayed
establishing a postwar planning office for fear of undermining UN diplomacy. But then, when diplomacy failed, the U.S. was
forced into action with inadequate preparation. The truth is, war preparation is itself a form of diplomacy.
Some U.S. realists say that Libya's 2003 decision to halt its nuclear program demonstrates that talk alone works. But it was
not years of negotiations, but, rather, the demonstration of resolve -- the interception of Libya-bound freighters and the
invasion of Iraq -- that led Moammar Khadafy to change course.
Indeed, the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East may be underestimation of Western resolve. On August 27, 2006,
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said of kidnapping Israeli soldiers that, had his militia known how fierce Israel's
retaliation would be, "we would definitely not have done it."
The Iranian leadership's misreading of Washington could prove just as disastrous. With the U.S. Army tied down in Iraq,
Iranian officials believe the U.S. military is hamstrung. But the U.S. Navy and Air Force are not hamstrung.
Perhaps it is time to stage war games and exercises in the Persian Gulf and on Iran's borders. The Iranian government
should know what it is up against. Only the threat of force, and not the threat of UN finger-wagging, can persuade Tehran
to stop spinning its centrifuges.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Dr. Michael Rubin, a Ph.D. in History (Yale University) and a specialist in Middle Eastern politics, Islamic culture and Islamist
ideology, is Editor of the Middle East Quarterly and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research. Dr Rubin is author of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran (Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, 2001) and is co-author, with Dr. Patrick Clawson, of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005). Dr. Rubin served as political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003-2004); staff
advisor on Iran and Iraq in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (2002-2004); visiting lecturer in the Departments of
History and International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2001-2002); visiting lecturer at the Universities of
Sulaymani, Salahuddin, and Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan (2000-2001); Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy (1999-2000); and visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Yale University (1999-2000). He has been a fellow at
the Council of Foreign Relations, the Leonard Davis Institute at Hebrew University, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and
International Affairs.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume VIII, 2006
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues