Only Freedom Will Stop Iran’s Bomb

While the American president dreams of a world free of nuclear weapons, they’re building a nuclear bomb in Tehran right in front of the world’s very eyes. Barack Obama’s Iran policy is too inconsistent.

Admittedly, it shows high moral values to try to get a dictatorship to disarm while it behaves so irrationally on the world stage. But then you’ve got to play the moral trump card, too.

However, none of the cards Barack Obama has thus far drawn in the Iran game has been an ace. The draft of a new round of sanctions mostly bears Hillary Clinton’s signature. While they’re not the “crippling sanctions” of which the secretary of state recently spoke, they’ll nonetheless be felt by the Tehran regime. Her track record up to now shows what kind of president she could have become. Although she was effectively checkmated when Obama named her as secretary of state, she was able to fight her way back — not as competition for Obama, something she would never consider — but with a sense of duty to serve her country.

Any success in preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons will be largely due to Hillary Clinton’s efforts. It is she who prevents Barack Obama from becoming another Jimmy Carter who, in his naivete, supported the Mullahs in Iran without considering the political consequences.

With the current Iran conflict, there’s a tendency to draw comparisons with Ronald Reagan’s handling of the former Soviet Union. Reagan was able to peacefully defeat communism by putting Soviet leaders under heavy economic and even military pressure. The comparison is ironic since it was also Reagan who made massive weapons deliveries to the Islamic republic. Therefore, a different historic comparison is appropriate for this extraordinary situation.

Abraham Lincoln, the eminent American president, decided in favor of abolishing slavery — not for emotional reasons, although he was personally opposed to it — but in order to preserve the American union. His highest priority was to hold the United States together. Lincoln’s realpolitik decision to end slavery made possible America’s future as an industrial nation and its eventual rise to world power status.

Barack Obama swore his oath of office on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible. It’s now time that he recall Lincoln’s wise words and take a clear stance with those Iranians engaged in the peaceful struggle to end tyranny in their nation. Up until now, he has acted cautiously and has made some serious tactical errors. He thought the demonstrations in Iran were a short-term phenomenon and allowed his administration to negotiate with Iran’s illegitimate leadership; he also forced both houses of the U.S. Congress to temporarily shelve decisive sanctions in the energy sector. Precious time and many human lives were lost as a result.

The comparison with Lincoln shows that the Iranian nuclear bomb can only be prevented by Iranian freedom. They are inseparable, but thus far Obama has barely recognized the Iranian people’s desire for freedom. He need only recall the images from Iran in the wake of the 9/11 attacks: As America went through the most tragic hour of its recent history, Iranians marched together in a show of solidarity. They lit candles, sang songs of mourning and shed tears for the many victims of that attack. And Iranian security forces were helpless to do anything about it.

It may sound like a threat, but it is a fact: When Iran’s day of independence finally comes, Iranians will remember who stood at their side during their peaceful revolution. So far, Obama hasn’t done so.