It’s the (Iran) War, Stupid, Not the Nukes | Foundation for Defense of Democracies

It’s the War, Stupid, Not the Nukes | Foundation for Defense of Democracies
 Michael Ledeen
7th March 2012

But the assumption that we will “know” all about the Iranian nuke is the basis for the whole debate, even though it’s quite clear we are very unlikely to know that.

We are having the wrong debate, about the wrong questions. The right debate is about the war Iran is waging against us. The Iranian regime kills Americans whenever and wherever they can, including inside the homeland....

I agree with the Washington Post when it says that regime change in Tehran is the only reliable way to stop the Iranian nuclear weapons project. It’s also the only way to win the war they are waging against us, in tandem with an international network that includes Syria, Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and a collection of wicked actors from terrorist groups like al -Qaeda and Islamic Jihad to international drug dealers.

We have to win that war. The enemies’ central command post is in Tehran, down the hall from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. I remain convinced that that war can be won without dropping bombs or sending troops; I think the Iranian regime is mortally threatened by its own people. If you look at the regime’s behavior, you can see that Khamenei et. al. believe it too. Otherwise why would the streets be full of security forces to protect against…voters? The supreme leader knows that the people would happily rise up against him — they’ve tried it many times — and so the major cities are under virtual military occupation, all forms of rapid communication, whether by cell phone or via internet, are monitored, blocked or filtered, and anyone suspected of disloyalty is rounded up and thrown into the hell of the prisons and torture chambers.

I think we should support the Iranian opposition even if Iran had no nuclear weapons program at all. It’s both morally and strategically sound policy....

A real deal — not likely to happen — would require Iran to terminate its support for terror, cease its involvement in the Syrian civil war, end the shipment of dangerous materiel to anti-American governments in South America, and, yes, shut down the nuclear weapons program.

 Michael not only calls a spade a spade, but he addresses the heart of the problem, which is rarely done today in our political environment with "the existing regime media."