Cinnamon Stillwell on Iran and the Left

I think this editorial is right on, but I'm sure many disagree. Bit of a long read, but worth it IMHO

From here:

Calling the Left’s Bluff on Iran

Against the steady drumbeat of anti-Iraq war sentiment, leftists have suddenly turned hawkish when it comes to Iran. The fact that Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power has them all atwitter and as always, the Bush administration is the target of their criticism. But perhaps it’s time to call their bluff.

For one thing, leftists don’t really care about national security. They seem to suffer under the delusion that their way of life is inviolate, except perhaps for the encroachments of the “Christian right.” This would explain why they eschew every military effort on the part of the U.S. The only time they reference matters of national security is when it provides fodder for yet another anti-Bush talking point.

Secondly, since when did the left take any raving dictator seriously? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a potential Hitler with nukes, but as in WWII, the anti-war isolationists don’t want to hear about it. The fact that the elimination of Jews from the planet is the shared cornerstone of their expansive ambitions rarely factors into the equation. Whereas Hitler wanted to rid Europe of Jews, Ahmadinejad wants to rid Israel of Jews. But that’s just a minor point.

Were the U.S. to actually propose taking military action against Iran, the left would be up in arms, and not in its defense. Similarly, were Israel to prove its mettle by once again saving the world from Muslim dictators with nuclear ambitions (as they did in 1981 with Iraq), leftists would only step up their calls for that country’s destruction. Come to think of it, they have a lot in common with Ahmadinejad in that regard.

Lastly and most importantly, there’s no acknowledgement by the left that the very methods they espouse for solving such problems are currently being employed. And they’re failing miserably.

The UN, mankind’s savior according to the internationalists, is taking a time-honored approach to Iran – dithering diplomacy, meaningless treaties, and pretending that dictators and terrorist states can be trusted. Despite the left’s caterwauling, the Bush administration is actually on board for the charade. Far from employing the dreaded “unilateralism” of Iraq (if only 30 allies counts), the president has been tirelessly multilateral in his approach to Iran. The results or lack thereof are painfully obvious.

So how does the left justify its unceasing devotion to the UN and to defunct means of solving international aggression? They don’t. That would require logic and the left inhabits a logic-free zone these days.

Before Iran became the left’s crisis du jour, North Korea was the favored talking point. Again, they decried Bush’s unilateralism and longed for the terms of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton when ignored treaties and U.S.-provided uranium were the order of the day. Come to think of it, that’s exactly how we arrived at the conundrum we face today.

Once the Bush administration changed course and went multilateral with North Korea, the left simply stopped talking about it. That the tactics they favored still aren’t working is a moot point. While China has paid some lip service to keeping its communist cousin under control, it is hardly a trusted ally. North Korea has toned down its bellicose press releases for the moment but like all problems put off until a later date, Kim Jong-Il is sure to rear his ugly head again in the future.

Of course, to the left both Iran and North Korea are simply means of detracting from the war in Iraq by saying, “Look--something bad is happening somewhere else in the world!” Those who engage with reality know that bad things will always be happening somewhere in the world, but for the utopian thinkers that is a crime in and of itself. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to live in the real world.

Leftists will continue their handwringing over Iran as long as they think they can use it to battle Bush. Meanwhile, the mainstream media will continue to act as if all the indignation means something. But it’s just an outgrowth of the steady diet of ant-Americanism both have been weaned on.

So the next time you hear a lefty lamenting Iran, pay no attention. They certainly aren’t.