Iran: it's all your fault, you made us do it!

From the AP:

Iran confirmed Sunday that it initially developed its nuclear program in secret, going to the black market for material, and blaming its discretion on the U.S. sanctions and European restrictions that denied Iran access to advanced civilian nuclear technology.

We already knew the first two. The third is pure hogwash, the same principle as a criminal blaming gun control laws for making him obtain a weapon through the black market. Who are the Iranian leaders fooling? Well, besides Islamist states, the UN and their sympathizers, including Bill Clinton.

Under its current leadership of Islamist dictators, Iran must be denied all nuclear capability. The threat to our ally Israel, and now to Iraq, cannot be understated. Furthermore, Iran's traditional ties with terrorist networks abrogates the falsely optimistic argument that "They only want nuclear weapons to keep the U.S. out."

Clearly, sanctions aren't working; nor can they while a few nations don't follow them. Larry Kudlow suggested a while back that ground forces are not necessary to destroy Iran's nuclear technology when "US air power can do the job." I concur, and intelligence gathering is logically the main purpose for our covert operations in Iran. The secondary purpose is to assist pro-democracy Iranians. Logistically, an actual invasion of Iran and toppling of its leadership is too difficult, but it may be high time that we assisted with a regime change. I applaud President Bush's belief in the transformational power of freedom, and I agree that part of ensuring American freedom is to eradice tyranny that threatens us. Does Iran threaten us?

Many warned that we mustn't interfere with a foreign culture, but in the process of destroying a regime that harbored terrorists, we discovered that the Afghani people want to be free. The end credits of "Rambo III" includes a dedication to the "gallant" people of Afghanistan, which they are. It's just unfortunate they resisted one tyranny only to fall under another, but this time, God willing, they cannot be shaken from the right path.

The Iraqi people also wanted to be free, no matter how many sham elections there were "proving" they wanted Saddam. It still brings a tear to my eye to think how, during the initial invasion of Iraq when our supply lines were being disrupted, some Iraqi people were helping feed our troops. My feelings now are a sharp contrast from the arrogance and ignorance of my teenage years, when Saddam invaded Kuwait; I admittedly wanted to bombard the whole country, in a foolish and erroneous belief that all Iraqis hated Americans. It took me years to learn that I probably hated the Iraqi people more than they hated me, though ironically they had been taught to hate the West, and I had not.

Now we're seeing that the Lebanese people also want to be free. The threat isn't and never was from the mythical "American imperialism," but from the freedom that most of the West has enjoyed for two centuries. The Middle East has had merchants and trade for thousands of years, which the mullahs and caliphs never disdained. After all, self-annointed rulers reap rewards from their people's prosperity, but prosperity started threatening them when it engendered challenges to their autocracy. Simply, people started importing the Western idea of freedom along with Western goods. So like Frederic Douglass' master said, slaves must never learn to read, otherwise they'll want to be free. Today's mullahs and terrorists, those seeking to preserve "pure" Islam, must certainly be cognizant that these are their last chances to keep their power: they have struggled to keep their people ignorant of the ideals of individual liberty and the rule of law, and the last days are coming! Like Marcellus said at the end of The Robe, he didn't know when, "but it is coming!" As more and more people in Islamo-dictatorships discover the power and joy of freedom, their dictatorial leaders will become increasingly desperate to hold on to their power. God willing, they won't be able to for long.

Yesterday I came across a New Testament verse I had never really contemplated before: "Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." (1 Corinthians 7:21-23)

The Apostle Paul was likely speaking in a spiritual sense, as in to whom your heart and spirit belong, but I believe it also applies to physical liberty. God knew Pharaoh would never give real freedom to His people while they were in Egypt, as evidenced by the initial trials, so God's ultimate purpose in calling Moses was to tell Pharaoh, "God says to let His people go!" God called Moses to lead His people out of tyranny, to a new land of freedom where the flesh was free to join the spirit in worshipping God.

I don't claim that the power of God is behind President Bush or our armed forces, but I do believe wholeheartedly that the blessings of God are on all people who push and drive toward liberty. You don't have to believe in God or a particular deity to believe people have a right to be free, but I've always found a superior foundation for God-given rights versus the rights that humanists "reason" to exist.