Iran, the Mighty

Well, the nutjob-in-chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran seems to want to raise the stakes in his quest to become Supreme Ruler of the Middle East. First, he conducted a test firing of the new rocket that has a range of 1200 miles. We all know that he wants to be able to wipe out Israel, which is easily within the range of this missile. But, we shouldn't forget that this range also includes all of our interests in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is especially dangerous, because it appears that they have improved the guidance system to the point that that they could actually hit something. The Iranians don't have a nuclear weapon yet (we think), but an accurately delivered conventional weapon can still do a lot of damage. Scary stuff - but what are we are we going to do about it? As I see it, we could do two things. We are probably too late to do the first one, which is to get behind the protesters and see if we can change the regime. Last summer, when the masses took to the streets in Tehran, our own nutjob-in-chief chose to distance himself from the movement. I don't know if our support would have tipped the balance, but now we will never know, will we? Obama didn't want to do anything that could possibly interfere with future negotiations between the two countries. How's that working out for us, now that a little time has passed? The second thing we could do is to encourage Israel to take action. I don't mean a few quiet meetings in secret with the Israelis. I mean we should make it known that we plan to back Israel all the way, and we won't back off until Iran no longer poses a threat in the region. It wouldn't hurt to punctuate the statement with the Sixth Fleet cruising around the Straits of Hormuz. For Heaven's sake, we are the most powerful nation in the world - why don't we act like it? You see, Israel's time to act is very limited. Iran has purchased a bunch of missiles from Russia, similar to our Patriot system, that will soon be deployed. If they become operational before Israel strikes, it will be infinitely more difficult for them to reach their targets. I look for the attack to come within the next few weeks - they have no choice.

The second thing Iran did was to cross the border into Iraq and take control of an oil well. That was just yesterday, I think. Iraq's response was to say, "We strongly disapprove of your recent action. Please give us back our oil well, and we will forget it ever happened." The proper response should have been to send in an assault helicopter full of Special Forces, grab the infiltrators quick while they had their noses to the ground facing Mecca, haul their butts back to Baghdad and give them a very public trial. That is how Iran is handling the three hikers that wandered across the border. If it works for them, why wouldn't it work for our side?

It is time for some decisive action over there. Are we going to get it? I wouldn't hold my breath!