By Peter Burrows 4/6/15 elburropete@gmail.com and silvercityburro.com.
The recently concluded talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, did not put a stop to Iran's nuclear program. There is some confusion about what the talks actually achieved, depending on whose press release you read (1), but it now appears more than likely that Iran will eventually get its nuclear weapons. (Putting the UN in charge of inspections is hardly a reassuring note, given the UN's record in Iraq on a similar mission.)
History has put on this play before. Neville Chamberlain was the British Prime Minister, who was succeeded by Winston Churchill at the start of WW II. He will always be remembered for September 30, 1938, when he returned from a conference in Munich with a nonaggression pact signed by Adolph Hitler. His statement to the cheering crowd at the airport included the now infamous phrase, "peace for our time." World War II began less than a year later.
Sometimes well intentioned people are caught up in situations they cannot understand. For whatever reason, their vision of how the world works is just plain wrong. That was the case when Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler. Chamberlain totally misread Hitler. Maybe he wanted to, or maybe he didn't realize that such madmen can appear quite normal.
Winston Churchill wasn't fooled. While Chamberlain was enjoying the acclaim of the world, Churchill rose in Parliament and was shouted down when he said, "We have sustained a total, unmitigated defeat." Churchill could read Hitler like a book. Chamberlain couldn't, and "peace for our time" turned out to be perhaps the dumbest thing ever said by a world leader. (Churchill had actually read Hitler's book, Mein Kampf. I can't find if Chamberlain had read it.)
In his history of WW II, here's what Churchill wrote about Chamberlain as 1938 ended: "Mr. Chamberlain continued to believe that he had only to form a personal contact with the Dictators to effect a marked improvement in the world situation." (The Gathering Storm, pg. 305.)
Does that sound eerily contemporary? The political ego doesn't change, but the times do, and we are living in an age of weapons of mass destruction. We can't afford to have another Neville Chamberlain, but I'm afraid we do have one, and the parallels are distressingly similar.
I refer to President Obama. As Chamberlain didn't understand Germany's leaders, Obama doesn't understand Iran's. For proof, look no further than Obama's shockingly delusional assertion that Iran isn't working on nuclear weapons because "---according to their Supreme Leader, it would be contrary to their faith to obtain a nuclear weapon."(2) Chamberlain couldn't have said it better.
If Iran gets nuclear weapons those words will seal history's judgment of Obama forever. People won't talk about Neville Chamberlain anymore: Barack Hussein Obama will be the all-time dunce. He doesn't understand that, if anything, it would be contrary to the Iranians' faith NOT to obtain and then USE nuclear weapons.
Over a year ago in "Monsters From The Id," I wrote that Iran is ruled by Mahdaviats, an Islamic religious sect who believe that when the world is in the chaos of the last days, there will return to earth the Twelfth Imam, also known as the Mahi, or Hidden Imam, to lead Shiite Muslims to victory and restore order and peace -- Islamic peace. (3)
The Mahdi mysteriously disappeared in the ninth century, and the faithful have awaited his return ever since. After over a thousand years, they can wait a few more while the Imams build a nuclear arsenal. The last Iranian president, Mahmoud Amadinejad, had a boulevard in Tehran widened to accommodate the triumphal return of the Mahdi. Why would he do such a thing?
Because, incredibly, it appears the Mahdaviats are actually motivated by "End of Days" beliefs. We must not dismiss this simply because WE think such beliefs are insane. If the Iranian leaders are in fact religious fanatics determined to initiate the Apocalypse, the only thing that will stop them is a preemptive strike. Threats won't do it. A nuclear mutually assured destruction, MAD, is not a deterrent to these people, it is an encouragement!
Iran's leaders, like Nazi Germany's, plot world domination, build their arsenals in secrecy and are totally contemptuous of Western leaders. Barack Obama, like Neville Chamberlain, is all too eager to bring home a "peace in our time" agreement, in spite of Iran's ongoing war of terrorism against the West, especially against the United States, a.k.a. "The Great Satan."
The "Supreme Leader" Obama referred to, The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, constantly declares "Death to America," most recently while the nuclear arms negotiations were underway! Why doesn't Obama listen? Why doesn't somebody have the courage to tell Obama he's wrong?
I think, like Hitler, the Ayatollah means what he says. I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like Benjamin Netanyahu is the Winston Churchill of our time.
(1)http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/04/irans-persian-statement-on-deal-contradicts-obamas-claims?utm_source=Jihad+Watch+Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=bbbd00f5ae-
(2) http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/02/10/obama-takes-a-stupid-pill-dont-be-afraid-of-iran-nukes-are-contrary-to-their-faith-178739
(3) http://silvercityburro.com/2014/02/26/monsters-from-the-id/