While imprisoned in the cardiac ward, I had many family members and friends stop by to wish me a speedy recovery and to help pass the time. One of these friends was a fellow engineer I worked with. Imran is from Pakistan and is a devout Muslim. He is also a cherished friend who genuinely cares about others. Indeed, as I sat there in the hospital bed, complaining of the lack of privacy, annoying nurses just trying to do their jobs, and the horrific food, he smiled and said that he couldn’t help with all of that, but he would see what he could do. I laughed and didn’t think any more about it until about an hour later when he came back into my hospital cell… ummm… room, with a bag from Marie Callendar’s with what at that time seemed like the best meal I have ever had. That is just the kind of friend Imran is – always looking for ways to express kindness towards others.
I have also had the privilege of befriending other folks who happened to be Muslim in my travels throughout the Middle East. Indeed, my friend, Waiel, dropped everything to help when my grown daughter took a wrong trail and ended way out in the desert near Petra and outside of cell coverage. Needless to say, I was very grateful to him as he found our daughter and her friend.
Unlike the thinking of some ignorant people, just because someone is a Muslim, does not make him or her a bad or evil person, let alone a terrorist. That could be said of most groups or categorizations of people. There will always be detractors in even the best intentioned of organizations. That said, there are sadly many devotees of Islam that take the Quran’s Suras to conquer, convert, or kill those that are not Muslim as a holy obligation.
When it comes to the current recently enjoined war with the terrorist regime in Iran, we are dealing with a government composed of the IRGC, extremist mullahs, and other such personnel that see jihad or holy war against the West, particularly the Great Satan of American and the lesser Satan of Israel, as a sacred obligation. It is only by bringing chaos, war, and death to America as per their chants of the same over the last fifty years, that they hope to bring about a world-wide apocalypse and the return of the twelfth Imam, who is a messianic figure to many in the Shiite Islam sect that is governing Iran. They are honor-bound to convert, enslave, or kill all Kafir (infidels).
Now this may seem ludicrous to us in the West, but that is precisely part of the problem. We are looking at this situation through a western mindset. We are not looking at it from our enemy’s mindset. It does not matter what we believe. It only matters that the Iranian terrorists governing this amazing country believe this – to the death. Further, death for them in jihad as a martyr guarantees them a place in paradise with Allah. They do not fear death and revere life as we do in the west. To negotiate with them with the assumption that they do is foolish in the extreme.
America and Israel have already eliminated the top tiers of the regime’s leadership, their air force, navy, missiles and means of production, and most of their command-and-control functions, and yet they still insist that they will have a nuclear bomb and are not willing to negotiate that away. Why would this regime need a nuclear weapon STILL after all the carnage and decimation suffered? Logic would dictate that it is only because they have every intention of using it against America and Israel. Left to their own devices, they will do so. This is not even a question.
Obama and Biden’s ridiculous “negotiations” and JCPOA treaty while providing $1.7 billion in dollars to the largest state sponsor of terrorism was abjectly foolish at best and borderline treasonous at worst. They either foolishly believed in the veracity of the regime in their negotiations, despite their NEVER having lived up to any past agreements, or they simply did what was most politically expedient.
The term “taqiyya” is the Islamic tactic of lies, deceit, and full-blown disinformation campaigns, specifically prescribed in the Quran and by generations of Islamic clerics as the preferred means of gaining the upper hand over an enemy, particularly in war. Iran has considered themselves at war with us since the overthrow of the Shah of Iran 47 years ago. They have no scruples in lying to us in negotiations to prolong the ceasefire and procure other strategic advantages. This is what they did with Obama and the JCPOA. They continued to enrich uranium despite vowing not to do so past certain limits. Obama evidently did not care.
Now, I understand President Trump wanting to eliminate all options before re-engaging in war. That is part of just war doctrine. War has to be used as a final resort when all other paths have been eliminated, and only used in the service of a greater good, such as protecting innocent lives in the west and freeing the subjugated innocent Iranian citizens under the regime’s cruel governance.
That said, negotiations with this ghoulish and evil regime are pointless and fruitless. Unlike the rantings of many ignorant Americans, this was not a “war of choice” but an existential threat to our ally Israel, a nation the size of New Jersey, and to America itself. If we had not intervened, Iran would have shortly possessed a nuclear weapon and the holy obligation to use it. Unlike nations of the west, they could not be bargained with. This would be a tool that would be used to fulfill their twisted version of Islamic prophecy. Iran was already at war with America. We finally, after nearly half a century of the killing of our people, responded to this provocation of war.
At this point, the Islamic terrorist regime governing Iran cannot be negotiated with to form a lasting peace. Even if they proclaim otherwise, it is simply a taqiyya tactic used to lull us back into a falsely peaceful status quo. Make no mistake though. They will continue to reconstitute their nuclear weapons program regardless of any treaties made. We MUST not give them another lifeline yet again.
It is because of this and after much research, thought, and prayer that I have come to the thoroughly considered opinion that President Trump needs to finish this war once and for all. We need to remove all of the nuclear material in Iran’s possession and eliminate any of the regime that shows us any resistance. Anything less will simply be little more than kicking the can of nuclear war down the road.
We should therefore use overwhelming asymmetrical force in capturing Kharg Island and the Iranian port there and reopen the Strait of Hormuz for unfettered freedom of navigation on international waterways for all peaceful nations yet again. Further, we should send all necessary troops, technicians, air support, and logistics support necessary to retrieve all nuclear material from Iran. We should further provide wireless internet access to the people of Iran and destroy the regime’s ability to block it so that the citizens know what is happening and perhaps foster a final uprising for their freedom. This can be done technologically by several means.
Regardless, the end of this evil regime must come to an end and it is morally incumbent upon America to ensure that this comes to pass. Untold innocent lives hang in the balance of this decision. We cannot afford to get this one wrong or someday the unimaginable WILL HAPPEN. This war must be finished for the sake of a lasting and true peace, and for the innocent Muslims living under the shadow of such dire oppression.
