Still not alarmed-what will it take?
Iran's leadership has declared that Israel has no right to exist any longer and has warned that it will eliminate the country. Actually, the Iranian leader said that 'God has revealed to him and him alone that the Jews must go'. Wait, this same country has also threatened the USA and Great Britain. We infidels in the West can either convert to Islam, fight or die- these are our realistic choices. Recently we saw Iran test not only Israel but also the entire Western World by fighting a proxy war in Lebanon. While it funded, organized, managed, and supplied weapons for the conflict the world simply watched the daily TV news.Iran lost nothing; it considered the war a sound investment of a few hundred million of petrol dollars. In return for its investment what did it learn?
In terms of military knowledge Iran learned that Israel was not prepared for the guerrilla strategies employed by Hezbollah.
It acquired information about Israel's attack strategies, what it does and how it does it.
It learned if and how Israel could adapt on the battlefield.
It realized that its new field communication system could effectively decommission Israel's ability to listen into their battlefield instructions-the years of technological investment paid dividends when put to the test of battle.
It learned that the coordination between government cabinets and Generals in charge of executing the political decisions was cumbersome, bloated and ineffective. This gave Iran an insight as to how Israeli strategies are implemented and how Iran can abuse this type of political-war-battlefield communication lag to its advantage.
It learned that Israel is held on an international leash and all that Iran must do is survive Israel's initial bluster and it can come out swinging. This reminded me of a heavy weight fight; one fighter comes out, unloads everything in his arsenal attempting to either knock out his opponent or so intimidate him that he cruises through the next rounds. Survive the first round and you can win.
Iran acquired some very important political information-again, with no cost to itself. It learned that, for the most part, the international media was on Iran's side when it came to reporting the war. Photos were created -staged and distorted - to make the perpetrators of the evil look like the victims. Furthermore media stories were constructed based more upon fiction than fact and sold to the world as truth.
This newly gleaned information will come in handy during the next war that is being planned as I write. Iran has learned that there is no need to invest in any public relations firm, or hire PR strategists, or create a disinformation bureau; no, it has learned the "free press" will do just fine by them. Its newly acquired tactic will be expanded during the next war. Iran was able to encourage Arab countries - remember Iran is not an Arab country - to go directly to the USA Congress and pressure it to begin an investigation regarding the type of weapons Israel used to fight the Hizzbollah. This immediately stopped the USA from sending necessary armaments to Israel. The urgent delivery of munitions desperately needed by Israel to fight the inevitable battle already announced by Iran has been placed on indefinite hold. The enemy of the free world has learned that whining, complaining, and attacking politically it is possible to derail the war strategies of two countries. We can be assured that this lesson will be re-played time and again - not only by Iran but all of the enemies of the free world.
Iran also was able to fight a battle, controlling the war plan timeline while it created political heat using the media, politicians, and special interest groups. Israel was not allowed to win; just as the war was turning, the USA and the West folded their tents, capitulated to the international pressures, to their internal Muslim power groups and called the war done! Then they created and imposed a document that in spite of their bluster was contrived to put Israel in a no-win position. The language of this document actually grants permission for Hizzbollah to re-stock, courtesy of its benefactor Iran. It does not require that this terrorist group stand down, disarm, or return our kidnapped prisoners. Compare the words of Israel, USA, and the West during days one and two to the language of UN 1701 and it is obvious that Iran brought us, not just
Israel -I am talking about the West - to our knees. Iran realizes now that we have lost our moral compass, our integrity and courage to stand up for our own values. We are not what we purport to be, not any longer. This will come back to haunt us.
Iran has learned it can fool all the people all of the time. Implant a proxy army inside "civilian" populations and win by crying 'deliberate massacre'. Win the world's opinion
even as rockets intentionally fired upon Israeli civilians kill and maim and win even more when "protected" civilians are killed in collateral damage. The awful truth is, the more Lebanese killed, the better it was for Iran; this, too, will be used over and over again until we stand up and say - Stop the madness!
The second awful truth is that the more Lebanese children and civilians maimed or killed by bombs not yet exploded, the better for Iran. Why? Israel is to blame! Question-why are people being allowed back into a war zone before unexploded ordinance has been located and properly discharged? Point of information; here in Israel we also have hundreds of similar ordinance-the difference is we do not allow our citizens back in until we have cleared the area. We care about our people and we will not use or abuse them to gain political support.
Iran has learned that money can be exploited to implement its plans to hold the western world hostage. Not only is this true we are providing them the money to keep us in chains. We pay them, we finance them and we support our own destruction. Look what petrol dollars has bought them:
- Ahmadinejad has inaugurated a heavy-water plant that can be used to produce plutonium; the bomb is almost here.
- The army successfully test-fired a top speed long-range sub-to-surface missile off the Persian Gulf.
- Iran has a missile, called Thaqeb or Jupiter; it was built based on domestic know-how, although outside experts say much of its missile technology originated from other countries such as Russia and China.
- Iran already is equipped with the Shahab-3 missile, which means "shooting star" in Farsi, and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
- Iran also tested a new land-to-sea missile, the Kowsar, with remote-control and searching systems that cannot be scrambled, as well as a high-speed missile boat that skims above the water and is undetectable by radar
- It announced in early 2005 that it had begun production of torpedoes.
- Iran has the "Hoot," Farsi for "whale," which was tested for the first time in April, capable of moving at some 223 mph, up to four times faster than a normal torpedo
- The progress in naval technology has raised concerns in the West that Iran now has a greater array of weapons that can hit oil shipments in the Gulf
Solutions - there are many. Do we have the courage to engage them? This will be the historical question of our time. I do know this, take away the flowers and the bees will die. My solution is simple in concept, difficult to practice. Take away Iran's source of income- oil. It need not be done in a belligerent fashion-there is a non-violent strategy:
- Announce tomorrow that the USA is launching a 5-year plan to reduce its dependency upon oil by 50%.
- Identify annual benchmarks of lessening oil dependency over the second five- year period of time.
- Gather in Washington the major oil companies, green energy owners and other energy directed leaders. Identify energy as our number one domestic goal and indicate that not only is our national security at stake, but we must face the fact that our very existence is as well. Involve these leaders in the creation of a plan to cope with this urgency. Provide financial incentives to the oil companies and to the green energy companies. Use the business concepts within the market place to motivate and drive early implementation of this plan.