Obama Indecision Wrong Way to Deal with Iran, Ahmadinejad

Conservatism 101

Iran is publicly bold and getting bolder. So, where’s the USA? In an area of the world where strong leadership is admired, Obama has the wrong idea about works. Da Tool guy maintains that “indecision” by Barack Obama is a dangerous stance–especially in these times. He lays it all out in this week’s Conservative 101.

CIVICS FOR THE MASSES

Saber rattling by Iran simply grows louder by the day. Fox News is currently reporting that Iran will be holding a military “exercise” on how to close the Straits of Hormuz.

For those who don’t know, the Straits of Hormuz is a narrow seaway about 54 miles wide at it’s narrowest point between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian sea, through which roughly one-sixth of the world’s oil flows on any given day.

It was threats to close this strait which had the U.S. Navy escorting merchant ships through the area during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

So long as we’re dependent on foreign oil this area will remain strategically vital — and Iran knows it.
All this is going on at the same time as they have captured a secret U.S. stealth reconnaissance drone and the International Atomic Energy Agency, generally no enemy of despotic regimes anywhere, has said Tehran has conducted secret experiments whose only purpose is the development of nuclear weapons.

So what are we doing about it?

Nothing.

In the case of the drone, President Barack Obama was reportedly presented with three separate options for dealing with the drone, ranging from sending in special forces to recapture it, to a simple airstrike to destroy it on the ground.
Obama nixed all three. But we did ask them nicely to return it.

Intelligence experts now fear the drone will be sold to the Chinese or the Russians who have thus-far been a generation or two behind us technologically on stealth.

So far as the IAEA report goes, we sent a strongly worded message to the Iranians threatening more sanctions and saying “no options are off the table,” because, you know, that’s worked so well in the past.
So far I have seen no response to the threatened exercises.

I have noted before the president’s lack of leadership in domestic and foreign affairs, and it’s once again on display here.

It’s notable that he seems incapable of making the hard decisions. Yes, there is a small chance hitting the drone with an airstrike would have started a war with Iran.

Unlikely, really, because whatever public noises they make, the Mullahs who really run the country and even that little maniac they call president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have to know that should real hostilities break out Iran’s air force would last a few hours at best and what passes for their navy less than that. Shortly after that the Marines are landing in Tehran and dragging Mahmoud out by that ugly reject from the 1980s Member’s Only jacket he’s always wearing.
The same really goes for air strikes to take out their nuclear program.

So far as the naval exercises go, the best move is to send a carrier battle group — I believe there’s already one in the Persian Gulf — to escort ships through the straits. Meanwhile, destroyers and frigates of the U.S. Navy, all vastly more powerful than anything Iran has, ostentatiously shadow Iranian warships. Iran for all it’s bluster really isn’t stupid enough to fire on our Navy.

All of this is common sense, at least if you believe America should behave as the preeminent world power that it is.
The problem here is that Obama doesn’t believe we should be. Indeed, it’s clear he thinks the use of our power is destabilizing — which is so much hogwash.

The world is destabilizing at least in part because we refuse to lend it stability. Whether through our idiotic financial policies or through an unwillingness to stand up to the bullies of the world we allow our allies and enemies alike to believe we are weak, that we will not support our friends nor punish our enemies.

For nations like Iran that is a dangerous game. Should they achieve a nuclear weapon do not imagine for a moment they will not use it, nor that they would sell it to the likes of Al Qeada or for that matter Hugo Chavez.

We must stop abrogating our responsibilities to the rest of the world and to our allies. It’s time to stand up to bullies like Iran and back them down.

by DaToolGuy
images: dbkp file; hubpages

DaToolGuy is a small town journalist with big time dreams. He’s spent his entire adult life laboring in the obscurity he actually deserves. But he’ll take the opportunity to show off when it comes.

DaToolGuy writes regularly at View from Flyover Country.

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