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Jewish World Review Jan. 8, 2002 /24 Teves, 5762
Michael Ledeen
The spectacular
Israeli seizure of the ship full of
high-powered weaponry headed
for PLO warlords not only
wrecked the last remnants of
Yasser Arafat's grand deception
that presented him as a
peacemaker, but also showed the
true dimensions of the terror
network.
That ship was traveling from Dubai
to the Palestinian Authority, and
Dubai is one of Iran's most
important operational centers
outside the motherland. Those
who care to know such things
have long been aware that the two
most murderous leaders of the
Islamic Republic, Rafsanjani and
Rafiqdust, spend considerable time
in Dubai, from which Iranians run weapons shipments
throughout the region, smuggle Iraqi oil to market, and
transfer billions of dollars to their overseas operatives (as well
as to their private financial empires in Western Europe, North
Africa, and elsewhere in the Middle East). There are more
than 40 flights per day between Dubai and Iran, in addition to
the countless voyages of ships of the sort captured by Israeli
forces. Some sensible individuals in our government have
suggested that we interdict some of these ships, by the way,
but the usual wimpish lawyers and professional conflict
resolvers warned that such operations might not meet with the
full approval of some of our most advanced law schools.
All of which brings to mind Winston Churchill's dictum that it
is outrageous to hold ourselves to the narrowest possible
interpretation of the law while we fight against enemies who, if
victorious, will destroy any hope of a world based on law.
Yet our diplomats are fighting desperately with their more
realistic colleagues in the Bush administration to include Iran
in the Grand Coalition Against Terror, a concept rather like
that of bringing Bulgaria into NATO at the height of the Cold
War. But then, people still capable of believing that Arafat is
a worthy peace partner can believe anything, can't they? And
so, on Sunday, the news duly reported that the State
Department was unconvinced that the Iranian weapons
shipment was destined for the PLO, even though the ship had
a PLO captain and Israeli interrogators produced evidence
so convincing that Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Natan
Sharansky, an extraordinarily thoughtful and reasonable man,
declared that the Oslo Agreements were no longer valid, and
called upon Western nations to stop all financial assistance to
the Palestinian Authority.
At virtually the same time the State Department was
whitewashing the latest evidence of Iranian and Palestinian
culpability in international terrorism, it moved brazenly to
deprive the Iraqi National Congress - a democratic
organization devoted to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's
oppressive tyranny - of all financial support from the United
States, on the preposterous grounds that the INC's
accounting practices had been deemed unsatisfactory by the
green eyeshade crowd at Foggy Bottom. This flimsy excuse
fools no one, since State's hostility to the INC has been
luminously clear for quite a while. Prior to this charade, State
had dribbled out a tiny fraction of the funds allocated by
Congress, but insisted that the INC couldn't use any of the
money for operations inside Iraq, a masterstroke of strategic
buffoonery that guaranteed nothing effective would be
accomplished.
If Congress were serious about taking the war to Iraq - and
no more suitable target can be imagined - it would demand
that Secretary Powell explain in detail why the State
Department's leaders should not be held in contempt of
Congress. Both houses have voted overwhelmingly to fully
support the INC's campaign against Saddam, and they have
appropriated tens of millions of dollars to make sure it's done
effectively. If State doesn't like the INC's bookkeeping
practices, they can appoint their own accountants to maintain
proper ledgers, but our diplomats are not entitled to thwart
legislation voted by the duly elected representatives of the
American people.
I have no doubt that, in time, we will deliver proper support
to Saddam's enemies, and also show our contempt for the
leaders of Iran by endorsing the cries of the Iranian people
for freedom and democracy. But we are losing valuable time,
and thereby giving the terror states the opportunity to regroup
after their humiliation in Afghanistan. The intelligence
community is awash with serious indications that the terrorists
are hard at work on new operations against us and our
friends. It is much easier for them to plot their evil schemes
while their supporters in places like Baghdad and Teheran are
playing diplomatic games with the United States instead of
diving for cover in their underground havens.
President Bush has given his foreign-policy experts more than
enough time to debate the fine points, and the real world has
produced spectacular evidence that the diplomats have got it
wrong. It's time for the next battles in the war against
terrorism, and they must be waged against Iraq, Iran, and the
PLO. Once those battles have been won, the new leaders -
God willing, democratic and freedom-loving leaders - will
make our diplomatic work much
12/11/01: We must be imperious, ruthless, and relentless
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