In case Americans have not realized what “change” means, this is how it works: Iran can threaten to wipe Israel off the map merely for existing. Iran can develop their nuclear capability while the civilized world calls for more negotiation. Iran can arm, train, and fund terrorists in Lebanon, Gaza, and Iraq while the administration looks the other way. Iran can imprison and kill its own citizens who are demanding democracy while the free world tries not to “meddle.” While Iran can do all this, the president of the United States says that Israel should not take military action to stop them.

Iran just reaffirmed their willingness and ability to retaliate in case there is any Israeli strike. This comes on the heels of an important development: Hillary Clinton said that the US would consider extending a “defense umbrella” over Israel and Middle East allies to counter a nuclear-armed Iran. This is problematic for two reasons, the first being the implication that the US was preparing to simply allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons (Clinton later clarified that the administration was still trying to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons) and the second is that the administration has no idea what a nuclear-armed Iran means.

The Novice-in-Chief we call president and the political animals he has working for him need to understand that Iran does not simply have the ability to fire long-range missiles, they have the ability to deploy their own version of “smart bombs": Hezbollah suicide bombers. We are not dealing with a conventional enemy, Iran has used suicide bombers as an official war tactic since their war with Iraq. To talk about a “defense umbrella” while accepting the fact of Iran’s terror ties and even tacitly supporting terrorists by providing funds to Gaza and Lebanon, shows that they do not fully appreciate the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose. A defense umbrella is a good first step, but it needs to be supplemented by some policy that also addresses the terrorist threat. The administration is currently setting the foundation for a nuclear holocaust to be carried out either by suicidal terrorists or by a suicidal Iranian regime, probably the former. When talking about Iran, we cannot simply focus on their nuclear aspirations and ignore their support of terrorism. The problem is nuclear weapons AND terrorism. We are already taking a huge risk with North Korea, there is no reason we should let Iran be the next potential nightmare.

-AG