Iranian Sanctions Important for National Security

http://www.newsmax.com/metcalf/iran_sanctions/2007/10/29/44783.html

Iranian Sanctions Important for National Security

Monday, October 29, 2007

By: Geoff Metcalf

"I would remind you, that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

And . . . moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." - Barry

Goldwater

A constant frustration is the bitter, mean-spirited, spitting match between

political rivals that ignores essential national imperatives. Anything that

undermines our national security, especially now, is counterintuitive.

Virtually every significant debate from sanctions against Iran to European

missile defense and from abandoning Iraq to China relations should be viewed

through the lens of national security. Instead, lawmakers, leaders, and

political wannabes eschew reason for visceral rhetoric and partisan rancor.

Knock it off!

Our national security is more important than partisan bragging rights in the

next election.

We live in turbulent times and yes, foreign policy missteps and personal

agendas have only exacerbated an already difficult environment.

This is becoming a refrain. I've written about it before

http://www.newsmax.com/metcalf/partisanship/2007/09/17/33327.html more than

once, http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/4/30/90944.shtml

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/challenges.php?id=1298187

The recently announced sanctions against Iran are a big deal and it compels

our European allies to increase pressure on Tehran or risk seeing it

attacked.

"The principal intention of the announcement was to send a signal as much to

the Europeans, the Chinese and the Russians, as well as to the Iranians,"

said Karim Sadjapour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for

International Peace, a Washington-based think-tank.

European officials have their panties in a bunch over the Bush

administration's designation of Iranian agencies and firms as supporters of

terrorism and weapons peddlers. Notwithstanding the fact there is an

abundance of empirical evidence to corroborate the reality, the p.c. crowd

is angst ridden. Some claim sanctions threaten efforts to get Iran back into

the diplomatic fold. Get real!

Diplomacy is supposed to be a two way street. We have ample experience of

recalcitrant adversaries (North Korea, Iran, China and yeah, Russia) digging

into a hard-line position and refusing to even consider any compromise.

Critics like Alex Bigham at the London-based Foreign Policy Center say

sanctions "will make things more difficult" and could create a barricade

against relations with Tehran. Excuse me, but the most formidable barricade

against diplomacy with Iran has been and remains the vituperative rhetoric

of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian sanctions prohibit U.S. business contacts and also deny access

to American markets for foreign companies that do business with designated

companies in Iran. Despite the whining of European analysts this is a good

thing.

The downside (and the hypocrisy of inconsistent foreign policy) is that we

don't impose similar harsh measures against China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and

North Korea. Our failure to be consistent is less a function of elastic

principles and more evidence of weakness and fear. By the way, that weakness

and fear is recognized by geopolitical adversaries and exploited.big time.

To paraphrase the opening Goldwater quote, extremism in the defense of our

national security is no vice . . . and moderation (and/or equivocation of

principles) in the pursuit of national security is no virtue.

European leaders feel compelled to support those who favor sanctions over

military threats, yet they are decidedly hinky about compromising their own

profitable business ties to Iran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the new U.S. sanctions as

"running around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand." Hey Vlad, the

U.S. may be the leather clad biker standing in his doorway pumping the slide

on his Remington 870 but if anyone is "a madman with a razor blade in his

hand" it is the open neck president of Iran.

Britain backs the unilateral U.S. steps and suggests a third round of United

Nations sanctions while pushing for strong EU action. Hey, the "United

Nothing" has been, and remains, as worthless as mammary glands on a bull.

In the wake of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for independent EU

action on sanctions to back up President Bush, European leaders are

desperate for options. They include banning travel, restricting visas for

some Iranian officials, freezing assets and imposing penalties that would

target key players in Iran's nuclear program.

Getting support from nations like Germany and Italy (which together had more

than $7 billion in exports to Iran last year) will be a tough nut to crack.

Berlin already suffered Russia picking up the contracts German companies

abandoned for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power station; now, European companies

fear Russia and China will move in to fill any vacuum created by EU

sanctions outside a U.N. framework.

However, Germany wants to make sure sanctions have a chance to work, if only

to discourage the alternative prospect of military action. Henning Riecke of

the German Council on Foreign Relations said, "If you have too weak

sanctions, or if you don't agree to them, you might play into the hands of

those in Washington who want to seek a military solution . . . So to support

the supporters of a diplomatic solution, you had better support sanctions."

Meanwhile the usual suspects continue their partisan games of point spreads

and opinion polls eschewing the real imperative of national security.