The book that I would like to bring to your attention today is a different type of read than America For Sale. You can sit back with Michael A. Ledeen's Accomplice To Evil, Iran and the War Against the West and simply consider the principle that he is trying to convey, that being that we in the West, at times, can not only turn our backs on the evil in this world, but inadvertently be accomplices to it.
I have been reading a lot lately on American POWs unaccounted for from the war in Vietnam. The word disturbing does not even come close in describing our government's actions, or rather failure to act in defense of our military personnel that were taken prisoner. This is not the only war where we had decided that there were more important issues to resolve than missing POWs.
As for the failures of the American public, Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism made it abundantly clear how the American Left fell for the lies of the Bolshevik Revolution and the facade of Benito Mussolini. Ledeen points out that when President Reagan spoke of an evil empire, and President Bush of an axis of evil they were roundly denounced for being excessively provocative. Quoting Ledeen why don't we see evil when it is right in front of our faces.
How did we deal with the Iranian Revolution during the Carter years? Ledeen says Instead of coming to grips with the unpleasant reality, the American diplomats strained to be understanding, invariably giving the most optimistic possible interpretation of the Iranian's behavior. One might question the assumption that America has a tendency to turn our backs on the evil in this world since Communism collapsed and the Nazis were defeated primarily because of this nation and the heroics of its people. American diplomats and statesmen are primarily referred to here and Ledeen offers a comment by Winston Churchill on this, America always does the right thing....after exhausting the alternatives.
The author next turns his attention to the leadership of the Iranian Revolution since the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini. He highlights the Carter Administration's failure to identify the Khomeini mindset for what it was, and is today in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Khomeini is quoted as saying that he would sacrifice all of Iran if he could accomplish the global triumph of Islam. We negotiate ad nauseum with a mentality that will sacrifice its own people in order to defeat the greater and lesser Satan's. Ledeen likens three decades of negotiations with the Mullahs to the movie Groundhog Day. They are professionals at negotiating with no intent to come to a settlement, and any perceived settlement is just a ploy. This is their modus vivendi.
There is a third emphasis in the book and it is Ledeen's hope for a revolution in Iran, in which he sees the present as ripe a time as any revolution has ever had. It's not that I disagree with the author. It is he that is the acknowledged expert on Iran. It's that I wonder about the time left. Ledeen believes that stopping Iran's imports of gasoline might do the trick. What I found very surprising is that the author barely mentioned one of the prime actors in the current situation, President Barack Obama. He is seen only as one on a long list of those who continually want to negotiate, but is not mentioned as to what he would do if a match is lit to this situation, whereas we have a good idea of the path that a President Bush would take. Michael Ledeen brings up some interesting thoughts on the occurrence of evil in the 20th century. Mao, Stalin and Adolph Eichmann are highlighted here.
We are living in a media culture that hesitates seeing evil in anything not related to Fox News or talk radio. My own thoughts on the why of this would be more theological but Ledeen gives us valuable service in bringing to our attention the free pass we give to those who are trying to harm us.
I have been reading a lot lately on American POWs unaccounted for from the war in Vietnam. The word disturbing does not even come close in describing our government's actions, or rather failure to act in defense of our military personnel that were taken prisoner. This is not the only war where we had decided that there were more important issues to resolve than missing POWs.
As for the failures of the American public, Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism made it abundantly clear how the American Left fell for the lies of the Bolshevik Revolution and the facade of Benito Mussolini. Ledeen points out that when President Reagan spoke of an evil empire, and President Bush of an axis of evil they were roundly denounced for being excessively provocative. Quoting Ledeen why don't we see evil when it is right in front of our faces.
How did we deal with the Iranian Revolution during the Carter years? Ledeen says Instead of coming to grips with the unpleasant reality, the American diplomats strained to be understanding, invariably giving the most optimistic possible interpretation of the Iranian's behavior. One might question the assumption that America has a tendency to turn our backs on the evil in this world since Communism collapsed and the Nazis were defeated primarily because of this nation and the heroics of its people. American diplomats and statesmen are primarily referred to here and Ledeen offers a comment by Winston Churchill on this, America always does the right thing....after exhausting the alternatives.
The author next turns his attention to the leadership of the Iranian Revolution since the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini. He highlights the Carter Administration's failure to identify the Khomeini mindset for what it was, and is today in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Khomeini is quoted as saying that he would sacrifice all of Iran if he could accomplish the global triumph of Islam. We negotiate ad nauseum with a mentality that will sacrifice its own people in order to defeat the greater and lesser Satan's. Ledeen likens three decades of negotiations with the Mullahs to the movie Groundhog Day. They are professionals at negotiating with no intent to come to a settlement, and any perceived settlement is just a ploy. This is their modus vivendi.
There is a third emphasis in the book and it is Ledeen's hope for a revolution in Iran, in which he sees the present as ripe a time as any revolution has ever had. It's not that I disagree with the author. It is he that is the acknowledged expert on Iran. It's that I wonder about the time left. Ledeen believes that stopping Iran's imports of gasoline might do the trick. What I found very surprising is that the author barely mentioned one of the prime actors in the current situation, President Barack Obama. He is seen only as one on a long list of those who continually want to negotiate, but is not mentioned as to what he would do if a match is lit to this situation, whereas we have a good idea of the path that a President Bush would take. Michael Ledeen brings up some interesting thoughts on the occurrence of evil in the 20th century. Mao, Stalin and Adolph Eichmann are highlighted here.
We are living in a media culture that hesitates seeing evil in anything not related to Fox News or talk radio. My own thoughts on the why of this would be more theological but Ledeen gives us valuable service in bringing to our attention the free pass we give to those who are trying to harm us.
