The American Spectator

We must support Israel. If this is done right, come election time, there will be no contest. Between now and elections, Americans need to shut off the TV and read Atomic Iran by Jerome Corsi. If enough of them read it, public opinion will tell “W” to saddle up and get it done. A horse smells so much better than a stinking camel.

p>Thank you for “Iran Showdown.” Lots of research. Lots of work. We are sitting on the edge. No room for a wrong move. No room for a move directed by public opinion, or political pressure. br> — Martin N. Tirrell br> Lisbon, New Hampshire /p>

Mr. Babbin’s attitudes, inclinations, and advice are the closest to my thinking of just about anyone writing on a regular basis today. Where we diverge is only on some of the potential details.

Sir, in my ever so humble opinion, we have almost missed our chance to bring Syria to heel. We should have done two things almost two years ago. First we should have established a clear policy of “hot pursuit” into Syria to cut off the cross border infusion of Islamic terrorist fighters and suicide bombers, and to convince doubting Arabs within and without Iraq of our seriousness in solving the violence problem. Second, we should have quietly given the Israelis the green light to deal with Assad and the Syrians in any way that they thought would be effective, and on their own timetable

What has that to do with Iran? It is my thesis that we are overstretched to a point where we would have a very hard time dealing with both Iran AND Syria right now, and any attempt to deal with one will bring the other into active conflict with us as some level (formally or informally). I do NOT mean overstretched as in the ability to wage all out national war against both countries. I refer to waging war on something similar to the current type of conflict - which would seem to be the preference of President Bush.

I also refer to the limitations imposed by the present political climate and “national mood.” Yes, this does indeed impose very real parameters on what we realistically can attempt.

p>As I say, I am as one with Jed Babbin on the necessity for action and the very real implications of the Islamic world’s attitudes and inclinations. I firmly believe that the battle has been on with the Moslem world since at least the time of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in ‘79 and will be still going on long after it matters to my human self. I only hope that the tentativeness of the Bush administration, after an initial good start, does not come back to bite us. br> — Ken Shreve /p>

Concerning Jed Babbin’s “Iran Showdown” I remind you all that Iran declared war on the U.S. in 1979 (it was under a Democratic administration), and has never, to the best of my knowledge, rescinded that declaration. We are at war with Iran, and have been for a long time. Our 26 year attempts to ignore the war have been fruitless. We could have ignored Hitler’s & Mussolini’s war declarations in 1941— but that would have been a stupid idea.