April 17, 2006

Don't Panic on Iran

By James Lewis
The hardest thing in times of crisis is not to panic ——— to hang on and think very hard about the options. "Don't shoot 'till you see the whites of their eyes" is the old phrase. It signals mental clarity, readiness to act, and also patience and calm. It is not a bad slogan for coping with today's rise of a new Hitlerite regime, soon to be armed with nuclear weapons. Caroline Glick, writing in the Jerusalem Post, is understandably anxious about Tehran's constant stream of threats against Israel. In an editorial called "The fateful hour has arrived," she sounds a Churchillian alarm. This week Iran presented the US with the ultimate challenge and Washington must now make a decision. Is it fighting to win? If I were the target of Iranian nuclear threats I'd be just as nervous. When your life and the lives of your children seem in danger, we are all wired to go into instant action. But that is precisely what the madman of the moment, Mahmoud Ahmadiinejad, is trying to...(Read Full Article)