America Needs to “Man-Up”

I made the mistake of listening to Ahmadinejad give his speech in the United Nations on Thursday morning. Listening to him I decided we need to stop playing patty-cake with him, 'man-up' and get tough. First, before I go into what I think we need to do, let me go over some of the finer points of his appearance.

As you might expect, he was greeted by applause when he walked into the United Nations General Assembly. He was applauded again, even after questioning 9/11 and claiming that the American government may have been behind the attack. Yes, you got it, he was applauded after questioning the motivation for the terrorist attacks, who was responsible for them, and essentially suggesting they were a U.S. plot.

This little man has made a variety of ridiculous claims during various appearances here. He claimed the holocaust never happened and he famously told reporters when asked about the hanging of 2 young boys for being gay that "there are no gays in Iran". But, he has never gone this far when talking about the 9/11 tragedy.

Oh, yes, the Iranian President also called for a “U.N. fact finding group” to investigate 9/11. I wonder if he thinks Iran should chair that committee?

I think one of the most interesting things he said was: “the majority of the American people as well as most nations and politicians around the world” believe that “some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining of the American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order to save the Zionist regime.” Wow, that must be one silent majority because I only know, or have heard, of a relatively small number of nut cakes that believe tripe like that.

The American delegation stayed and listened respectfully even as he predicted the defeat of capitalism. When he went over the line with his 9/11 remarks, the U.S. diplomats, and others had enough sense to get up and walk out.

State Department representative P.J. Crowley said, “It’s outrageous. A short distance from here, nine years ago, three-thousand people were killed in an attack perpetrated by nineteen people, and an attack that was orchestrated by Al Qaeda. We know exactly who did it, they’ve admitted it, the facts are not in dispute, so for the President of Iran to come here and make the suggestion that somehow this was an American plot, is simply outrageous.”

It again was no great surprise when the august chamber of the world body rewarded Ahmadinejad with applause as he walked from the podium.

I do not know how you feel about all this but I am getting very, very tired of trying to be the nice guy. --We go into a violent war torn area and then tell our soldiers you cannot shoot until you are shot at –and then only if you are sure no civilians may get injured. What? --We build the strongest most powerful Navy in the world, and then let guys with AK-47’s and rocket-grenades in inflatable boats capture huge oil tankers and extort millions of dollars in blackmail money to get them and the crews back. Why? --We watch countries vote and speak out against us in the United Nations time and time again (72% of the time) and yet, with our economy in crisis, we still send them billions of dollars in aid and pay the lion’s share of the United Nations expenses. What, exactly is the matter with us?

Have we just simply gone crazy? What is wrong with just being who we are? Why are we ”asking” this nut case to stop with the nuclear weapons thing? We should not be asking these things. We should be telling him. No is an easy message to send and hard to misunderstand. Tell them no and then it is not necessary to make a direct military attack on their nuclear facilities. Iran is full of wonderfully “soft targets” to start taking out and effecting their pocket book. Oil shipping and processing facilities would be relatively easy to shut down for example. A simple Naval Blockade would work wonders.

The point is just this: We need to stop being what we are not and just be who we are. We, Americans, are a good and fair-minded people. We actually like helping out people in need –but, when our hand is slapped or our friendship is betrayed, we should stop helping until they are ready to return our friendship. It is just that simple. And, when a bully comes along, such as Iran, the only way to deal with a bully is direct confrontation. It is not always pleasant, but the quicker you confront them, the quicker they will behave and the happier everyone is in the long run.

Dealing with Iran will have a beneficial effect on our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and it will make finding a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinians much easier. It is time to stop turning the other cheek and start using both our brain and our brawn.