Killing Iranian Scientists To Avert A Holocaust is Not Terrorism

We should be responding quietly, killing radical mullahs and iranian atomic scientists, supporting the simmering insurgencies within Iran, putting the mullahs' expat business interests out of business, etc. Basically, stepping on the Iranians' toes hard enough to make them reconsider their not-so-covert war against us in Iraq. And we should have been doing this since the summer 2003.
Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit, February 13, 2007

Jonathan Tobin briefly addresses the issue of why Killing Iranian Scientists is Not Terrorism

While most of the civilized world is taking grim satisfaction from the news about the latest Iranian nuclear scientist to turn up dead, predictably, the hard left is outraged. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald is particularly upset because he recalls that when Glenn Reynolds wrote in 2007 to urge the Bush administration to strike out at the Iranians in this fashion, the suggestion was widely denounced–at least on the left.
But though Greenwald is unhappy about the fact that Americans view the possibility their government or its allies are taking out those behind Tehran’s nuclear program, he isn’t shy about labeling it as terrorism. As far as he is concerned, if the U.S. or Israel are behind the killings, then both are “terrorist states” and President Obama may be a “a terrorist, a state sponsor of terrorism or, at the very least, a supporter of terrorism.”

But you need a particular form of moral myopia not to see that heading off a potential second Holocaust in the form of an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel or the nuclear blackmail of the rest of the Middle East is not a form of terrorism. Anyone who believes Iran should be allowed to proceed toward the building of a nuclear bomb has either lost their moral compass or is so steeped in the belief that American and Israeli interests are inherently unjustified they have reversed the moral equation in this case. Rather than the alleged U.S. and Israeli covert operators being called terrorists, it is the Iranian scientists who are the criminals. They must be stopped before they kill.

In an ideal world where diplomacy works--and one can assume that both sides are on the same page--it make sense to push for diplomacy, talks and negotiation.

However, there comes a time--when the Give Peace A Chance bumper stickers are faded--when it should be clear that the belligerence and bad intentions of the other side put you at risk and you have to react accordingly.

This is something that the left is unlikely to ever agree to, but then again, being on the other side of the globe affords them the luxury of sunning themselves in the warm glow of their ideology.

Others, having to deal with hard realities cannot afford that luxury--especially after years of listening to Ahmadinejad's threats.

Bottom line: if Ahmadinejad is going to consistently talk about wiping Israel off the map, it's kind of late in the day to whine about being taken seriously.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Iran.