In 2009, a joint Russian-American report for the East-West Institute played down the dangers emanating from Iran’s ballistic missile program. It boldly concluded that “the military threat from Iran to Europe is not imminent,” also adding that there was no evidence that Iran was able to develop “solid-propellant rocket motors” (solid-fueled rocket capability would put Iran in a whole new league of missile powers).
The East-West Institute report was extensively quoted and featured in both the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Yet within days of its release, the Iranians tested a new solid-fuel missile, called the Sejil, that had a reported range of 1,350 miles and could strike European territory. But in the meantime, the impression had already been given that the Iranian threat was not what it had been trumped up to be.
Then there are some influential commentators who just dismiss the Iranian problem completely. For example, Fareed Zakaria, one of the most respected experts on U.S. foreign policy, put forward the thesis in a Newsweek cover story on June 1, 2009, that Iran had no intentions of developing nuclear arms because there was a fatwa (an Islamic legal ruling) issued by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2004 describing “the use of nuclear weapons as immoral.”
While Iranian diplomats often cite the story of Khamenei’s “nuclear fatwa” as a ploy to mislead Western audiences, a careful perusal of the Supreme Leader’s website shows that the purported decree is not even listed along with his other legal rulings ( see here), which are normally carefully updated by the Iranian authorities. In short, the famed “nuclear fatwa,” at best of dubious value to the West in any case, does not even exist. But Zakaria’s claim undoubtedly contributed to the general sense that the Iranian challenge is not urgent.
The west is in complete denial as it was during the rise of hitler. We haven’t learned from history at all. Just as then, when it was believed that only the Jews would be targeted by the nazis, today the belief is that only the Jewish state is threatened by Iran becoming a nuclear power and so the west will do nothing to stop it. Israel must come to grips with the fact that no one is going to protect it from its enemies genocidal intentions and must take matters into its own hands. Unlike then, the Jews have a nation and the ability to defend itself before a catastrophe occurs. So enough with the galut mentality and waiting for others to save us and get the job done regarding Iran.
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