By Michael Haltman
Contributor
On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan, a man who said what he meant and meant what he said, uttered this now famous phrase: "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
A little more than two years later, the wall came down and East and West Germany were united.
Fast forward to the Iranian crisis.
The United States and our allies (some of whom real and some in name only), in attempting to end the nuclear threat out of Iran, have been doing a dance of futility which has enabled Iran to get the upper hand. The upper hand in this case is continuing along on nuclear weapons development. It has additionally made the United States appear to be weak, indecisive and able to be played by regimes bent on evil. These are recent statements made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which basically relinquishes the handling of this problem to the U.N. and to some consensus among our counterpart counties:
"Regrettably, Iran has not responded to that engagement even as the international community's concern about the intent of Iran's nuclear program has increased," Clinton said. "We will continue our close consultation on next steps in keeping with our dual-track approach. But let me be clear, we will not be waited out and we will not back down.
"Iran has a very clear choice between continued isolation and living up to its international obligations," she said. "We are going at this in a very concerted and unified manner because we think it is important to send that message to the Iranian leadership that the world will act and the world will act together."
We have relied on the United Nations and the IAEA to be our muscle, which is the equivalent sending a girl scout to battle a cage fighter. The result has been predictable, meaning that the sanctions already imposed have been completely ineffective, and that deadlines imposed have been either ignored by Iran, or Iran has turned proposals down.
The group of six countries met this past weekend to discuss action, with China sending a low level diplomat which basically rendered the meeting useless. China does not feel that new sanctions, although for the most part ineffectual and meant only to send a message, are a good idea at the present time. Russia made similar statements that this is no time to rush into punitive sanctions.
President Obama, having issued a December 2`, 2009 deadline for the Iranians to agree to a deal to ship uranium out of the country for enrichment, has done nothing since that time to back up his threats. He has worked on his health care bill (apparent failure) and the Martha Coakley campaign (confirmed failure), but little on securing the United States.
As time keeps going by, the only thing for sure is that Iran is continuing on its merry way towards developing a nuclear capability. Empty rhetoric and the threat of toothless sanctions will most likely not solve the problem. Definitive action may. How much time is President Obama willing to let go by before he takes the actions necessary to do what he was actually put in office for.
Not health care reform, not the Olympics to his hometown of Chicago, not campaigning for every Democrat candidate that would do better without his help, not getting as much face time on TV that he possibly can, but the safety and security of the country.
We do not want Washington, New York or any other city to look like a scene out of Independence Day!
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Michael Haltman writes The Political Commentator, with articles having been picked up by publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Sun-Times and Houston Chronicle.
