The Fight Against Terrorism

(Washington D.C.)- Last week, the House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the victims and heroes of September 11th. As we commemorate the anniversary of 9-11, we must also remember that the threat is still very real today. This threat did not begin on September 11th as many believe. The year 1979 transformed the Middle East and spread the seeds of Islamic Jihadism that are being reaped today. That year Islamic fundamentalists supported by the Ayatollah Khomeni overthrew the Shah, then stormed our embassy in Iran taking 52 Americans hostage.

Since 1979, Islamic extremists have repeatedly attacked the United States and its interests. They killed our Marines in Beirut, they struck the Khobar Towers, they took down Pan Am Flight 103, they bombed our Embassies in Africa, they defeated us in Somalia, and they deliberately attacked the U.S.S. Cole. Ramzi Youself and his Al Qaeda associates bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, and on September 11th they murdered thousands.

Each time we failed to respond. The United States was a sleeping giant. And not until the bloodiest alarm of 9/11 did the giant finally awake. America cannot go back to sleep again.

Bin Laden has called for the destruction of the Jews and the West in graphic terms. He says Al Qaeda has, "the right to kill 4 million Americans, 2 million of them children." They have no regard for human life, including their own, and are intent on taking ours.

Iran continues to threaten us today. There is another gathering storm brewing in the Middle East. Through Hezbollah and groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Iran today is the global epicenter of terrorism and its largest supporter.

The President of Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and the West and has even denied the holocaust took place. Iran and its terrorist arm Hezbollah are responsible for the current conflicts between Israel and Lebanon.

Iran’s state sponsored terrorism is real, but consider the horrific concept of Iran as a nuclear threat to Israel and the world. Imagine the recent violence in Northern Israel, but instead of using Katuysha rockets, Hezbollah employed nuclear weapons capable of killing millions of innocent people. This in fact is the goal of President Ahmadinejad. Iran envisions a greater empire of Islamic fanaticism through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

Iran has started producing nuclear fuel in direct opposition to United Nations mandates. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has found traces of highly enriched uranium in Iranian nuclear facilities and Iran kicked out the UN inspectors. Ahmadinejad’s open defiance of the IAEA and the United Nations means that we cannot treat these as idle threats. This dangerous program is meant to build a Nuclear Iran – a nuclear weapon for the Islamic Jihad movement. We cannot allow it to go forward.

In this context, the Doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), the deterrent which worked during the Cold War, would have no meaning. Islamic Jihadists place no value on life and are blinded by the false glorification of martyrdom, MAD is not a constraint, but rather an inducement to attain the final goal.

For those who believe this is a regional conflict from which we should disengage, one need only look at the close relationship between Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran. This friendship puts Iran’s threat of nuclear proliferation in our own Hemisphere and indeed in our own backyard.

We must continue to pursue peace through diplomacy, but we must also not shrink from our responsibility through the option of strength. We must take advantage of internal resistance and change from within Iran to avert this path of mutual destruction. The policies and extremist’s views of Iran’s religious mullahs are not representative of all Iranians. Many desire freedom and are willing to fight for it. I have met with them and we should do everything we can to forward their cause. Now is the time for them to save their country, their society and their religion.

Golda Meir once said of Israel’s enemies, "For us to prevail, those who intend to destroy us must love their own children more than they hate us." In the end, we will not win this War on Terror with military might alone. Ultimate victory will only be achieved by winning over their hearts and minds in the war of ideas. I am confident that in the final analysis, the ideals of our founding fathers, of freedom and democracy for the human spirit, will prevail.