The Discerning Texan

Alexandra (who we have missed!) recently re-posted one of the pieces she originally posted in November; it is a must-read:

By now, at the tail end of 2007, we all know who Mohammad-Ali Ramin is. But when I first wrote about him some eighteen months ago he was a relative unknown, and aside from the odd flutter at the beginning of this year, when he claimed in a December 28th interview with a Tehran-based 'Baztab' news website that Hitler was Jewish, he is keeping his powder relatively dry. I still say, fasten your seat belts, it's going to be an explosive ride:

"We will acquire this [nuclear] technology and export it to all the 150 countries. This is the power we have not yet used."

Mohammad-Ali Ramin's looks are deceptive.

He is good looking with his soft, well manicured beard. His looks are either German or Scandinavian, blue eyes, light hair. Nothing threatening, charming smile; you'd invite him to your dinner party without a moments hesitation. Well almost....

Little would you know that you would be wining and dining the very reincarnation of Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Eichmann, Dr Josef Mengele dubbed 'The Angel of Death', you name it, take your pick, improved only in looks and finesse. Pure, unabashed, soft-spoken evil. Measured in tone, deliberate and utterly confident in everything he says. He's not a psychopath, but someone who is absolutely convinced to occupy the moral high ground, certain of his convictions being sanctioned by Allah himself.

In response to Russian President Putin's remark, "..we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the whole world 7 times over, but [we] do not talk like Iranian leaders do, so why do [they]?", he says:

"[We have] just woken up after 16 years of forgetting God. [...] Only 11 countries in the world [are] against Iran whereas there [are] some 150 states supporting Iran."

“We will acquire this [nuclear] technology and export it to all the 150 countries,” he threatened, adding that “this is the power we have not yet used”.

Ramin claimed that Ahmadi Nezhad's presidency [that's how 'Thug-in-Chief' Ahmadinejad is affectionately called by his close friends and admireres] had created a new global wave and that many world leaders had lined up to speak with him. He also stressed that Europe and the US were entirely incapable of threatening Iran.

Who is Mohammad-Ali Ramin and why should we pay very close attention to what he has to say?

He is what Joseph Goebbels was to Hitler. He is the brain behind "Thug-In-Chief" Ahmadinejad, his hard-line presidential advisor.

He is the editor-in-chief of Emamat monthly, a founder of the Association of the Islamic Path in Europe, director of the Holocaust seminar in Tehran, and secretary-general of the new "world foundation for Holocaust Studies".

Like Ahmadinejad, he too is a member of the Shi'a branch of Islam, that rejects the first three Sunni caliphs and regards Ali, the fourth caliph, as Muhammad's first true successor.

He is Ahmadinejad's architect of the Caliphat, charged with the careful planning and realization of the global Dar-al-Islam, the time when Islam has subjugated the whole world, the time when Islam will be 'tolerant' for there will be none left to oppose or differ.

Read the whole thing, there is more. And be very concerned--this was last year; there is very little time left before an Obama or McCain Presidency. Very little time...

John Bolton thinks Israel will move themselves after the election--I think that may be waiting too long--and I think it is going to have to be a joint effort if there is to be success. Unfortunately I am not so sure Olmert has the cojones to do it... (or Bush, for that matter). Yet--my intuition tells me that it either is going to happen this year, or else it is going to go very badly. Just a very bad and ominous feeling...

Here are the logistical facts about any attack on Iran: it needs to happen while our troops are still deployed in the region. There is not much time left where that can be assured.

50 years from now, people will look back and fully understand the harsh choices that the President of the United States is facing right now. They will also know whether that decision eventually resulted in an American holocaust--or an American victory. What if they look back and teach their children in their History classes that waiting out the election was too late for the United States and the West?

Compromising the reality of strategy, battlefield tactics, and the land mines of a Presidential Election year is not a job I am envious of. I wouldn't want the decision Bush may have to make--but if I did have to make the call, and if there was any doubt as to whether giving it that much time would mean the difference between success and failure, I would go now. Let the politicans howl. This is real life; this is not theater. For the United States, winning is the only thing. That is the reality--and I believe the storm is coming soon.

I don't think many Americans understand this yet, what with our being so addicted to the cable news cult of personality culture--but it is time to choose sides.

If it has to be, Mr. President, make it so.

... and yes, elections DO matter.