Normalizing Evil
Sep 25, 2007
Columbia University's President Bollinger accomplished three things by allowing Iran's President Amadinejad a platform. Bollinger modeled the normalization of "dialogue" with our era's Hitler; he gained for himself a world platform in which he indulged his ego (and tried to appease his donor base) by saying many of the "right" things; and he exposed the West's weakest spot, namely our willingness to engage in fruitless and endless debate with evil instead of defeating it on the battlefield. Last night, on the O'Reilly Factor, Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink, kept urging America to talk to Iran and Hezbollah, rather than "fight" with them militarily. (I am not sure if she includes al-Qaeda here as well). Two days ago, eleven Israeli intellectuals signed and delivered a petition to Israeli Prime Minister Olmert demanding that he start "talking" to Hamas, which, like Iran, is devoted to the extermination of the Jewish state. Yet, I agree with William Buckley who, forty five years ago, when he opposed Communist leader Gus Hall's appearance on campus, asked: What would the doomed Anne Frank have to talk with Hitler about? Like Hitler, Amadinejad must be totally defeated and eliminated. We are only talking to ourselves, making ourselves feel "better," superior perhaps, when we "talk" to tyrants using fine words only. We are essentially delaying taking necessary action against Iran whether that action includes arresting and trying Amadinejad as a war criminal; vigorously supporting the millions of Iranians who wish to vote him and the other mullahs out of office; sending black ops into Iran over and over again to do the equivalent of what Israel did on September 6th in Syria; launching an all-out war against Iran, which, together with Saudi Arabia, comprise the largest state sponsors of terrorism in the world. What Bollinger accomplished is this: Iran (and every other terrorist nation-state) now knows that the Americans will keep talking--even after their heads have been cut off. Although I "agree" with many of Bollinger's points in which he challenged and exposed Amadinejad, Bollinger has exposed and endangered America and the West even further.