Fred's Take on Iran

Having given some time to Duncan, now it's Fred's turn.

Fred Thompson, fresh off some guest columns over at NRO, now has started posting over at Redstate.

http://www.redstate.com/stories/foreign_affairs/the_pirates_of_tehran

Interesting stuff. I think he understands the stakes better than most.

"There is hope, though. The Iranian people are not an anti-Western horde. They're an educated and freedom-loving people for the most part, and reformers there have been begging us for support and sanctions that would weaken the ruling theocracy. Instead, they've just seen the Iranian dictatorship successfully bully the West into impotent submission. This is not a good thing.

We need to understand this and use every means at our disposal, starting with serious and painful international sanctions, to prevent Iran's rulers from becoming the nuclear-armed blackmailers they want to be. Unfortunately, we are hearing demands that we abandon the people of the Middle East who have stood up to Islamo-fascism because they believed us when we said we would support them.

If we retreat precipitously, the price for that betrayal will be paid first in blood and freedom by the Iranian people, the Kurds, the Afghanis, the secular Lebanese, the moderates in Pakistan and the Iraqis themselves. And America's word may never be trusted again."

I'll also note on the heels of Pelosi's trip to Syria, comes news that Bill Richardson, the one Democrat I can stand, is visiting North Korea. UGHH.