The Case for War in Iran

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to check with Chip, turning the Blue Dot Red
one podcast at a time. The other day, my son
asked me to make sense of the attack on Iran.
He's generally a political one of those moderates or independents
that can swing in election. It was a neutral question.
He was not upset, but he also was uneasy. Polling
seems to indicate that a lot of Americans feel the

(00:22):
same way. I give you the same answer I gave him.
Iran and its terrorist proxies have been killing Americans, Israelis,
fellow Muslims, and Iran's own people for five decades. The
slaughter of tens of thousands of civilian protesters in Iran
since December helped bring the situation to a boil. Iranian

(00:44):
security forces went into hospitals to finish off wounded protesters.
They tortured and gang raped nurses who cared for wounded protesters.
What do you think they want to do to us,
especially if they get nuclear weapons? Steve Whitcoff, lead negotiator
with Iran for the Trump administration, said, when he met

(01:05):
with Iranian negotiators before hostilities broke out to try to
reach a deal to prevent war. The Iranian negotiators began
the conversation with a declaration, we have enough enriched uranium
to build eleven nuclear bombs. Their opening position was an aggressive,
in your faced defiance of the American position that Iran

(01:28):
will never have nuclear weapons. Perhaps the Iranians were used
to dealing with Obama and Biden. Perhaps they believed the
same formula would work again. We'll knock them back on
their heels with a tenacious intent to pursue nuclear weapons
and induce them to biaus off. The shakedown had worked before.

(01:48):
Faced with the threat of a nuclear Iran, the Obama
and Biden administrations released billions of dollars in frozen Iranian
assets and shoved tens of millions in cash at Iran
to get Iran to back off on its pursuit of
nuclear weapons. Iran said, thank you very much, took the
assets and cash, and continued right on pursuing nuclear weapons.

(02:12):
That's why Trump joined with Israel to launch Operation Midnight
Hammer last year to destroy Iranian nuclear weapons facilities. I
imagine Whitkoff's report of the opening gabut by Iranian negotiators
made it easy for Trump to decide to launch Operation
Epic fury sooner rather than later. When the Supreme leader

(02:34):
of Iran was killed, huge throngs of joyful Iranians in
the Middle East, in the United States, and around the
world broke out into spontaneous public rallies and street dances.
Iranians waived the flags of Iran and Israel and the
United States. Remember these are people who in childhood were

(02:57):
trained at school to chant death to Israel and death
to America and call America the great Satan. It was
an incredible sight. The prejiehad lyon and sun Iranian flag,
the Star of David, and the stars and stripes all
waving together in mutual celebration and support. Iranians all over

(03:20):
the world were giddily thanking Trump and doing the Trump
Dance to the strains of YMCA. When Trump began his
first presidential term in twenty seventeen, the foreign policy intelligentsia
on the right as well as the left, sneered at
him as a brash barbarian who would embarrass America on

(03:40):
the world stage. By the end of that term, Trump
had negotiated breakthrough foreign trade deals and was nominated by
foreign leaders for the Nobel Peace Prize for progress and
foreign policy areas stagnant for decades, including in the Middle East.
Fast forward to trump forty seven NATO members have more

(04:00):
than doubled their financial contributions, and the NATO Secretary is
one of the staunchest supporters of Trump. Other Persian Gulf
nations are rallying to the epic Fury coalition against Iran.
There is a genuine opportunity to realign the Middle East
in favor of peace and prosperity, something the foreign policy

(04:23):
intelligentsia and its like minded world leaders have never come
remotely close to accomplishing. Iran, known historically as Persia, has
a long and proud history. Persia was the superpower of
the ancient world, far more advanced than the nations that
would build Western civilization, while embracing its cultural legacy and

(04:46):
geographic reality. Iran politically was part of Western civilization until
the nineteen seventy nine revolutionary takeover by radical Islamists. Iran
is a Western nation under aca occupation by extremist anti
Western Muslims. Trump has rhapsodized about the potential of an

(05:07):
Iran freed from the yoke of jihadi tyranny. The Persians
are historically great traders and business people, Trump said, and
they're sitting on top of a ton of oil. They
are smart enough and have resources enough to flourish. The
left says America first means everybody else last. Wrong. Trump's

(05:30):
point always has been that all political leaders in all
nations should want to make their nations great in healthy
ways that benefit their people. As fellow nations, secure in
our greatness, we can trade with each other and visit
each other and celebrate what makes each other great. America
helped rebuild Germany and Japan after World War II so

(05:54):
they would not fall prey to the kind of insecurity
and desperation that allow extra remists to get traction with
their dark visions of greatness that prove destructive to their
own nations as well as others. South Korea is a
prosperous and friendly member of the free world. North Korea
is an impoverished and volatile communist menace. Why because an

(06:18):
Asian variant Make Korea Great Again was able to flourish
south of the thirty eighth parallel. The best solution to
our southern border crisis is for Mexico and the nations
of Central America to become great so their citizens are
not driven by insecurity and desperation to live elsewhere. Other
Middle East nations may be evolving in this direction, finally

(06:42):
seeing the light, quit obsessing with Israel. Instead, Let's partner
with Israel and the US and prosper like we never
have before. Instead of being jealous of and vidictive toward
Israel and the West, Let's raise the standard of living
for our people to match what Israel and the West enjoy.

(07:02):
My concern about this action in Iraq is the same
one mentioned by many others. Iran has ninety million people.
Many millions are ecstatic at the prospect of a new
day dawning in Iran, But there also are many millions
who are enraged at what is happening. They support radical

(07:22):
Islamist rule. They are armed and they will fight to
the death. They don't care if Iran is bombed. Back
to the Stone Age. They like the Stone Age. In
the Stone Age, it's easier to keep out foreign Western
influence and control society with brute force. Trump said, We'll
wipe out the military and the political leadership. Then it's

(07:45):
up to Iranians to take back their country. What does
that mean? Take back their country? How does a new
day dawn. If a meeting is called and people gather
to map the future, maybe make political speeches and campaign
for leadership positions, and opponents show up with automatic weapons
or sabers and kill everybody present, it seems inevitable that

(08:08):
there will be a ferocious civil war in Iran. My
first impulse, and I imagine that of most Americans, is oh, no,
we don't want to get entangled in a civil war
on the other side of the world. Then again, if
the anti Western jihadis prevent the dawning of that new
day in Iran, then we lost a man from Bellevue

(08:30):
and expended billions in treasure and military assets for what exactly,
For the sake of Master Sergeant Noah Tegians and other
Americans who have died in epic fury, for the sake
of American national security, for the sake of Israel, for
the sake of the Middle East, and for the sake
of Iran. I hope President Trump has a strategy for

(08:53):
navigating the post Islamic regime chaos and helping Iran emerge
successfully from this transition with minimal US involvement. That's check
with Chip if you like what you hear, you'll love
my books. Fix It Now chip dot com. That's where
you go. Fix it Now chip dot com. I'm Chip Maxwell.

(09:14):
Thank you for listening.