Hairy Munchkin to Obama: Thanks, Rube

The happiest guy in the world this morning must be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now that Barack Obama has pretty much wrapped up the Democrat nomination, Iran is that much closer to the bomb.

BUOYED by their modest electoral success last month, critics of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's provocative foreign policy were preparing to launch a series of attacks on him in the Islamic Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament. But then Ahmadinejad got an unexpected boost from Barack Obama.

Ali Larijani, Iran's former nuclear negotiator and now a Majlis member, was arguing that the Islamic Republic would pay a heavy price for Ahmadinejad's rejection of three UN Security Council resolutions on nukes. Then the likely Democratic presidential nominee stepped in.

Obama announced that, if elected, he wouldn't ask Iran to comply with UN resolutions as a precondition for direct talks with Ahmadinejad: "Preconditions, as it applies to a country like Iran, for example, was a term of art. Because this administration has been very clear that it will not have direct negotiations with Iran until Iran has met preconditions that are essentially what Iran views, and many other observers would view, as the subject of the negotiations; for example, their nuclear program."

"Talking without preconditions" would require America to ignore three unanimous Security Council resolutions. Before starting his unconditional talks, would Obama present a new resolution at the Security Council to cancel the three that Ahmadinejad doesn't like? Or would the new US president act in defiance of the United Nations - further weakening the Security Council's authority?

President Bush didn't set the preconditions that Obama promises to ignore. They were agreed upon after the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran was in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Acting in accordance with its charter, the IAEA referred the issue to the Security Council.

This is what happens, folks, when you have an amateur running on a campaign of fluff, someone who lacks real world experience outside of hanging out with radicals in Chicago. You can attend all the Ivy League colleges you want, but practical, real world experience allows you to take better measure of your country's enemies.

The problem is, naive leftwingers like Obama think they can just talk to our enemies and they will like us. It's one thing if the enemy is some peon country that poses no threat.

But Iran is a clear and present danger to our national security, never mind to one of our closest allies, Israel.

Seems people, notably the media, are willing to overlook this unpleasant fact in the promise of change, whatever he hell that means.

Maybe Obama hasn't been properly briefed about the "preconditions" he gets so worked up about. He cites Iran's "nuclear program" as a precondition. Wrong: No one has asked, or could ask, Iran to stop its nuclear program - period. On the contrary, Iran's participation in in the Non-Proliferation Treaty gives it the right to seek help from other signatories, including the US, to access the latest technology in developing its nuclear industry - for peaceful purposes.

The Security Council isn't asking the Islamic Republic to do something dishonorable, humiliating or illegal. All it's asking Ahmadinejad to do is to stop cheating - something the Islamic Republic itself has admitted it has done for 18 years. The Security Council has invited Iran to "suspend" - not even to scrap - a uranium-enrichment program clearly destined for making bombs, in violation of the NPT.

Don't worry, though. Once Mahmoud sits down with his new best friend next year, he'll sign his name to a piece of paper and President Obama will wave it before the cameras saying we have peace in our time.

See how easy it will be?

In short, the minimum show of goodwill on Ahmadinejad's part would be to comply with the UN resolutions before he goes to the White House for talks with President Obama on other issues.

Obama's words on "preconditions" have helped ease domestic pressure on Ahmadinejad to comply with the United Nations and the IAEA. The Iranian president is telling his domestic critics to shut up until after the US election. Why, after all, should he make concessions that a putative President Obama has already dismissed as unnecessary?

Of course, before long, for even bringing this subject up, we'll be accused of fear mongering.

Off the Cliff

The friends of Ron Paul continue to demonstrate that Islam is a mental illness.

Tehran, 10 Jan. (AKI) - Iran's supreme court has confirmed that two youths, found guilty of rape will receive 100 lashes each before being cast off a cliff - an ancient Islamic punishment - local media reported. The reports named the youths as Tayeb and Yazdan.

"This is a chilling sentence," said Iranian human rights activist and lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah.

"Iranian jurisprudence allows alternative punishments to those prescribed by Islamic law, but many judges ignore them, " Dadhkhah said.

Iranian magistrates in recent weeks sentenced several people to punishments that had been in abeyance, he said. As recently as last week in Iranian Balochistan, five minority Sunnis had their hands and feet amputated, he noted.

All five Sunnis were found guilty of the crime of 'moharebeh' or enmity towards Allah. The highly vague definition of 'enemy of God' ranges from homosexuals and drug traffickers to supporters or members of armed groups opposed to the regime.

Such lovely people.

H/T Hot Air headlines.

Meanwhile, more delusional trashtalk coming out of Tehran.

A senior Iranian official has said the United States is at the end of the line due to its wrong policies in the Middle East region.

"After Israel's humiliating defeat against Lebanon's Hezbollah which was in fact the defeat of Washington and its policies in Iraq, the US has reached the end of the line," Fars News Agency quoted Ali Larijani, the former top nuclear negotiator, as telling an Arab daily.

Larijani: Iran No Threat to Israel

Now why should anyone be suspicious? Maybe because the book of lies, the Koran, says it's alright to deceive the infidels?

"That Iran is willing to threaten Israel is wrong," Larijani said. "We pose no threat and if we are conducting nuclear research and development we are no threat to Israel. We have no intention of aggression against any country."

Curious how nowhere in this propaganda piece disguised as news the words of the maniac Ahmadinejad are even mentioned. You know, when the hairy little freak keeps threatening to wipe Israel off the map.

Now this part would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic.

The IAEA, led by Mohamed ElBaradei, has said it has found no evidence that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. But the watchdog has suspended some aid to Iran and criticized the country for concealing certain nuclear activities and failing to answer questions about its program.