NY Times Iran conducts new mid range missle tests, Alan Cowell

President Clinton, Bush and Obama are all to be commended for their past diplomatic efforts with an increasingly devious Iran. It is a virtue of the American people that they are first and foremost lovers of peace and seek to minimize destruction at every possible opportunity. Winston Churchill's words from history however deserve further careful study as we approach this current threat to civilization. I have placed within quotation marks the words of the British Prime Minister, a strong tower in the midst of the first major challenge to civilization.

"Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness. A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war. The cheers of weak, well meaning assemblies soon cease to echo, and their votes soon cease to count. Doom marches on." President Bush correctly referred to the Iranian regime as part of the axis of evil. The present Iranian president and administration, from day one, have been obsessed with development of nuclear weapons for export, intimidation and ultimate use against the state of Israel and other nations.

In discussing the Tragedy of Munich, Churchill enumerated the milestones to tragedy. " Here is a catalogue of surrenders, at first when all was easy and later when things were harder, to the ever-growing German power. But now at last was the end of British and French submission. Here was decision at last, taken at the worst possible moment and on the least satisfactory ground, which must surely lead to the slaughter of tens of millions of people. Here was the righteous cause committed to mortal battle after its assets and advantages had been so improvidently squandered…

The Sermon on the Mount is the last word in Christian ethics. Everyone respects the Quakers. Still, it is not on these terms that Ministers assume their responsibilities of guiding states. Their duty is first so to deal with other nations as to avoid strife and war and to eschew aggression in all its forms, whether for nationalistic or ideological objects. But the safety of the State, and the lives and freedom of their fellow countrymen, to whom they owe their position, make it right and imperative in the last resort, or when a final and definite conviction has been reached, that the use of force should not be excluded. If the circumstances are such as to warrant it, force may be used. And if this be so, should be used under the conditions which are most favorable. There is no merit putting off a war for a year if, when it comes, it is a far worse war or much harder to win…

Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves."

We face today another holocaust purveyor in the Iranian dictator. His goal is both proclaimed and clear, the destruction of Israel from the face of the earth. He is not the first lunatic to proclaim this horrific plan, and yet he should be taken literally at his word. The United States and much of the world must stand strongly against this threat. Sanctions have been tried before but to no avail. After Dunkerque, Winston Churchill used the expression," If necessary for years, if necessary alone." At a moment in history when holocaust has been resurfaced by yet another madman and his regime, whether or not the U.N. joins us with Israel, in eliminating this threat, may it be said of the American people, "if necessary alone."

Dr. Phillips
Bloomington, IL