History does repeat itself, and apparently we fail to learn from it and thus fail to act when the opportunity presents itself in order to prevent future disaster. It would appear that, while the rest of the world was sleeping, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, its elite armed forces, has conducted a bloodless coup in taking over power from the religious mullahs. In other words, Iran has gone from a theocracy to a dictatorship, run by the military. While pre-Nazi Germany was never a theocracy, it was a blending of political powers, considered a constitutional government made up of coalitions of several parties, some of which were theocratic, political and military oriented. And although little was accomplished by this Weimer Republic, at least it did its best, although insignificant, to repair the damage done by the allies in the Great War and its resulting treaty of Versailles. In addition, it was a government which understood democracy and its responsibilities to work alongside other European nations between 1918 and 1932.

When the Nazi Party began to rear its ugly head in the early 1920’s, it actually followed along with the demands of the Weimar Republic and stood for election to the Reischtag, garnering few if any votes in its early tries. Finally in 1932, it won enough votes to grab power from the “people,” in no small part due to its association with the Brown Shirt thugs who roamed the streets of Germany, destroying businesses, beating citizens and taking others into protective custody, ie., concentration camps. From 1933 forward, the Nazi war machine was allowed to grow despite the wording of the Treaty of Versailles. At the same time, neither the U.S., Great Britain or France did anything to protect themselves. They relied on either an ocean or their current fortifications to protect them. In fact, the U.S. military was ranked 19th in the world, as far as manpower and readiness, in 1940. From 1933 forward, the inaction of the allies proved to be a harbinger of things to come. Germany was not a power in 1933. It was allowed to become a force to be reckoned with by 1938, and by then, at least for Western Europe, it was too late. As we all slept, comfortable in our isolationist covers, Germany became a deadly force.

By all indications, the same thing is now occurring in Iran. The military has taken over the country. Numerous sites throughout Iran are producing weapons grade uranium, from which Iran’s scientists “will” produce a nuclear weapon. While Iran arms itself, the rest of the world sleeps, just as it slept while Nazi Germany rearmed. There is talk of sanctions, but sanctions have never had, nor will ever have an effect on a dictatorship in which the military runs the country. As a matter of fact, sanctions by the U.S against Japan in 1940, as far as oil and steel imports were concerned, were an impetus for Japan to attack China.

Iran views some of her neighbors, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, as enemies and will stop at nothing to use her new weaponry on them. This wound not necessarily be the case if the theocracy still ruled Iran, but it does not. Iran is ruled by a military dictatorship. Iran also views our troops in Afghanistan as the enemy. And while her nuclear weapon may not have the destructive power of a nuclear weapon in our arsenal, even a small atomic weapon, carried in a warhead of Iran’s mid range missile, could destroy everything within a two mile radius of impact.

The issue is what to do about a rogue state with a nuclear weapon. It is the same question that the allies faced with Hitler. In the case of the latter, France and Great Britain felt that offering Hitler Czechoslovakia, at Munich in 1938, would appease him. Obviously appeasement was not and is not the answer. And just what would we offer Iran in the way of appeasement? Certainly we could not offer territory from one of her neighbors. In reality, we are dealing with a military dictatorship and not the Iranian people themselves, who are an intelligent people who most likely do not want war. Unfortunately, military dictatorships are narrow minded and only satisfied with power and more of the same. Military dictatorships do not generally come to the table to discuss alternatives. Military dictatorships generally make war and not peace.

Perhaps, as some anti-war doves demand, we should do nothing other than continue to warn Iran of the power of their so called enemies and the destruction which would befall the country if it used its weaponry. In other words, do nothing. That will not work and unfortunately, given Iran’s location, its first act of aggression just might be the launching of a nuclear tipped missile against Israel or Afghanistan. Israel is a nuclear power and won’t sit back and wait for the first bomb to fall, and if Iran precipitates a middle eastern war, we shall certainly be dragged into it along with our allies and the rest of the middle east. Yes, as with the Second World War, another war would most likely boost our sagging economy, but even the inexperienced Obama administration would not be naive enough to use that as a method of ending our recession.

The answer to such a situation is not easy. However history proves one thing. If you allow a military dictatorship the time to grow in power, your hesitancy in acting will only come back to haunt you. Despite everyone’s alleged knowledge of world history, the mistakes, which all nations have made at one time or another, continue to be made leading to the same results. If Iran is not stopped, in one way or the other, its military regime will provoke an incident which will lead to another war. Of that I am certain.

Remember, the 9 – 11 terrorists were not a nation. They offered no specific target. Iran is a finite target. While our current administration worries about domestic issues such as health care, the environment and the economy, all very important issues, the issue of Iran is growing in importance and we do not appear as concerned as we should be.

Yes, the isolationists of the 1930’s and early 40’s had their way with FDR. Great Britain would have become another Nazi victory, despite Lend – Lease. Had it not been for Pearl Harbor, the politics of the time would have delayed our entry into the war, even to the point that we might just not have ever been a combatant. That is how powerful the isolationist lobby was in 1940. That is how ignorant our Congress and the majority of Americans were, during that period, as a result the First War. We must not allow such feelings to blind us to the reality of a Nuclear Iran. Madness is not dissuaded by sanctions. Militarism is not halted by negotiation. Appeasement is not the solution when dealing with a dictator. We must keep our history always in the forefront of our minds when considering the problem we face with Iran. If not, we will surely be affected by their madness before we come to our senses.

JLK