Told-You-So Time: Iranian Inanity Comes Home to Roost

In June 2006, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was asked in Boston what the Democrats' plan was for dealing with Iran, designated even then by our State Department as the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism and well on its way to acquiring nuclear weapons. "I don't know," Durbin replied. "With any luck Israel will do something about it, and we'll all blame Israel."

When the Obama White House was fairly begging Iran for a deal to temporarily slow Iran's race to obtain those weapons in 2015, critics of the proposed deal pointed out that what the administration was offering would come back to bite the world -- painfully. Desperate to announce a deal that would kick the can down the road knowing that future leaders would have to deal with the consequences, President Barack Obama offered Iran about $100 billion in unfrozen assets and the removal of sanctions on its oil industry. Cash and oil gushed for the mullahs.

The critics observed that the cash was unlikely to be used to build greenhouses, but would instead flow to the terror groups, which, funded, supplied and trained by Tehran, had already established themselves as accomplished mass murderers. Hamas and Hezbollah among them, these were savage, jihadist enterprises that were demonstrably skilled at slaughter.

Hezbollah, which carries the comforting meaning "Party of God," was by then already responsible for numerous massacres of Americans. In 1983, it carried out bombings at marine barracks housing American soldiers in Beirut that killed 300 people, mostly Americans. In 1984, it killed 18 American servicemen in Spain, injuring 83. That year, it also killed 11 Americans near an Embassy annex in Lebanon. In 1996, it killed 19 American Air Force personnel in a bombing in Saudi Arabia, injuring 372.

Hezbollah forcibly occupies Lebanon, effectively controlling it with a well-trained army furnished by Iran. In 2006, it fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian centers, each rocket a war crime. It has carried out assassinations globally.

Those who had the temerity to point out that the terms of its Iran deal would mean billions of dollars for Iran's god-awful proxies were dismissed and derided by the Obama White House. Their loyalty to America was questioned, and they were labeled "neo-cons" and "warmongers."

Now, thanks to that hubris, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are flush with the cash that we handed to Iran. Hamas has massacred over 1,200 Israelis, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Gazans who Hamas decided better served Hamas dead than alive. Hezbollah has an estimated 150,000 rockets aimed at Israel that are perched on Israel's border. It has fired 8,500 of them at Israeli communities since Oct. 8, citing Israel's "aggression" the previous day. About 80,000 Israelis have had to evacuate their homes as a result. The Houthis, another Iranian proxy, fire drones at American assets and personnel, and we satisfy ourselves by announcing when we have intercepted some of them.

In the meantime, Iran is providing drones and other weapons paid for by the Obama administration to Vladimir Putin -- who badly needs them to continue pulverizing Ukraine.

The Democrats rightfully note that they, and not the Republicans, have stood strong on Russia, while Republicans, led by Donald Trump, have stood weak. But Democrats have no more plan to deal with Iran than they did in 2006, and their party is plagued by useful fools like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and others, who sympathize, let's face it, with Iran's proxies and not with their victims. There is a real risk that if Democrats retain the White House, their administration will be staffed with the same sorts of ideologues and ostriches who waved aside the cash handed over to Iran in 2015 as no problem.

If there is another presidential debate, the moderators should ask the two candidates: given the threat that Iran poses both because of its imminent acquisition of nuclear weapons and its lavish support of terror, what is your plan for dealing with it? Neither party has answered the question thus far. Somebody needs to, and quickly.

========

Jeff Robbins' latest book, "Notes From the Brink: A Collection of Columns about Policy at Home and Abroad," is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and Google Play. Robbins, a former assistant United States attorney and United States delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, was chief counsel for the minority of the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. An attorney specializing in the First Amendment, he is a longtime columnist for the Boston Herald, writing on politics, national security, human rights and the Mideast.