D-Day Past, Danger Still Here

It was Robert Spencer, proprietor of Jihad Watch, who first warned of the possible danger of an Iranian unconventional attack on August 22. That “possible” is crucial, for many on the Left now accuse him, and those who took after him on that warning (like Bernard Lewis), of crying wolf, of alarmism, of adding to the “neo-con culture of fear”, although he never said an attack was certain, only possible.

Is Ahmadinejad now smiling at having made the infidels fearful for a whole day? I don’t know and I don’t care. Sure, I was agitated for most of that day, and the night was almost sleepless, yet far from accusing Spencer of being alarmist, I commend him for his responsibility. Spencer did the job required of the watchman:

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the horn, and the people be not warned, and the sword do come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.” (Ezekiel 33:6)

Better he warn and it not come than he not warn and it come upon us unawares. HaShem be thanked for delaying the dreadful day (of which our sages said, yete v’la achmine—“when it comes, let me not be there to see it”), Spencer is to be commended for every warning, now and in the future, and let shame be heaped upon the Left for their dhimmitude and their calling the good evil and the evil good.

So nothing happened on that day, praise be to G-d. But let there be no complacency: the Iranians are working toward the goal of building nuclear weapons and, G-d forbid, using them. The reasons for them not doing anything on August 22 are unknown (conventional thinking would have it that it was because they hadn’t finished making a nuclear weapon yet, though Newt Gingrich, who sees the gathering storm on the horizon for what it is, said they could have easily acquired one from North Korea, which is known to have them), but the reprieve is only temporary, unless Islam is neutralized. It is thought that a strike on Iran would halt their plans, but there is no guarantee of being able to strike down all nuclear launchers on time (just as Hizbullah’s katyusha launchers proved difficult for the Israeli Air Force to find). And even if that goal could be achieved, the reprieve granted thereby would still be temporary, because it is not only Ahmadinejad who believes in the Islamic End Times vision. Al-Quaeda would be just as happy to lay hands on an unconventional warhead and use it on non-Muslims.

We’re in for the long haul, and the journey toward lasting peace has hardly even started. Even the temporary reprieve that might be gained by striking at Iran doesn’t look like being achieved any time soon, because the appeasement-minded statesmen of the world are insisting on buying Iran with incentive packages, and even the USA is loathe to do anything substantial, because of fear of Iraq-like repercussions. Imagine when the non-Muslim will finally get around to the necessary (and the only efficient one) step of de-Islamization!

It seems the miracles we need right now are less of the physical kind and more mental ones: miracles of people changing their minds away from the assumption of bringing the hatred of Muslims upon them by their own deeds, and the miracle of fortitude to be involved in a war that only G-d knows how long will last, and of which humans know only that it will be full of “blood, toil and tears”, with but the hope to win and secure lasting peace for humankind.

Do not sleep.