Not So Fast Mr. Robinson

Eugene Robinson recently opined in an Asbury Park Press Commentary of February 24, 2012, Diplomacy, not War in Iran, is the only option to address Iran’s relentless march toward attaining nuclear bomb capability. He went on to write about how unwise it would be for the US to support Israel in military action against Iran’s nuclear program. He also suggests that the Iran’s regime is not irrational despite the rhetoric.

Robinson has argued in the past that publicly funded programs to assist Afro Americans recover from the horrors and atrocities of slavery, and its aftermath of discrimination and inequality are absolutely necessary. In fact, hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent to these ends. He has supported programs such as Affirmative Action, public assistance housing and disproportional public funding for schools in urban areas where Afro Americans make up a large part of the population. Mr. Robinson has fended off any criticism of these programs by writing that no man should question the need and appropriateness of these programs unless he has walked in the shoes of an Afro American.

He may have a point about the inability of others to comprehend the disadvantages Afro Americans have had to endure as a direct result of slavery, but likewise Mr. Robinson should not presume to understand the mindset of the Jews of Israel unless he has walked in their shoes.

In the history of man, those practicing no other religion have endured the depths of discrimination and mistreatment leading to the ultimate price for a belief, extermination. How could Mr. Robinson presume to understand the fear and anxiety that the Jews in Israel have to endure each and every day? How could he suggest that Israel should simply wait and see what happens? It is not as though the wailings of the Iranian regime are unfamiliar. The very same rhetoric came from Adolph Hitler, a depraved and lunatic leader during the 1930’s and 40's in Nazis Germany. That rhetoric was roundly ignored throughout the world, and we all know how that ended.

What Mr. Robinson seems to suggest is that the Israeli’s should set aside their fears, the prospect of annihilation, ignore what has been said by the leadership in Iran, and embrace the concept that ultimately that leadership will act in their best interests. He further suggests that those best interests would not include attacking Israel. He seems to base his opinion on the notion that the irrational leadership in Iran will suddenly become rational. It is precisely this type of reasoning that lead to the Holocaust. Hitler did not act in the best interests of Germans, because he was a lunatic with a grand scheme of a thousand year Third Reich. The Iranian leadership will not act in the best interests of the Iranian people, because they have a vision of the restoration of the Persian Empire. The Jews of Israel are as much an ideal target to gin up hatred and hostility in the Mid East, as the Jews of Europe were for Hitler.

Mr. Robinson’s point of view is for America to stand clear of the Iranian crisis and discourage the Israel’s from taking any overt action. That is the precise course of action that was suggested for America prior to WWII.

Mr. Robinson, for evil to succeed all it takes is for good men and women to do nothing!