Very few reasonable people doubt President Obama’s intellectual capacity, but some worry that he is not the sort to seek out infromation that challenges his long-held views. One of those views is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a nation that the United States can engage in serious, sustained and ultimately fruitful negotiations over a variety of issues including the mullahs’ nuclear ambitions. Even if the new president is absolutely convinced of his ability to achieve that which no president since Jimmy Carter has been able to do –though each of them, including both Bush 41 and 43, tried– he ought still to spend some time with two books and a movie that communicate the opposite view.
The first book is a serious and riveting read by a dedicated journalist who is no doubt very high on the hit list of the Iranian theocracy that has long used foreign assassinations of exiles as a tool of state policy.
Amir Taheri was the executive editor of the largest newspaper in Iran prior to the Khomeinist revolution. As a prolific writer throughout his exile, he has contributed important stories and analyses to the world’s most influential newspapers and published highly regarded books on Iran and the West.
Now Taheri has written his most important book, The Persian Night
For those who simply refuse to read history or any sort of non-fiction, National Review editor Rich Lowry’s excellent new thriller Banquo’s Ghosts,
www.thestoning.com/> a movie that won’t open until June, but which will leave a mark on the mullahs if it gets the attention it deserves. The buzz surrounding
The Stoning of Soraya M. hints at a film that will define for many why Iran is not a potential “partner” with any of the West’s leaders, except for those guided only by potential profits.
It requires more even than wilful blindness to refuse to see the nature of Iranian fascism and the threat it poses to the world. It requires an ideology so powerful that it cripples all the senses and not just the eyes. The storm has been gathering in Iran for three decades. Now on the eve of the moment when Iran moves from category of “malevolent menace” to “malevolent nuclear menace,” the opportunities to understand the threat are many and easily available. Let’s hope President Obama exercises his real ability to learn to arrive at the truth about Iran.
As Michael Ledeen would and often does say: “Faster, please.”
Examiner columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who bogs daily at HughHewitt.com.
