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The Killing of a Nuclear Scientist May Save Countless Lives

(Gatestone Institute) Col. Richard Kemp - As European Iran-appeasers rushed to condemn the targeted killing on Nov. 27 of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, they exhibited shocking disregard for the death, destruction and suffering likely to be inflicted by the Iranian regime utilizing Fakhrizadeh's pernicious expertise. Former CIA Director John O. Brennan described the killing as "state-sponsored terrorism." Yet as CIA Director, Brennan presided over and publicly justified an extensive program of CIA targeted killing by drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. I was in meetings with Brennan when he extolled the utility and legitimacy of targeted killings against terrorists. Brennan says targeted killings are lawful against terrorist operatives, but not officials of sovereign states in peacetime, with the implication that in this case the perpetrators of the killing were not at war with Iran. This is to misunderstand the reality that the lines between peace and war have been intentionally blurred by Iran, often using surrogates to strike its enemies. Under the slogan "Death to America," Iran has been at war with the U.S., Israel and their Western allies since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, using proxy groups to kill hundreds of Americans in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and other places; and to launch terror attacks across the Middle East, Europe, the U.S. and Latin America. Iran has prosecuted a long-term concerted war against Israel with the declared intention of eliminating the Jewish State. It has funded and directed attacks from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, inside Israel and against Israelis beyond the region. Fakhrizadeh was a brigadier general in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and several other countries. Therefore, he was not only a senior military commander in a country at war with the U.S. and its allies, but also a proscribed international terrorist. Brennan and the European supporters of his argument seem to believe that Iran can be contained by appeasement and negotiation rather than military strength and political will. This is a failure to comprehend either the psychology or ideology of the Iranian leadership. The path advocated by the proponents of appeasement can only lead to infinitely greater bloodshed, violence and suffering than the death of a proscribed terrorist. The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK's national crisis management committee, COBRA.
2020-12-03 00:00:00
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