[Rhodes22-list] Wally - Re: Fred Thompson

[Anne M]

Funny small video about Fred Thompson and our campaign process.



http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271557392/bctid716052875

Anne


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "TN Rhodey" <tnrhodey at hotmail.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 6:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Wally - Re: Fred Thompson


> Brad, Interesting but I wouldn't really call it his stand but it is a 
> start.
> I do like the fact that he seems to be stressing Sanctions and 
> Diplomacy. -
> Wally
>
>
>>From: "Brad Haslett" <flybrad at gmail.com>
>>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>>To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Wally - Re: Fred Thompson
>>Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2007 05:08:44 -0600
>>
>>Wally,
>>
>>You said you were waiting for Fred Thompson's stand on Iraq and Iran - 
>>here
>>it is.  The word in blogsphere is he's running.  This was posted 
>>yesterday.
>>
>>Brad
>>
>>----------------------------------
>>
>>The Pirates of Tehran  By Fred Thompson Posted in Foreign
>>Affairs<http://www.redstate.com/sections/foreign_affairs>- Comments
>>(148)<http://www.redstate.com/stories/foreign_affairs/the_pirates_of_tehran#comment>/
>>Email
>>this page » <http://www.redstate.com/forward/30082> / Leave a comment
>>»<http://www.redstate.com/comment/reply/30082#comment_form>
>>
>>Oil prices fell. The stock market rose. Video images of smiling British
>>soldiers with Iranian President Ahmadinejad were everywhere. So were
>>pictures of the 15 freed hostages embracing family members back home. The
>>relief over the return of the Brits was so tremendous; you could almost
>>hear
>>birds singing.
>>
>>Maybe it's because military action won't be needed or maybe it's just
>>because the ordeal won't drag on and on, but the world is breathing easier
>>now. A lot of folks are happy. The problem, as I see it, is that
>>Ahmadinejad
>>seems to be the happiest.
>>
>>And why shouldn't he be? He has shown the world that his forces can kidnap
>>British citizens, subject them to brutal psychological tactics to coerce
>>phony confessions, finagle the release of a high-ranking Iranian terror
>>coordinator in Iraq, utterly trash the Geneva conventions and suffer
>>absolutely no consequences.
>>
>>The UN Security Council summoned its vaunted multilateral greatness to
>>issue
>>a swift statement of sincere uneasiness. The EU, which has pressured
>>Britain
>>to rely on Europeans for mutual defense instead of the US, wouldn't even
>>discuss economic sanctions that might disrupt their holidays. Even NATO 
>>was
>>AWOL.
>>
>>*Please do keep reading . . .*
>>
>>Tony Blair doesn't appear to be in much of a mood for celebrating. I don't
>>know how he could be, given the troubling spectacle of British soldiers
>>shake the hand of their kidnapper as a condition of release. In the old
>>days, they would have kissed his ring -- but wearing Iranian suits and
>>carrying swag more appropriate to a Hollywood awards ceremony may have 
>>been
>>as embarrassing. Ironically, Blair's options are fewer by the day as his
>>own
>>party moves to mothball the British fleet, once the fear of pirates and
>>tyrants the world over.
>>
>>Some in the West seem part of Iran's propaganda war; claiming that the
>>release of the hostages was a victory that proves the Iranian dictatorship
>>can be reasoned with. To misrepresent unpunished piracy as a victory is as
>>Orwellian as the congressional mandate banning use of the term "the global
>>war on terror." What are we - Reuters?
>>
>>Ahmadinejad must be particularly pleased to see "deep thinking" 
>>journalists
>>making the case that American actions in Iraq were the true cause of the
>>kidnappings. To believe this, all you have to do is ignore the history of
>>the Iranian Revolution, which has been in the extortion business ever 
>>since
>>it took power. Between the 1979 American embassy crisis in Tehran and the
>>seizure of Israeli soldiers last year by Iran's Hezbollah proxies, there
>>have been more than a hundred other examples.
>>
>>If you include the imprisonment of pro-Democracy dissidents and non-Shi'a
>>Muslim minorities within Iran, the number reaches easily into the tens of
>>thousands. The dwindling and persecuted Christian population of Iran, I
>>suspect, found little joy in Ahmadinejad's explanation that he was freeing
>>his victims as an "Easter gift."
>>
>>It is critical that we see this incident as part of a long pattern of
>>behavior -- that will continue as long as the current leadership is in
>>power. More importantly, it will escalate unimaginably if Iran achieves
>>nuclear status, and with it the ability to hold millions rather than
>>individuals hostage.
>>
>>I have no idea if Ahmadinejad and those who put him in power really 
>>believe
>>the Shi'a Twelver doctrine that they can spur the messiah to return by
>>triggering Armageddon. You have to admit, though, that the possibility 
>>that
>>they look forward to entering paradise as martyrs would make them a whole
>>lot scarier as a nuclear power than the USSR ever was.
>>
>>There is hope, though. The Iranian people are not an anti-Western horde.
>>They're an educated and freedom-loving people for the most part, and
>>reformers there have been begging us for support and sanctions that would
>>weaken the ruling theocracy. Instead, they've just seen the Iranian
>>dictatorship successfully bully the West into impotent submission. This is
>>not a good thing.
>>
>>We need to understand this and use every means at our disposal, starting
>>with serious and painful international sanctions, to prevent Iran's rulers
>>from becoming the nuclear-armed blackmailers they want to be.
>>Unfortunately,
>>we are hearing demands that we abandon the people of the Middle East who
>>have stood up to Islamo-fascism because they believed us when we said we
>>would support them.
>>
>>If we retreat precipitously, the price for that betrayal will be paid 
>>first
>>in blood and freedom by the Iranian people, the Kurds, the Afghanis, the
>>secular Lebanese, the moderates in Pakistan and the Iraqis themselves. And
>>America's word may never be trusted again.
>>
>>Right now, the pirate Ahmadinejad is clearly more confident about the
>>outcome of the Global War on Terror than we are. That ought to give us
>>pause.
>>__________________________________________________
>>Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Exercise your brain! Try Flexicon.
> http://games.msn.com/en/flexicon/default.htm?icid=flexicon_hmemailtaglineapril07
>
>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list