(New York City, New York) — A new poll finds that 80% of Americans fear a “Second Holocaust” — the complete annihilation of Israel and her six million Jews — if the world allows Iran to build nuclear warheads. What’s more, 68% of Americans fear a “nuclear holocaust” inside the United States if Iran builds The Bomb.
Former Senator Rick Santorum and I cited these facts in a recent op-ed we wrote for CNN.com, warning that the Iranian regime appears to be following Adolf Hitler’s playbook of calling for peace while actually building a war machine of devastating proportions.
Now, an official of the Iranian regime has responded, attacking our arguments as “ludicrous, counterproductive, and unfortunate.”
Hamid Babaei is counselor and head of press office for the Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations.
“The recent op-ed by Rick Santorum and Joel C. Rosenberg is yet another attempt to stymie and shackle Iran and international negotiators in ongoing talks about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” wrote Babaei. “Iran should be able to enjoy its right to peaceful nuclear energy while avoiding further hostilities and instability. Particularly illogical is their joining in the decades-old rhetoric, comparing who they see as their foe — Iran — to Adolf Hitler. Their view of the diplomatic path is misguided. Their attempt to compare the Iranian government to the murderous Third Reich is ludicrous, counterproductive and unfortunate….[T]heir comparisons to Hitler carry some insidious inferences. They say that since Hitler’s claim that he desired peace was a lie, Iran’s claims to want peace cannot be believed. Therefore diplomacy in general can’t happen and thus nations are locked in a policy of continuous war and aggression. They also seek to undermine any constructive debate about policy, and instead have the public and policy makers act out of sheer panic rather than thoughtful statesmanship.”
To read Mr. Babaei’s full column, please click here.
Later this morning, Senator Santorum and I will publish our response.
For now, here are further excerpts of our original column.
“On May 21, 1935, Adolf Hitler delivered his infamous ‘peace’ speech,” we wrote. “In his masterful history of Nazi Germany, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer quotes the Fuhrer’s remarks at length: ‘Germany needs peace and desires peace….Germany has solemnly recognized and guaranteed France her frontiers….Germany has concluded a non-aggression pact with Poland.’ Shirer, a CBS Radio correspondent, called the address ‘ne of the cleverest and most misleading of his Reichstag orations this writer, who sat through most of them, ever heard him make.’He observed the West seemed beguiled by the speech, noting the Times of London welcomed Hitler’s words ‘with almost hysterical joy.’….Yet Hitler was lying to buy time. He would not bring peace, but a horrific war, annexing Austria, invading France and Poland, and ordering the extermination of six million Jews.”
Santorum and I then stated that “such history is worth noting in today’s showdown with Iran. Many in the West seem beguiled by the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.”
“Let me say loud and clear that peace is within reach,” Rouhani told the U.N. General Assembly last September.
“President Barack Obama praised Rouhani’s ‘more moderate course,’ and The New York Times called Rouhani ‘charming.’ By November 24, Iran had successfully negotiated an interim nuclear deal with the P5+1. The deal was widely lauded, especially by Iran. The ‘Geneva deal means the surrender of big powers before the great nation of Iran,’ Rouhani said in January.”
But no wonder the Iranians were so happy:
- Sanctions were eased, and “Iran was given access to $ 550 million of its assets that are frozen overseas,” noted Iran Watch. “This is the first tranche of the $ 4.2 billion that Iran has been promised.”
- The interim deal does not require Iran to dismantle a single centrifuge or stop enriching uranium to 3.5%.
- Tehran has 18,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, and some operate 15 times faster than older models.
- After years of work and massive financial investment, Iran currently has only enough enriched uranium to run its Bushehr Reactor for three months, notes Valerie Lincy of the Wisconsin Project On Nuclear Arms Control.
- Yet Iran now has enough enriched uranium to build six or seven nuclear warheads, Lincy adds.
“The world is at a critical moment,” we argued. “President Obama must insist on a final deal that requires Iran to fully dismantle its illegal uranium enrichment capabilities, its heavy water plutonium facility in Arak, and its nuclear weapons development efforts. The President — who never should have agreed to ease sanctions — should also support congressional efforts and declare that if Iran refuses to truly give up its nuclear ambitions, then he will sign aggressive new sanctions to be imposed the moment the six-month period of the interim deal is complete. What’s more, he should significantly beef up U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, and abandon efforts to slash our Army to pre-World War II levels. Right now, the mullahs do not take Obama seriously. They do not believe a serious U.S. military option is really “on the table.” The President must make them believe it and restore American credibility.”
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