President Obama, listen to Netanyahu on Iran
Faisal J. Abbas Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 3 March 2015
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2015/03/03/President-Obama-listen-to-Netanyahu-on-Iran.html

It is extremely rare for any reasonable person to ever agree with anything
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says or does.

However, one must admit, Bibi did get it right, at least when it came to
dealing with Iran.

The Israeli PM managed to hit the nail right on the head when he said that
Middle Eastern countries are collapsing and that “terror organizations,
mostly backed by Iran, are filling in the vacuum” during a recent ceremony
held in Tel Aviv to thank outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz
for his role during “challenging” times.

In just a few words, Mr. Netanyahu managed to accurately summarize a clear
and present danger, not just to Israel (which obviously is his concern), but
to other U.S. allies in the region.

What is absurd, however, is that despite this being perhaps the only thing
that brings together Arabs and Israelis (as it threatens them all), the only
stakeholder that seems not to realize the danger of the situation is
President Obama, who is now infamous for being the latest pen-pal of the
Supreme Leader of the World’s biggest terrorist regime: Ayottallah Ali
Khamenei. (Although, the latter never seems to write back!)

Threat bigger than nuclear ambitions

Just to be clear, nobody disagrees that ridding Iran of its nuclear
ambitions is paramount. And if this can be achieved peacefully, then it
would be even better. However, any reasonable man CAN’T possibly turn a
blind eye to the other realities on the ground.

Indeed, it is Mr. Obama’s controversial take on managing global conflicts
that raises serious questions. A case in point is his handling of the Syrian
crisis, where according to his own philosophical views, Obama probably takes
pride that he managed to rid the Assad regime of its chemical weapons
arsenal without firing a single bullet.



Of course, in theory, this could be quite an achievement (which only another
war philosopher, such as Sun Tzu, would applaud); but in reality, the
problem with what happened is that the REAL issue hasn’t been resolved; as
such, the Syrian regime continues – until this day – to slaughter their own
people (albeit, using conventional weapons, you know… your everyday bullets,
missiles and barrel bombs!)

As such, the real Iranian threat is not JUST the regime’s nuclear ambitions,
but its expansionist approach and state-sponsored terrorism activities which
are still ongoing.

What is noteworthy, is that whilst in the past Tehran plotted and
implemented most of its terror activities in secret (apart from a few
obvious examples such as the 1983 Beirut attack on U.S. Marines); the
Islamic Republic seems so at ease today that, as noted by renowned media
columnist Diana Moukalled recently, it went public with documenting the
appearances of Iranian General Qassim Soleimani, commander of the Quds
Force.

In her latest column, Moukalled wrote the days of the few, amateur shots of
the infamous Commander are long gone.

“Since a few months, photos of Qassim Soleimani have become plentiful and
available in High Definition.”

“Soleimani is no longer that secretive personality whose role over the past
two decades has lingered been between myth and reality. He is now telling us
bluntly: Yes, I am Iran’s strongman who is responsible for the Iranian
military's expansion in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Palestinian,” she
wrote.







Among his many handlings, Soleimani is the godfather of Iraq’s infamous
“Asaa’ib Ahl Al-Haq” (AAS) brigade, a Shiite paramilitary terrorist group
responsible for dozens of atrocious attacks and murdering of both Iraqis and
Americans.

Iran supports al-Qaeda

Not only is Iran responsible for sponsoring Shiite terrorist groups, but
Sunni ones too.

In fact, according to the U.S.’s own State Department, Tehran was home to a
number of Al-Qaeda facilitators and high ranking financiers. These
accusations are also backed by findings of the U.S. Treasury Department as
well.



Now, some would argue that it would be biased and/or naive to leave out Arab
countries, such as Saudi Arabia, out of the equation and blame most of the
regions problems on the mischievous Iranian regime.

On the contrary, it would be biased and/or naïve NOT to blame Iran for such
problems. After all, yes there are terrorists in Saudi Arabia and there are
people who financed terrorism, but these are officially outlaws, who are
either in jail, being hunted down or are hiding in the caves of Tora Bora or
some other remote area.

The same, sadly, doesn’t apply to the terrorists of Iran; these are in
uniform, hold government positions and are not bothering to hide their evil
plots anymore!

____________
Faisal J. Abbas is the Editor-in-Chief of Al Arabiya English, he is a
renowned blogger and an award-winning journalist. Faisal covered the Middle
East extensively working for Future Television of Lebanon and both Al-Hayat
and Asharq Al-Awsat pan-Arab dailies. He blogs for The Huffington Post since
2008, and is a recipient of many media awards and a member of the British
Society of Authors, National Union of Journalists, the John Adams Society as
well as an associate member of the Cambridge Union Society. He can be
reached on @FaisalJAbbas on Twitter.