*Ending wars and terrorism is a noble aspiration, which confronts the reality of NO intra-Muslim peaceful coexistence during the last 14 centuries. In fact, since 1948, intra-Muslim wars have featured a toll of mega-million fatalities (e.g., 3 million killed during two civil wars in the Sudan, 3 million during the Pakistan-Bangladesh war, over 1 million during the Afghan civil war, close to 1 million Syrians killed by Hafiz and Bashar Assad, 1 million killed during Iran-Iraq war, 350,000 in Yemen’s civil wars, etc.) compared with some 130,000 Arabs killed in Arab wars against Israel.
*Ending wars and terrorism must contend with the 14-century-old reality of intra-Muslim unpredictability, violent intolerance, ethnic and religious fragmentation, despotism, tenuous regimes-policies-accords, intrinsic terror and subversion. Not an “Arab Spring,’ but an “Arab Tsunami!”
*Ending wars and defeating terrorism mandates a regime-change in Iran, which has become the chief global epicenter of anti-US terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and proliferation of advanced military systems all the way to Latin America and the US homeland.
*46 years of the US diplomatic option, and 40 years of US and UN economic sanctions (including crippling maximum pressure sanctions), have failed to moderate Iran; in fact, bolstering its anti-US capabilities. Economic sanctions are relatively ineffective when imposed on fanatical, apocalyptic regimes, and in view of the litany of financial, trade and diplomatic ways to bypass sanctions through third parties, which oppose sanctions. Moreover, as documented by the Biden Administration, economic sanctions are reversible by a succeeding President. In fact, Iran’s defiance of economic sanctions has enhanced its strategic posture, regionally and globally.
*Iran’s regime-change would remove the Ayatollahs’ machete from the throats of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and all other pro-US Arab regimes, reducing regional and global violence. It would expand the Abraham Accords to Saudi Arabia, Oman and possibly Kuwait, Indonesia and additional Muslim countries.
*Ending wars and defeating terrorism requires recognition of the central role played by the 1,400-year-old fanatical, religious and imperialistic ideologies/visions, which transcend financial and diplomatic benefits. Fanatical, religious and megalomaniacal ideologies have driven Shiite terrorists (e.g., Iran’s Ayatollahs, Hezbollah and the Houthis) and Sunni terrorists (e.g., the Muslim Brotherhood and its branches, such as Hamas), mandating them to bring “apostates” and “infidels” to submission.
*Money talks in Western societies, but fanatical ideologies walk when it comes to Iran, Hezbollah, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and the PLO (Palestinian Authority), as documented in their foundational charters, school curriculum, mosque sermons, official media, public monuments and financial support of terrorists’ families.
*Ending wars and defeating terrorism is preconditioned upon the realization that school curriculum is the most effective production-line of terrorists, and the most authentic reflection of rogue entities’ strategy/vision. School curriculum transcends moderate statements shared with the West. These statements represent the art of Taqiyya (dissimulation), which aims to mislead and overcome the “infidel” West.
*In the Middle East, one does not pay custom on words. Western preoccupation with (the comforting) moderate Middle Eastern talk, tends to obscure the (inconvenient and frustrating) Middle Eastern walk, that is frequently the reverse of the talk. For example, US emissaries to the Middle East are exposed to a barrage of pro-Palestinian Arab talk, while the Arab walk on the Palestinian issue has been (since 1948) anywhere from indifferent to negative. Thus, the six Israel-Arab peace treaties were not preconditioned upon the establishment of a Palestinian state.
*Contrary to Western policy makers, pro-US Arabs are preoccupied with the intra-Arab Palestinian walk, which has transformed the Palestinian into a role model of intra-Arab terrorism and treachery (e.g., Palestinian-Muslim Brotherhood terrorism in Egypt in the 1950s, Syria – 1960s, Jordan – 1970, Lebanon – 1970-1982, Kuwait – 1990). Arabs are aware of the systematic alignment of Palestinians with radical global entities, such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Bloc, Ayatollah Khomeini, international terrorism, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, China and Russia. The Palestinian track record has convinced the pro-US Arab regimes that a Palestinian state would add fuel to the Middle East fire, toppling Jordan’s pro-US Hashemite regime, transforming Jordan into an uncontrollable entity and another platform of Islamic terrorism. It would undermine the stability of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt and all pro-US oil-producing Arabian Peninsula regimes, benefiting Iran’s Ayatollahs (who may gain control of 48% of global oil reserves), the Muslim Brotherhood, Russia and China; thus, dealing a blow to Western trade, economy and homeland security.
*Middle East reality has documented that the Palestinian issue is NOT the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict, NOT a core cause of Middle East turbulence and NOT a crown-jewel of Arab policy makers.
*Ending wars and terrorism, on the one hand, and snatching Hamas and Hezbollah from the jaws of obliteration, on the other hand, constitutes an oxymoron, which allows terrorists to recuperate, and plan the next wave of terror.
*Minimizing wars and terrorism, on the one hand, and disengaging from the Middle East (the chief epicenter of anti-US Islamic terrorism), on the other hand, is a contradiction in terms. While the US may wish to disengage itself from the bases of Islamic terrorism, Islamic terrorists do not intend to disengage from the US. Would the US prefer to fight Islamic terrorism in the terrorists’ trenches, or in the US trenches (e.g., NYC, San Bernardino, Orlando, etc.)?!
*Negotiation and deal-making are perceived by the West as a step toward reconciliation, but for terrorists it is a step toward regrouping and bringing the Western “infidel” and the “Great American Satan” to submission.
*As comforting as a hand-shake with Middle East terrorists (and their supporters) may be, President Trump is surely aware that Leopards don’t change their spots; only their tactics!
