STOPPING IRAN: PROCRASTINATION IS THE THIEF OF TIME

By Schmoel Yitzhak

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he laid his cards on the table.

He would punish the Jews plus all those who helped defeat Germany in World War I. And that was just for starters.

The Nazi dictator was in no great hurry because first he had to build the National Socialist State into a military juggernaut that it eventually would become.

But day by day; week by week, month by month, the signs were all evident and the Chancellor made no bones about his aims. After all, he had laid them all out in his infamous book Mein Kampf and, after reading it, no Jew in Germany could feel secure, let alone those throughout Europe's democracies.

Remarkably, no matter how vehement Hitler's demands; no matter how intimidating has fanatical Nuremburg rallies; no matter how abuses and restrictions against Germany's Jews increased, world leaders -- with precious few exceptions such as Winston Churchill -- either minimized the Nazi threats or ignored their genuine nature.

And we know what happened six years after the dictator had moved into the Reichstag; innocent Poland was invaded by the Wermacht; then the Low Countries; and that invasion set up the annihilation of the French army and, of course, the Russian invasion by the Nazi should not be overlooked either.

Every threat made by Hitler was carried out, virtually to the letter with the Holocaust being his ultimate evil assault on humanity.

Yet as the Germans planned their conquests, foes either ignored the warnings or groveled as the Nazi machine moved into gear; marching illegally into the Saar Basis, annexing Austria and then Czechoslovakia. The appeasers appeased until it was too late and even then, the world's most powerful democracy sat on the sidelines as Hitler marched -- and exterminated.

It took slothful President Woodrow Wilson more than three years before he hesitatingly inserted America into World War I to make "The World Safe For Democracy." And while Hitler burned Europe from West to East, Franklin Delano Roosevelt waited three years on the sidelines and still would not have entered World War II had Hitler not declared war on Uncle Sam immediately after Pearl Harbor.

Has Barack Obama learned anything from history? Hardly -- unless his game plan, as many believe, is simply to let Israel fall prey to the single most threatening nation since Hitler's Germany; Iran.

The mullahcracy as a world danger has been articulated by some prescient leaders, most notably Ariel Sharon. While others focused on Iraq and Afghanistan it was Israel's Prime Minister who accurately fingered the Iranians as the universal threat.

Sharon was ignored and Benjamin Netanyahu's warnings are being blown away by the irresponsible leaders both in American and Europe. Hitler didn't have an atomic bomb but Iran is hellbent toward making one, or two or three.

And like Hitler, Iranian leaders are making no bones about their plans, vis-a-vis Israel and the United States.

Earlier this Winter, Iran's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, told a cheering Tehran audience that "in light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (USA) will soon be defeated ... Allah's promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious."

Notice, he included Obama's favorite country as a target and there are some who believe that once Iran constructs nuclear weapons some might very well be pointed at Washington and New York.

Judging by the feeble responses from the White House, 10 Downing Street and Paris -- among other sleepwalking sites -- the Allies must believe that Khamenei is kidding. But he is not any more than Hitler was fooling around.

Sanctions aimed at thwarting the madmen in Tehran are merely treated by Khamenei as a sign of weakness; roughly equivalent to Hitler's contempt for France when the latter allowed him to march into the Saar, annex Austria and then the Czechs with virtual impunity.

The sanctions are merely the tool of White House procrastinators and as we all know, procrastination is the thief of time. Problem is, we're running out of time to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions.

In many ways sanctions are laughable. Exhibit A is Syria where international sanctions were meant to stop Bashar Assad from massacring civilians.

Documents indicate that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has given Assad more than $1 billion to help it overcome the oil embargo and other moves including restrictions of flights and sanctions against the central bank.

Exhibits B to Z include the United Nations, the Arab League, the European Union, et. al. which collectively have had no major impact on the Assad dictatorship.

One might have asked in 1914, when the Germans invaded tiny Belgium and then France, what President Wilson was waiting for if he was truly interested in aiding the threatened democracies. Ditto for FDR, who pathetically remained aloof while Great Britain was threatened with extinction and European Jews were being wiped out.

What is Obama waiting for as the clock ticks down to a nuclear attack on Israel and perhaps even America? Iranian calls to destroy the Jewish people are unparalleled since Nazi Germany.

American vigorous leadership is needed NOW. Uncle Sam has the military might to take out every single one of the Iranian nuclear facilities without fear of significant retaliation in the next months. Meanwhile, Obama fiddles.

Pay attention to Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's theory on White House policy-making and the Middle East.

"We're throwing Israel under the bus because we know we're going to be dependent on OPEC," Santorum said. "We're going to say, 'Oh, Iran, we don't want you to get a nuclear weapon -- wink, wink, wink, nod, nod -- go ahead, just give us your oil.' The president of the United States is selling the economic security of the United States down the river right now."

Not that the Republicans have been any bargain in the past. The GOP's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted along with Defense Secretary Gates that Israel not take any military action against Syria's nuclear plant. But Israel knew that the White House would diddle while the Syrians became a nuclear threat. Not long afterward Israel struck the Syrian reactor without Uncle Sam's approval.

This may have to happen to Iran because Obama never will respond to the Iranian threat any more than France responded to Hitler in 1936, 1937, 1938, and 1939. By 1940 France had been conquered by the Nazis.

Procrastination is the thief of time and, you can be sure, Benjamin Netanyahu does not want his country to be the victim.