"Necessary Measures"

Michael Ledeen, The Corner:

My friend "Wretchard the Cat" posts Ambassador Khalilzad's speech on Iraq. It's worth reading, in no small part because of this paragraph:

...we have to be candid in acknowledging the challenge posed by a few countries, such as Syria and Iran. Tehran has played a role in providing extremist groups with arms, training, and money. The Iraqi government is increasingly concerned about Iran's destabilizing actions. Iran must decide whether it is irreconcilably opposed to a stable, strong, and democratic Iraq. If Iran persists in its unhelpful actions, the Iraqi government, as well as the United States and other friends of Iraq, will need to consider necessary measures to deny to Tehran the ability to undertake destabilizing policies.

Notice that he starts by talking about "Syria and Iran" and then only discusses Iran. That's the right model; Syria and Iran are fused at a low level of the anatomy, and Iran is the master in the relationship.

I guess for diplomats Khalilzad is "talking tough": he says we and the Iraqis and "other friends" will, ahem, "need to consider necessary measures."

Pfui. I'm sure a Nexis search would produce hundreds of such statements, which by now are forgotten as soon as they are uttered. If we had real leaders instead of the gang of appeasers—now two consecutive secretaries of state and their top Middle East people, along with the feckless National Security Council staff—we would have made life difficult for the mullahs, instead of bemoaning the murderous terror war they are waging against us and our friends and allies.