It’s the question that plagues every high school student who learns in history class about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis:
How could the world be so clueless?
We’ve heard the story:
Hitler bucked the international community again and again. And, with each transgression, European leaders and diplomats protested loudly, but did little. By the time that England and France declared war on Germany, of course, it was too late: The whole of Europe was ripe for Nazi invasion, and my grandparents and millions of other Jews were already being carted off like animals to the concentration camps.
You know the rest.
World War II ended six decades ago. And with each year that passes, we look with more disdain upon the hapless leaders who failed to stop Hitler, and we become ever-more complacent that we could never repeat their mistakes. We see grand appeaser Neville Chamberlain, in effect, as we do that girl in the slasher movie — you know, the one who always goes where the killer is hiding:
“No, don’t go upstairs, you idiot! He’s gonna get you! Oh, God.”
Surely we would never go upstairs. We’d go out the front door, like the stupid girl should have. And surely we would never allow a murderous leader to match dangerous words with actions. We’d stop him before it was too late, like Chamberlain and the stupid Europeans should have … Right? Anyone? Bueller?
August 2005. Enter Mahmoud Ahmadinejad onto the world stage.
Shortly after assuming the presidency of Iran, a country that has been clandestinely developing nuclear weapons for years, Ahmadinejad made waves by calling the Holocaust a “myth” and declaring that Israel must be (and will be) “wiped off the map.”
The Islamic Republic already has Shahab-3 missiles that can reach Israel — which are paraded through the streets of Tehran with banners in Farsi calling for Israel’s annihilation — meaning that the moment Iran acquires nuclear weapons, they will become operational.
So, what is being done to stop Ahmadinejad from obtaining the means to perpetrate another Holocaust?
Well, with America bogged down in Iraq, the Bush Administration has largely outsourced this foreign-policy challenge to the United Nations and company, who are doing in response to the Iran threat what they do best — absolutely nothing.
In fact, not only is the United Nations not isolating the Iranian leader after he defecated on the U.N. charter by calling for the destruction of a member state … It has twice lavished upon this latter-day Hitler the honor of addressing the General Assembly, most recently last week.
Following his last rant to the General Assembly, Ahmadinejad was caught on videotape telling a cleric that, as he was speaking at the podium, there was “a light around me, and I was placed inside this aura … I felt the atmosphere suddenly change, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink. … And they were rapt. It seemed as if a hand was holding them there and had opened their eyes to receive the message from the Islamic republic.”
It might be tempting to write Ahmadinejad off as a religious man on an acid trip, but there’s more he said that should scare the living Shi’ite out of us all.
After his thirteenth invocation of “Allah,” and his expected denunciations of the U.S. and the “Zionist regime,” Ahmadinejad closed this year’s speech as follows: “Oh, Almighty Allah … Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause.”
Ahmadinejad made a similar appeal in last year’s speech. That the mainstream media largely ignored it both times leads me to believe either that they’re unaware of the Islamic reference Ahmadinejad is dropping or, more likely, that they’re perfectly aware of it yet too politically correct to address it.
For those of you who haven’t taken Professor Powers’ NES 255: Introduction to Islamic Civilization, let me, with my admittedly limited understanding of Shi’ite eschatology, fill you in.
It’s simple, really. Just like Christianity and Judaism, Islam believes in an End of Days. Shi’ites, in particular, speak of a messianic figure called the Twelfth Imam (“the perfect human being promised to all by you”) that will usher in this new age, which will involve the usual messianic lore — truth and justice, brotherhood among mankind, killing all the infidels and, of course, a world united under Islamic rule.
Is it a stretch to say that a man who yearns for this apocalypse may have less hesitation in pressing the nuclear button and igniting World War III?
For a few weeks this summer, it looked like the international community might actually prevent that from happening. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment by August 31 or face — cue ominous music — “additional measures.”
Iran, of course, answered the deadline with its middle finger.
So, what are these “additional measures”?
Well, the international community can’t seem to make up its mind.
Russia and China, two of the five permanent members of the Council, are threatening to veto any punitive action against Iran. (Both have substantial business interests there.)
Uncle Sam is calling for sanctions, but is too distracted by Iraq and the midterm elections to seriously pursue them for now.
Thankfully, we have Aunt Europe to come to the rescue. After Iran’s rejection, Jacques Chirac and other European leaders sprung into action and threatened Iran with — you guessed it — a new round of talks.
European leaders can afford to dither. Iran’s nuclear missiles won’t be aimed at Paris and Berlin. But they will be aimed at Tel Aviv and Haifa. And when that time comes, Jews will again be forced to pray that a man who has vowed their destruction will not follow up on his dangerous words.
Mark Twain was right: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
Just like it was 70 years ago, the world today is facing a test. If it fails, then in another 70 years, in history classes everywhere, our grandchildren may just be asking themselves a familiar question:
How could the world be so clueless?
Ben Birnbaum is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at bhb9@cornell.edu. Infomaniacs Anonymous appears Tuesdays.