Iran Leader Sounds Like a Democrat

Great story in today’s New York Times about the internal dynamics in Iran, detailing the corrupt and stupid leadership in that country.

One passage details the stupidity of the Ahmadinejad regime: “When Mr. Ahmadinejad was elected, he campaigned as a sort of an Islamic Robin Hood, promising to redistribute the country’s oil wealth from rich to poor. One of his first edicts was to order banks to lower interest rates to 12 percent from as high as 17 percent. The order, like others, backfired, making loans harder to secure. In another case, Mr. Ahmadinejad decided that the price of cement was too high. Mr. Rashadi, the economist, said the decree frightened away investors who had planned to build cement factories.”

Kind of sounds like the Democrats, doesn’t it? Attacking industry, attacking the free market, sounding like Robin Hood, screwing up the economy.

And of course, Iran wants us to leave Iraq, so it can consolidate its control over Iraq’s economy, and possibly its oil fields.

That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Let’s leave Iraq to the Iranians, so they can impose not only Iranian religious fundamentalism, but also Iranian socialism.

It would be nice if some of our policymakers took a wider view of what is happening in the entire region.

Iran is doing all it can to destabilize Iraq. They know that by sewing the seeds of confusion, anarchy and terror, they can increase the chances that we leave, giving them an opportunity to “fill the vacuum,” as Ahmadinejad put it last week.

We have been focused on Iran’s efforts to secure nuclear weapons, and that is important. But equally important is Iran’s efforts to secure Iraq’s oil fields. And that will happen quicker if we leave, which is the current plan for the Democratic leadership.

Of course, many from the loony left of the Democratic Party would prefer that we get rid of the combustion engine altogether, making all the concern over oil irrelevant. But to most Americans, who actually like their cars, oil is still important to their lives.

When we departed Vietnam with our tails between our legs, we lost a war and some of our prestige, and our departure inspired a bloodbath. If we leave Iraq, the stakes will be higher. Iran will win, and our national security and economic security will be challenged like never before. “Get Out of Iraq Now” makes a nice bumper sticker, but it makes for terrible public policy. Unless you are Iranian.