In spite of the near peaceful conditions now, it seems there are still efforts among many Democrats as well as some factions in Iraq to remove all U.S. troops quickly. I think that scenario is risky and something that Iraq should consider carefully before pursuing as an option. Here’s why.

Iran is an unfriendly neighbor. Iran has shown they are very willing to meddle in the affairs of their neighbors as they are doing well beyond Iraq in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Likewise, Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, already has long-range missiles, and is a destabilizing force in the region. That is a dangerous combination to have next door. Without a counter-balancing military force, it could be suicide for Iraq.

If the United States were to remove all combat forces who would be left to defend Iraq? Iraq has no air force to compete with Iran’s. Iraq has no heavy equipment or other weapons with which to repel foreign aggressors. In short, Iraq depends on the United States to keep Iran or any aggressor out of their borders.

Remember it wasn’t that many years ago that Iran and Iraq were at war. The 1980s saw massive casualties on both sides as these two regional powers battled it out. It was only with American help that Iraq was able to push Iran back and essentially end the war.

I’m guessing there are quite a few military personnel in Iran who dream of the day they can take revenge on Iraq. Without American forces, Iraq would be an easy target. If Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons, the picture is changed exponentially and gives Iraq almost no hope. Nuclear blackmail would be so easy for Iran to pull off.

So, with these things in mind, Iraq would be wise to consider the successes of Japan and Germany and welcome an American presence to manage their national security needs. From a purely self-interested point of view, Iraq would be wise to pursue agreements and offer incentives that keeps us there permanently. Without having to spend for national security, Japan and Germany were able to rapidly transition back into the role of economic superpowers. Iraq could do the same in short time. Why they don’t push for such agreements puzzles me.

Note - I’m not saying that long-term security agreements with Iraq would be in the best interests of the United States. I’m just arguing that Iraq (and the Democrats) should consider the risks of standing alone in a dangerous world before removing American forces.

After watching three debates and many speeches, we all know John McCain is not an eloquent speaker. His mannerisms sometimes appear strained, partly due to torture-related injuries received decades ago as a prisoner of war, and partly because he is not as refined as his opponent. However, in this election we’re choosing a leader, not a celebrity spokesman, and so those cosmetic factors should be of little concern given the grave issues we face as a nation.

With that in mind, there are at least 10 things I’d like to see John McCain address everyday on the campaign stump.  If he will fully embrace and show energy and emotion on these ten populist issues, I feel the election will be his to lose. However, if he won’t actively campaign on them, then he will be defined by his opponent and will miss the chance to paint Barack Obama as the extreme liberal he really is. Apart from a strong stance on these issues, the race will degenerate into a popularity contest for which McCain cannot win.

Here are 10 things I’d like to see McCain embrace in his campaign:

1.  Fighting pork and cutting government spending.

Obama likes to accuse McCain of using a hatchet instead of a scalpel when McCain proposes a broad spending freeze. If I were McCain I’d welcome that accusation and say “Just a hatchet? Give me a chain saw.” The simple truth is you cannot cut much with a scalpel but you can cut vast quantities more with a larger tool. Government has so much pork and excessive spending that we need a chainsaw to cut it all out.

2. Support for the War and the need to kill terrorists.

National security is still the President’s number one task.  McCain should talk daily about his successes in this area and drive home the need for a competent Commander in Chief who supports winning the War and not just withdrawing. The same should be said about Iran and their support of terrorism. Iran must also be stopped in their efforts to enrich uranium and make nuclear weapons. This is a serious international problem that the next President will have to deal with.

3. The Supreme Court.

The next President is likely to appoint at least two Supreme Court Justices as well as scores of federal judges. These are lifetime appointments. McCain says he will nominate strict constructionists. Obama supports those who will legislate from the bench. Need I say more?

4. Abortion and the right to life.

Embracing a culture of life is critical to the survival of our nation. Forty million abortions since Roe v. Wade is equivalent to exterminating more than the entire population of California. To kill that many Americans today would mean that more than 13 out of every 100 of us would have to die.  Protecting life should be talked about everyday by a candidate who believes a baby’s human rights begin at conception.

5. Support for traditional marriage.

A huge majority of Americans are in favor of protecting marriage as a sacred institution between one man and one woman. Obama wants to redefine and distort the definition of marriage to include same gender arrangements. Americans need to know about this massive difference between the candidates.

6. Obama’s radical friends and associations.

Obama has a history of incredibly poor judgment in the area of his friends and associations. There are so many long-term radical associations in his past that it is hard to believe him when he claims that he is not a radical himself. Americans deserve to know the full story about William Ayers, Reverend Wright, Father Pfleger, Tony Rezko and ACORN to name just a few examples.

7. Oil and energy.

Drill here, drill now. Build more nuclear power plants. Develop more energy sources. We need to treat our lack of a viable energy policy as a national emergency and work to become energy independent ASAP.

8. Taxes and the economy.

With his “spread the wealth around” Marxist philosophy, Obama must be stopped before he transforms the American tax code into one that resembles a communist system.  Obama’s promise to give 95% of Americans a tax cut when only about 65% pay any income taxes amounts to such a system. Americans must be told the truth until it hits home.

9. Dangers posed by Russia and China.

Russia and China have been flexing their military muscles in more aggressive patterns over the past few years. We need a President who is willing to confront them, stare them down, and put them in their place when they bully other nations.

10. Name names and push a reform agenda now.

John McCain needs to live up to his nickname as The Sheriff and aggressively take on corrupt interests — especially Democrats in Washington — and those who led Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac down the path of corruption. McCain called for reforms of Fannie and Freddie years ago but few know that.  During that time, Obama, on the other hand, was taking huge sums in campaign contributions from these corrupt organizations. McCain needs to name names and push a strong reform agenda now.

I think if McCain aggressively addressed these ten areas he would win a landslide victory. Most voters are looking for a leader who will leave them alone to pursue the American dream, will take on the bad guys, and will protect our national interests and traditional values. John McCain needs to hurry up, step up to the plate and build the case that he is just that leader.

Barack Obama is saying conflicting things about Iran. On some days and for some audiences Obama tells us that Iran is not a threat. On other days and for other audiences he tells us they are a threat. Which one is it, Barack Obama?

Don’t take my word for this. Watch for yourself. Here’s what he said today (June 4, 2008) to the pro-Israel AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) about Iran being a threat.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But wait, contrast this with some statements in Billings, Montana from May 18 that Iran is not a threat. (Taken from FoxNews with an earlier Obama statement saying Iran is a “grave threat” to us.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Make up your mind, Mr. Obama.  What do you really think. (Or will you just say what you think people want to hear to get elected?)

Looking over headline events of late, it is easy to become pessimistic over the course of world affairs. From one end to the other there seems to be problems. Over the past five years I have moved from cautiously optimistic to down-right concerned at times. Here are some of the reasons why I am concerned over the storm clouds that I see gathering.

• Iran — I don’t see much efforts to stop the next Hitler. We killed off one Hitler in Saddam Hussein and that was reason for optimism. I am concerned, however, over the lack of seriousness taken by most nations to the grave dangers posed by a nuclear Iran.
• Russia — The reports I hear is that it’s looking more like the Soviet Union there of late. Putin’s political enemies are mysteriously dying while he appears to be amassing power.
• The Democrats — I don’t see a single leading Democrat among the Presidential contenders who has a backbone strong enough to take on the terrorists in Iraq let alone deal with preventing a nuclear Iran. There is lots of talk but no assurance of any serious action to stop terrorists and emerging threats.
• The Republicans — I don’t see what I would call a truly good national leader in the whole party. There are pockets of strength and some promising individuals but I’m afraid the glaring problems are more evident right now.
• Erosion of Human Rights — There are massive human rights problems in dictatorial parts of the world like Myanmar and Darfur. Other nations like Russia are experiencing a regression into a totalitarian-styled regime. Even many western nations are limiting freedoms in the name of hate-crimes legislation and anti-terrorism laws.
• Energy Policy — It seems that most of the world’s supply of energy is concentrated within political hot spots — dangerous places that are politically unstable and undesirable trading partners. And to make matters worse, most Democrats continue to oppose enhancing our domestic capabilities to produce energy. That’s simply wrong and very short-sighted. It makes us and our economy extremely vulnerable.

So with these things in mind, there is a lot to be concerned about. I offer them as a warning of pending danger given the current direction and trends. However, even though storm clouds are gathering, that does not guarantee a storm is coming. A strong wind of change could sweep through and blow these problems away. It’s also comforting to know that even within a storm there are reasons for hope and places of shelter. It’s also true that most of the time things are not as bad as they appear.

It’s time the Western world wakes up and recognizes that we are now fighting World War III. The sad truth, though, is many who should be allies are sitting on the sidelines while the axis of evil feverishly gets stronger by building weapons that could truly disrupt our lives and kill millions within seconds.

Since many barely have a clue about what’s going on, I’ll spell it out plainly. World War III is between the West (and I include Israel in this classification) and Radical Islam. The opening shots were fired in the 1970s and barely anyone noticed. Over the next decades other battles were fought and the West essentially gave ground each time. We saw the fall of Iran to radical elements, the Marine barracks attack in Beirut, the first World Trade Center bombing, the U.S.S. Cole attack, the African embassy attacks, and then 9/11. In each of these cases it was Muslim terrorists attacking Western interests. And in the case of Israel, there were too many wars and homicide bombings on their homeland, civilian populations and military to even mention at this time.

Over the past 30 years thousands of Western civilians and soldiers have died. Yet, from a historical perspective, in the grand scheme of war relatively little has been done to end these attacks for good. The American-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have, in my opinion, reduced the number of attacks on civilian targets by refocusing the enemy on trying to outlast the American military presence. In the case of Israel, they have enjoyed more peace while they have occupied Palestinian and Lebanese territories and personally handled security there (ridding them of terror elements).

But in reality, the bulk of these military moves are only temporary stopgap measures. The truth is we have not killed enough radicals to break their will and put fear in their hearts. And part of the reason for this oversight, in my opinion, is the restraint placed on Western military leaders by their civilian counterparts. In short, American and allied military forces are not being allowed to get all the bad guys simply because civilian leaders don’t have the stomach for the temporary backlash brought on by the carnage of war.

Why is this so? Because our leaders don’t really recognize that we are really fighting World War III. They seem to still think we can negotiate and smart-bomb our way to a clean outcome of containment since this isn’t really a “real” war like the ones against Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire.

But if you listen to our enemies, it’s very real to them. They want to create an Islamic state in Britain, the United States and beyond. For Israel, they want to wipe them off the map and make the land uninhabitable through nuclear fallout.

Friends, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. We are at war. We must win. There can be no restraint and no substitute for unconditional victory. We MUST prevail or we or our children will be forced to live under the curse of sharia law. This is World War III and we must fight it with all the vigor and will that we showed as Americans in winning World War II.

So it’s time to put the world on notice and make them choose sides. We should stop pandering to so-called “moderate” Muslim governments that smile at us and then finance our enemy behind out backs. We should not allow Hugo Chavez to squander the Venezuelan people for his ego trip alliance with Iran’s madman. He should be put on notice that his days are numbered since he is allied with a terrorist on our most-wanted list. He is aiding and abetting the enemy and that makes him the enemy too.

It’s time to formally align ourselves militarily with Israel just as we have with the United Kingdom and other nations. An attack on Israel is an attack on us and vice versa. Let’s work together more closely and openly fight this fight together. It’s time for Europe to end their anti-Israel bias and think about reality. Has Israel ever attacked or even threatened them on their soil as so many radical Muslims have?

Understanding and acknowledgment that we are fighting World War III should produce the changes needed to actually win this long war. It would force us to pour more resources into the fight and let the military do what they do best and that is kill the enemy and break his things. As much as I hate collateral damage and civilian casualties, we can’t be so averse to these things that it leads the enemy to hide among civilians to achieve a safe haven. The enemy must be killed and pushed to exhaustion knowing that their only safety is in surrender and giving up this fight for good.

Let’s fight World War III like we mean it and win!

Today I had the chance to participate in a very interesting teleconference sponsored by The Israel Project with former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dore Gold. Amb. Gold was Israel’s 11th ambassador to the United Nations (1997-1999) and is a leading expert on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. Amb. Gold is currently president of Israel’s Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA).

The threat posed by Iran was the dominant topic of Abm. Gold’s remarks. He made several main points including:

• Iran is attempting to project it’s power over the Middle East, Europe and ultimately beyond to directly confront the United States.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be held accountable for promoting genocide in threatening to “wipe Israel off the map.”
• Sunni Arab states now face a clear threat from Iran — with the increase of Sunni power in Iraq and the direct and indirect influence of Iran (using proxy groups), there is now a “Shiite crecent” emerging that threatens Jordan and other Sunni nations.
• With Shiites in Iraq and the Taliban in Afganistan no longer threatening Iran, they can now pour the majority of their military budget into missile programs, weapons of mass destruction, and their navy.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is part of an Islamic cult actively trying to accelerate the “end of days” by ushering in an apocalyptic moment.
• Stabilization of the Middle East requires the neutralization of radical Islam — Iran is the major source of instability in the region.
• Israel must maintain defensible borders — especially in the Jordan Valley where a pullout would be disastrous for the region.

Amb. Gold was foreign policy advisor to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. Amb. Gold also served as an advisor to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and was a member of the Israeli delegation at the 1998 Wye River negotiations between Israel and the PLO. In 1991, he was an advisor to the Israeli delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference.

Vice President Cheney recently described Iran as fishing in troubled waters. Everyday new revelations seem to support this assertion. Over the weekend additional information on mass-produced “explosively formed penetrators” (EFPs) was released that seem to show that a direct link of support is being provided to insurgents in Iraq from high-ranking officials in the Iranian government. (And I’ve said nothing about all the “wipe Israel off the map” Iranian retoric and their nuclear doublespeak.)

If these allegations are proven and it is indeed found that Iranian actions are leading to the death of American troops then what should be done, I ask? Is our government obligated to protect our troops from other enemies as well? By all means, yes.

I believe there is a direct link between Iran and the insurgency in Iraq. Any nation who seems to make “death to America” their national moto is probably actively looking for ways to kill Americans both now and in the future. I feel these actions are acts of war that must be addressed before more Americans die at their hands.

I am glad the President has sent another carrier group (the USS John Stennis) to the region. As a reported by British news sources (The Guardian, 2/10), there are other preparations (including more Patriot missiles and minesweepers sent to the region) being undertaken that could indicate President Bush is preparing for a possible military confrontation. (I have zero confidence in a diplomatic solution under Iran’s current leadership.)

It is encouraging to see a President who does his Constitutional job and protects our interests and our troops in harms way by providing more resources for their defense. It stands in stark contrast to another President who almost 30 years ago seriously dropped the ball on Iran, a grave shortcoming which made these events possible today. President Carter’s weekness at that crucial time emboldened our enemies to later attempt multiple attacks that ultimately brought us into this War now.

Let us be bold now and address the needs at hand before they grow into a radioactive mushroom cloud delivered by an Iranian missile.