July 21^st

Pat Buchanan’s column today concerns “The Republican Party’s big dilemma with Iran.” I always like to see the Republican Party have a dilemma; I prefer that it be big but I’ll take what I can get. I must say that I would never have thought I’d agree with Buchanan about much of anything but his comments today strike me as being exactly right.

Buchanan points out that even if Congress votes to deny President Obama the authority to lift US sanctions on Iran,  Kerry will still vote with the rest of the Security Council to lift the sanctions. If Congress votes to kill the Iran deal it will humiliate this country with most of the world, Israel and the Saudis excepted of course; if Iran honors all the terms of the agreement, who will join us in any continuing sanctions? If Iran is sticking to the terms of an agreement, which we signed but Congress refused to ratify, how do we bomb their facilities which will then be swarming with inspectors? These are all points made by Buchanan in his column; it’s hard to disagree with him.

There is another side involved here and that is Iran: approval by Ayatollah Khomeini is decidedly iffy.  He is not happy with this deal either. The leader of the Red Guards is as violently opposed to this treaty as is Prime Minister Netanyahu. So we now have Brigadier General Mohammed ali Jafari, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Congressman Boehner, Senator Leslie Graham, the entirety of the Fox News editorial staff and Bibi Netanyahu all on the same side. I tell you this is a spectacle to treasure!

Buchanan points out that our primary enemy in the region is ISIS and al-Qaida, and that they have been aided by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The only one of those that should concern us is Turkey. Turkey was a secular state for years but that has begun to change. Normally when a fundamentalist Muslim group asserts itself in Turkish government the Army squashes it. This time that hasn’t happened…yet.

Now that could change: An ISIL suicide bomber blew him(?)self up in the Turkish border city of Suruc killing 32 people and wounding an unknown number of others. This is the first attack on Turkish citizens in Turkey by this terrorist group and the Turkish government is not yet doing much about it. There is no day of national mourning and no vow of military action. The result will probably be more ISIL attacks and those attacks will finally force the government’s hand. ISIL may have over-reached; an upset Turkey could be a major problem for them.