Dealing With Iran--When Our Nobile Principles Become Monsters

A prevailing notion “out there” is that good things happen when good people act upon worthy ideals. Conversely, bad things result from bad people acting upon the pursuit of evil. While this is often the case, terrible things can also result from worthy ideals being pursued to an inadvisable extreme.

To illustrate: Adolf Hitler was surely an evil person. In the mid 1930’s, he began rearming Germany and announcing his plans to annex and conquer much of Europe. Winston Churchill advised attacking immediately. Germany was then still fairly weak, and an all-out assault by England and France would have almost surely succeeded with relatively minimal loss of life. Instead, the British government of Neville Chamberlain chose to appease Hitler in the interest of peace. Addressing the House of Commons Churchill thundered, "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war." These words proved sadly correct. The ill-advised appeasement enabled Germany to continue arming itself until it felt fully prepared to initiate major hostilities. It then invaded Poland and WWII began. Six years and more than 50 million casualties later, the war ended.

Although the Germans were surely morally responsible for what occurred, the war was also caused by the normally praiseworthy quest of peace. Chamberlain’s failure to reverse positions and back a preemptive attack against Germany brought on WWII just as surely as Hitler did.

Every praiseworthy ideal thus has within it the seeds of terrible destruction. When carried too far, even the most noble of principles can become a monster. This is also true of the desire to advance the cause of religion and grow close to God. The following true vignette illustrates this point from a Jewish context.

Roughly 125 years ago in an Eastern European town where Jews lived, an edifice was erected for the purpose of housing a “Yeshiva,” a school dedicated to the study of ancient Jewish wisdom, primarily the Talmud. The hope was that it would upgrade the people of that entire region, both morally and intellectually. A world renowned rabbi came to speak at the building’s dedication. An eyewitness later related that his talk included the following point: as a matter of policy, the school’s heads must always be willing to close it down if necessary. But if they plan to keep it open at all costs, it would be best if the school were never opened. What was the meaning of this advice, and why was it given at such a joyous moment?

This, I believe, is what the rabbi meant. The school being opened was indeed a very positive development. Nevertheless, when initially exalted ideals are pursued at all costs and never reigned in, they can become terribly toxic and destructive; so much so, that if there was no iron-clad commitment to close the school if necessary, the rabbi advised that it would be better for it never to be opened in the first place.

Explosions seen during a military drill near the city of Zarand, Iran, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP)

The news stories of the day abound with instances of this dynamic. One example that comes to mind is that of Muslim Iran. For decades, it has been the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorist murder. The hideous imprints of its bloodstained hands have been left wherever civilized people live – most recently at the Boston Marathon. Now Iran is building nuclear weapons that will enable it to further threaten and wreck mayhem upon the planet. Clearly, both negotiations and economic sanctions have done absolutely nothing to stop its bomb building.

Seemingly, the US is repeating the same catastrophic 1930’s mistake made by England when dealing with Adolph Hitler. In the interest of “peace,” it is allowing Iran the years needed to arm itself with the weapons it seeks. Repeating this same colossal error in the case of Iran could lead to infinitely more human death than even the Nazis ended up causing. What is the US waiting for?? It should utterly destroy all of Iran’s nuclear facilities and end that threat to all of us while it still can - not tomorrow, but today!

As just mentioned, if Iran actually acquires nuclear bombs, there is no telling how much loss of human life may result. Were that horrific outcome to ever transpire, Heaven forbid, it would be due to a deadly recipe made up of two ingredients. The first is Iran’s unbending and consummately evil pursuit of murder. The second is the Western World’s unbending pursuit of peace.

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