Unconditional Surrender

The West Cannot Stop at Iran’s “Rhine”

The time has come to re-introduce “unconditional surrender” into warfare. Since WWII wars don’t actually end but rather they give time for the wrong side to regroup and create chaos and cruelty down the line. There is a war going on between the West and Iran, and Israel is bearing the brunt of the damage. While we are all concentrating on making sure that Iran does not have nuclear capabilities, we are quickly learning that conventional ballistic missiles are also dangerous and destructive to a degree we have not seen before. Ukraine has suffered from Russian ballistic missiles and now Israel is suffering from Iranian missiles. The ton or ton and a half of explosives dwarfs what Israel has faced in the past and even the rooms that have been built as a replacement for bomb shelters are not strong enough to withstand the blast. These rooms, built in all new houses and apartments over the past few years are called in Hebrew a “mamad” a “residential protected space”.

These rooms are meant to protect from direct hits from lighter rockets and from the blast or shock wave and shrapnel from larger missiles. It was never meant to protect from direct hits as the older bomb shelters were. Over 20 Israelis have been killed since Friday and while most are from those who were not in protected rooms or shelters, at least two were killed from direct hits to a “mamad”.

This changes the nature of the war in Israel as these shelters along with the layered anti-missile and rocket defense don’t provide enough protection to give Israel time to destroy the enemy without loss of civilian life. Many people have even blamed the excellent defensive systems for the fact that we were able to ignore Hamas for so many years leading to October 7. There is some truth to that, but not enough to justify not having these defensive systems in place.

The fact remains that Iran is a terrorist state no less than Hamas is in Gaza and Hezbollah is (was?) in Lebanon. The Islamic Republic of Iran sends rockets, missiles and drones, willy nilly, into residential areas knowing that while 75 of their missiles will be shot down and many others will land harmlessly, all they need are 1 or 2 of each barrage to hit a building and cause civilian deaths for it to be a “successful” attack for them. The “world” - a term I am beginning to laugh at – still treats the Islamic Republic as a legitimate government. It has long ago lost its legitimacy, but the “world” is so in love with cruel dictatorships that it will respect whomever is in power, as long as they were not democratically elected (but that is a story for another day). It is time to demand unconditional surrender from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This means that if the Iranian people do not overthrow the government then the country will be attacked until it does or the government unilaterally surrenders. The diplomatic community, or at least that not associated with the Axis, needs to isolate the Islamic Republic and encourage the formation of a government in exile or the formation of alternative civilian leadership in Iran itself. It needs to actively work towards the dissolution of the Islamic Republic and not coax them to the negotiating table. The use of ballistic missiles against civilian populations ought to be unacceptable for the civilized world. And the fact that many of these missiles are launched from the middle of Teheran itself means that they have either taught or learned from Hamas and Hezbollah that the destruction of their own population is a legitimate military tactic. There should be no negotiations on their nuclear program or their missile program until they surrender. Then terms should be imposed on Iran. Much as their nuclear program was never meant to produce “clean” energy their missile program was never meant to defend the country but rather to kill civilians and destroy civilian infrastructure. No nuclear program and no ballistic missiles need to be part of the unconditional surrender.

Israel, the Gulf States and every other country that the Islamic Republic has threatened over the years has to know that they won’t be targeted by the heavy missiles. The war cannot end with “quiet” and it cannot end with some limit on nuclear enrichment – it must end with a complete destruction of their nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities and the regime that created it. They had the option of just giving up their nuclear capabilities and they turned it down. They must now be made to give up all.

The Arab governments that are profiting from Israel’s war fighting capabilities and the sacrifice of its civilians have to stop calling for negotiations and stop condemning Israel. Two days of these missiles would destroy Saudi Arabia – and they know it. The time has come for them, the rest of the Gulf states, for Europe, east, west and central to align and demand unconditional surrender. Israel cannot be asked to take these sacrifices and then be asked to risk another operation like this in the future. To do so would be like the United States joining the UK to fight Nazi Germany but only until the Rhine – then negotiating a “deal” so as to “avoid more bloodshed” – leaving, for example just the “technocratic” Nazis in power. The Europeans and the Arabs who call for a cease fire and a negotiated end to the war are being disingenuous. They know so well that they will be the next victims of these missiles – nuclear or conventional - but their cowardly talk about “negotiations” just because Israel is doing the fighting, must be called out.

Either you are an ally in the fight to rid the region of the Islamic Republic or you are on the outside looking in with no say in the future settlement. This goes as much for the UK, France and Spain as it does for Saudia Arabia, the UAE or Oman. This cannot be just Israel’s fight because it is not just Israel’s fight. Since the terror attacks of the 1960’s or before Israel has been on the forefront of the fight against terrorism. The entire civilized world has paid the price for appeasing these terrorists and pressuring Israel to come to “negotiated solutions”. This must end. The west, led by the United States must demand unconditional surrender and not stop until there is a new power in Iran. India has to be mentioned here as the only country that seems to understand this as some reports have them threatening Pakistan if they materially support Iran.

There are reports that the US is sending massive amounts of air power and refueling tankers to bases in Germany and elsewhere. If true and if this is for the fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran that is very welcome. But the language must change, too. No more pressure to bring them back to the negotiating table. They have to understand that they are a threat to the world and they will not remain in power any longer. The Iranian people and opposition must understand this too so they can take action and save their country from destruction.

This is the only acceptable end to this war. If Israel insists on anything less, it will have betrayed its people.

If the United States and the lesser Western countries insist on anything less, they too, will have betrayed their people.

There must be an all-out effort to rid the world of the Islamic Republic whose only mission has been to destroy Israel and then destroy western civilization. Like in 1945, we can’t stop at the Rhine.