OPINION:
By now, it should be clear that the Islamist terrorists entered into President Trump’s memorandum of understanding ceasefire for the sole purpose of getting 4.12 million barrels of Iranian hydrocarbons off Kharg Island.
In typical fashion, they made an agreement simply to gain a strategic advantage. They knew that they could not be compelled to honor the ceasefire.
Conceptually flawed, the MOU foolishly presumes that we can kill an Islamic cleric’s father, hand over $325 billion and the cleric and his supporters will not lie, cheat or steal to get even. Mr. Trump should have considered how he would respond if the situation were reversed.
Destroying Iran’s oil infrastructure would have spiked worldwide energy costs for years, and the complete elimination of Iranian missile and drone capability is unlikely.
But rather than threatening to wipe out an entire civilization, the elimination of the terrorist theocracy would have required the removal of successive levels of radical Islamists and their loyal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership until moderate leadership emerged.
WILLIAM T. FIDURSKI
Clark, New Jersey
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