The Iranian and Saudi Regimes Must Go

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As political uprisings and civil wars rage in the Middle East, and as America’s self-crippled efforts to defeat Al-Qaeda and the Taliban limp on, the need to identify and eliminate the primary threats to American security becomes more urgent by the day.

As you read these words, the Islamist regime in Iran is sponsoring the slaughter of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan,1 funding Hamas and Hezbollah in their efforts to destroy our vital ally Israel,2 building nuclear bombs to further “Allah’s” ends,3 chanting “Death to America! Death to Israel!” in Friday prayers and political parades,4 and declaring: “With the destruction of these two evil countries, the world will become free of oppression.”5

The U.S. government knows all of this (and much more), which is why the State Department has identified the Islamist regime in Iran as “the most active state sponsor of terrorism” in the world.6

Meanwhile, the Islamist regime in Saudi Arabia is funding American-slaughtering terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban,7 building mosques and “cultural centers” across America, and flooding these Islamist outposts not only with hundreds of millions of dollars for “operating expenses” but also with a steady stream of materials calling for all Muslims “to be dissociated from the infidels . . . to hate them for their religion . . . to always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law” and, ultimately, “to abolish all traces of such primitive life (jahiliyya) and to reinforce the understanding and application of the eternal and universal Islamic deen [religion] until it becomes the ruling power throughout the world.” The Saudi-sponsored materials further specify that those who “accept any religion other than Islam, like Judaism or Christianity, which are not acceptable,” have “denied the Koran” and thus “should be killed.”8

None of this is news, at least not to the U.S. government. The Saudis’ anti-infidel efforts have been tracked, documented, and reported for years. As the Rand Corporation concluded in a briefing to a top Pentagon advisory board in 2002, “The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader.”9

What is the U.S. government doing about these clear and present dangers? Nothing.

Following the atrocities of 9/11, America has gone to war with Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya, but it has done nothing of substance to end the threats posed by the primary enemies of America: the regimes in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Instead, the Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, continues the policy of seeking “negotiations” with the Iranian regime and calling the Saudi regime our “friend and ally.”

This is insanity. And it is time for American citizens to demand that our politicians put an end to it. The Iranian and Saudi regimes must go. And in order to persuade American politicians to get rid of them, American citizens must make clear that we won’t settle for anything less.

Of course, the Obama administration is not going to take any pro-American actions against either of these regimes. But Americans can and should demand that any politician—especially any presidential candidate—seeking our support in the 2012 elections provide an explicit statement of his general policy with respect to Iran and Saudi Arabia. And we should demand that the policy be along the following lines:

A Rational U.S. Policy for a Worthy Presidential Candidate Regarding Iran and Saudi Arabia

Americans (and our allies the Israelis) have a right to live free of fear that we might be killed by enemy regimes or their proxies. As president of the United States, I will do whatever is necessary to put an end to any and all regimes that pose such a threat. The primary threats in this regard, as the U.S. government well knows, are the regimes in Iran and Saudi Arabia, which, among other things, spawn, train, finance, and spiritually fuel terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda.

In addition to threatening and assaulting Americans and Israelis, these regimes and their henchmen assault and oppress the people of Iran and Saudi Arabia—many of whom want to live in a free and civilized society. The Iranian regime, for instance, has jailed, tortured, raped, and murdered countless dissidents who have spoken out against the regime.10 It has also tortured and stoned countless girls and women for the “crimes” of being raped or having premarital sex, hanged or beheaded countless homosexuals for the “crime” of being gay, and committed countless other atrocities in the name of “Allah.”11 The Saudi regime has a similar record.12

The Iranian and Saudi regimes are morally illegitimate. They have no right to exist. And their elimination is clearly in the best interests of both American citizens and the citizens of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Because the long-standing policy of seeking to negotiate with regimes that want to kill Americans for the sake of “Allah” is obviously futile, as president of the United States I will take a different tack. I will encourage the people of both Iran and Saudi Arabia to overthrow the regimes that oppress them and threaten us, and I will encourage them to establish free republics in place of the ousted regimes.

Given America’s ill-conceived military commitments around the world at this time, and given the apparent desire on the part of many Iranians and at least some Saudis to take down their respective regimes, I think this is the best approach to start with: full, firm, unequivocal moral support from the United States toward that end.

Taking down the evil regimes, however, is the easy part. The difficult part is establishing and maintaining free republics.

For Iranians and Saudis to create free republics will require great thought, coordination, and effort. But they are intelligent and capable people, and they have an excellent model from which to work: the United States as conceived by the Founding Fathers. As president, I will encourage the Iranian and Saudi people to read what the American Founders wrote on the subject—especially the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and the U.S. Constitution. And I will ask them to join Americans and the other (relatively) free people of the world as brothers and sisters in liberty by embracing the basic principle of a free society: that of individual rights.

This principle, which America upholds imperfectly today but which is still the essence of what America stands for, entails the right to life—the right to take all the actions necessary to support and further one’s life. It entails the right to liberty—the right to act on one’s own judgment, free from coercion by the state or others. It includes the right to property—the right to keep, use, and dispose of the product of one’s effort. It includes the right to the pursuit of happiness—the right to seek the goals and values of one’s own choosing. And, crucially, it entails the right to freedom of religion or conscience—which is the right of each individual to accept and express whatever ideas he thinks make sense, regardless of what others think or feel about those ideas.

These are the basic principles on which the liberation of a people and the establishment of a free republic depend, and these are the principles that, as president of the United States, I will encourage the Iranian and Saudi people to embrace and codify in their new governments.

Regarding U.S. military support for Iranian and Saudi rebels seeking to overthrow the evil regimes, as president, I will certainly be open to that possibility—but only in coordination with movements explicitly dedicated to the principle of individual rights and to the establishment of rights-respecting republics. Insofar as Iranian and Saudi rebels demonstrate that their movements are dedicated to these ideals, I will seek to provide them with whatever technology, weapons, and training are necessary to oust the current regimes.

Iranians and Saudis have suffered under tyranny for decades. That is no way to live. It is time for them to enjoy liberty. As president of the United States, I will encourage them to work toward that mutually self-interested end, and I will seek agreement from Congress to provide additional support as warranted.

My primary concern, however, will always be with the interests of the American people, and on this count the elimination of the Iranian and Saudi regimes is not optional. It is mandatory.

If the Iranian and Saudi people are unwilling or unable to oust their respective regimes in a reasonable period of time—say, within two months of my taking office—I will seek agreement from Congress to use the full force of the U.S. military to end the regimes by whatever means necessary. This force may include the use of nuclear weapons, it may include visits from our Navy SEALs, and it may include new surprises.

In any event, as president, I will do everything within my power to eliminate the regimes in Iran and Saudi Arabia. This is my solemn promise.

If Americans want to end the danger posed by the Iranian and Saudi regimes—and thus substantially solve our terrorism problem—we must demand that our politicians explicitly commit themselves to ending these regimes. There is no other way.

I urge you to demand that any candidate seeking your support explicitly embrace the foregoing policy (or its equivalent). Our lives may depend on it. Our security certainly does.

About Craig Biddle

Craig is cofounder and editor of The Objective Standard, cofounder and director of education at Objective Standard Institute, and executive director of Prometheus Foundation. He is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It; Rational Egoism: The Morality for Human Flourishing; and the forthcoming Moral Truths Your Parents, Preachers, and Teachers Don’t Want You to Know. He is currently working on his fourth book, “Thinking in Principles.”

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