foreign policy – Rick Crawford for Congress

I’m a bit of a history buff – but not a historian. That is to say while I love to read and study history, occasionally I get my dates confused and sometimes speak in general terms as they apply to specific historic events. However, I do vividly remember the late 1970s, the early days of the “Islamic Revolution”, and the blatant non-response to an attack on what is considered by international law sovereign U.S. soil – a critical event that forever changed the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and around the globe.

I was only in the seventh grade when all this took place, but I do recall the outrage of our nation as we viewed the televised images of our accosted countrymen and women held hostage for 444 days with only an impotent response, at best, from a President who evidently placed little value on our national sovereignty.

Since then, I have read several historical accounts of the Islamic Revolution and feel like I have a pretty good handle on the events that precipitated the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the ensuing hostage crisis.

What I think our leadership today appears to be overlooking is the fact that 30 years removed from those historic events, the very people who implemented the Islamic Revolution – radical, extremist mullahs and their followers under the direction of the Ayatollah Khomeini – are the very people now “governing” Iran, a rogue nation and state sponsor of international terror on the cusp of nuclear capability.

The regime currently wielding power in Iran is harshly suppressing the rights of its citizens, silencing their dissent in a manner reminiscent of Tienanmen Square in 1989. At the very least, I would expect a modicum of disapproval verbalized by the administration, but thus far the White House has been virtually mum on this issue that has even the president of France (among other historically liberal European leaders) expressing condemnation. This apparent lack of moral indignation is cause for concern.

All that to say this: I think the citizens of our own country are as hungry for genuine leadership as citizens of other nations around the world are for liberty and freedom, evidenced by the unfolding events in Iran.

It seems apparent that our President and his administration have no intention of addressing this potential crisis in the making in a meaningful way. That responsibility then falls to our elected officials in Congress. I wonder how much longer we’ll have to wait for someone in Washington to take an official position.

30 years is long enough.