OneJerusalem.org Conference Call with Senator Rick Santorum

We just wrapped up One Jerusalem’s most recent blogger conference call, with Allen Roth in his usual role as emcee. This morning’s call was an invaluable opportunity to speak for a little while with Senator Rick Santorum, the man who’s quickly becoming the Senate’s most prominent voice on the Shi’a threat facing the West. The call represents just one the many ways that One Jerusalem has been trying to emphasize the nature and scope the global Islamist threat: if you haven’t already, make sure that you also get the audio and video that they’ve got posted on Bernard Lewis’s speech from the Hudson UN conference. Video and audio should of the call with Sen. Santorum should be up shortly on the One Jerusalem homepage. We didn’t get everyone who was also on the call, but we did manage to catch : Jerry Gordon from IsraPundit, Pamela from Atlas Shrugs, Anne from Boker Tov Boulder, Ed Laskey from The American Thinker, Regime Change Iran, Liberally Conservative, Rick Richman from Jewish Current Issues and Gateway Pundit. There were at least a couple other people who we just didn’t hear clearly or recognize enough to figure out during the quick round of introductions.

Critical background for understanding the Senator’s position and recent actions:

– Power Line’s Sept. 7th roundup of the Senator’s legislation promoting Iranian reform

– The Senator’s Sept 12th floor speech eviscerating the Democratic reaction to President Bush’s 9/11 speech (K-Lo’s comment: “Would be nice to know that adult will still be in the room – on the floor – come January”)

The Senator is very clearly well past pulling punches either rhetorically or legislatively. There’s little debate about the “incredibly misguided and sick” goals of “Islamic fascism” – a term, incidentally, that the Senator had no problem using (as usual, anything in the post that has quotes is something we’re reasonably sure we wrote down precisely, though the transcript/audio should be checked for confirmation). The tangible threat comes from the nature. The Senator described how the death-cult ideology of Islamism folds perfectly into the tactic of terrorism, producing not only a “misguided and sick” philosophical-theological justification for atrocities but also a literally fanatical commitment to perpetuating those atrocities. In fact, what Sen. Santorum opened with is the point that got Bill Maher in so much trouble after 9/11: the enemy is by no means a coward. “They are a serious enemy… and they want to die for their God”.

Even this kind of deep fanaticism would not be as dangerous as it is if it didn’t have what Shi’a jihadism has at its disposal: an Iranian nation-state that can and does foment and project terror into Afghanistan and Iraq, and that seeks to do so with WMDs. In contrast to Al Qaeda-style Sunni jihadism of Al Qaeda, Shi’a extremists actually match their ideology of destruction with the resources to wipe out millions of people entire nations. The Senator describes the tangle around Iran’s nuclear threshold as the “ultimate question”, implicating as it does everything from the Western way of life to Israel’s literal existence (the latter in response to Rick Richman’s closing question).

He made clear that he’s aggressively moving forward on the Iran Freedom and Support Act. The Iran Libya Sanctions Act is coming up for reauthorization shortly, which it will obviously receive (background on bipart support for ILSA at RightWeb). The Senator said that he intends to attach IFSA’s financial elements to that bill, and then attach regime change support when ILSA hits the floor. During questions, he expressed his confidence in the “enormous support within Iran” for starting overthrowing the regime and creating a government that is “free and democratic” – he went so far as to talk about the potential for an insurgency that would be more or less peaceful. In response to the Iranian threat, the Senator recognizes that direct action has to be taken to overthrow the Iranian regime. Negotiations simply will not work, since the Iranian regime has made clear that they will seek to acquire nuclear weapons at all costs. He did not mince words on this issue: the State Department has been “uniformly uncooperative” on Iran and is “being played”, while the United Nations is “feckless” and “will not be at all helpful” in dealing with Iran. Regarding the Bolton nomination, he admitted that he didn’t know what Sen. Chafee’s near-term calculations were but expressed hope that Sen. Voinovich’s recent expression of support would be enough to move Bolton to the floor.

The battle against Iran must be “won on the streets of America”, by convincing the public that Iran represents an existential threat not just to Israel but to a centuries-old civilization that “loves life” in the face Shi’a jihadism valorization of death. Given that Senator Santorum seems to be not only one of the few people in Congress but one of the few people in government that is willing to face the true magnitude and nature of that threat, it is critical that he be re-elected in November. Your contributions can be made on his campaign website.