Biden Surrenders To Pirates – Somewhere Jefferson Is Bowing His Head In Shame

Over two hundred years ago President Thomas Jefferson established a bedrock principle of American foreign policy. We do not pay ransom to pirates. Joe Biden is apparently preparing to walk away from that principle and shame the entire nation before the world.

Reports indicate that Biden is preparing to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds to the Ayatollahs in exchange for the release of American hostages. He will apparently attempt to justify this shameful action by claiming that the money will be used for “humanitarian” purposes. That even this administration can manage to trot out such an obvious lie is breathtaking.

Let’s be clear.

Biden has absolutely no ability whatsoever to control what the Ayatollahs do with the money he is about to give them. Any representation that he does is a blatant falsehood. Tehran will use the money however it so desires.

It is highly unlikely that the Ayatollahs will be putting the cash toward purchasing baby formula or poverty reduction programs. They are Islamic jihadists, and they will use the money to kill Americans, kill our allies, and further their objective of establishing a worldwide Islamic caliphate.

The Iranians have a nuclear weapons program. They are not enriching uranium as a ‘side hobby’ or just because they can. They already have missiles and aircraft that can deliver nuclear weapons. If they get the bomb they can wipe Israel from the face of the Earth.

Nations all over the globe are raising an alarm about the advanced state of the Iranian nuclear weapons program. The United Arab Emirates made this statement recently about Iran’s activities, “Such activities are neither consistent with the JCPOA nor have realistic peaceful uses and continue to be a source of profound concern to my country,” (The JCPOA is the agreement more popularly known as the Iranian nuclear deal.) Norway has noted that the Iranians have acquired significant “nuclear know-how” and that this knowledge is related to the development of nuclear weapons. There is no peaceful intent. Poland, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Australia have echoed these kinds of concerns.

The whole world gets it. Iran cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons and they are moving quickly to do so. The Saudis are so concerned that they appear to be moving ahead with their own nuclear program.

A recent report by the Institute for Science and International Security, authored by some of the world’s foremost experts on the Iranian nuclear program is worth quoting at length.

“Iran can now break out and produce enough weapon-grade enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 12 days, using only three or four of its advanced centrifuge cascades and little more than one-third of its existing stock of 60 percent enriched uranium. This breakout could be difficult for the IAEA to detect promptly if Iran took steps to delay inspectors’ access.”

“Using more of its remaining stock of 60 percent enriched uranium in the same three or four cascades and much of its stock of near 20 percent enriched uranium in the vast bulk of its production-scale cascades, Iran could produce enough weapon-grade uranium (WGU) for an additional four nuclear weapons within the first month of a breakout.”

“In the second month, using its further remaining stocks of 20 and 60 percent material and part of its stock of less than 5 percent low enriched uranium (LEU), Iran could produce enough WGU for another two weapons.”

“Using its residual stock of less than 5 percent low enriched uranium (LEU), Iran could produce enough WGU for an eighth weapon by the end of the third month.”

“In summary, Iran could produce enough WGU for five nuclear weapons in one month, seven in two months, and a total of eight in three months.”

The Iranians are potentially less than two weeks away from having atomic bombs.

While Iran moves aggressively to acquire nuclear weapons it is also continuing to spread violence and terror via more conventional means. Its surrogate Hezbollah continues to threaten Israel and is now estimated to possess 3000 missiles with which to attack Israel. In the past year, there have been at least 50 attempted Iranian terror attacks on Israeli targets worldwide.

In Yemen, the Iranians continue to arm the Houthis and push to destabilize the entire Arabian peninsula. Mines place offshore by the Houthis threaten the flow of oil from the Middle East to the entire world.

Inside Iran, the Ayatollahs cling to power and brutally crush all dissent. Protesters demanding democratic change are beaten, tortured, and imprisoned. Women daring not to cover their hair in public meet a similar fate. Special morality police patrol the subway to ensure women do not remove their head scarves.

President Jefferson found himself in the early 1800s confronting the North African Barbary pirates. He recognized quickly that negotiation with brigands and terrorists was bad policy. He sent in the United States Navy and Marine Corps and the rest is history.

Two hundred years later the man who sits in the Oval Office has decided to abandon the policy this republic has followed since its birth. Even as the Ayatollahs prepare to go nuclear, Biden has decided to surrender to pirates.