Hopefully the End of Appeasement

45 years, 7 months, 18 days

June 21, 2025, marked the End of Appeasement. It has been a long journey…too long, and I am glad it is over.

I remember the beginning very clearly: November 4, 1979. I was a resident in Ophthalmology. Iran had been in turmoil for 2 years. The Shah was overthrown in November and the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an ardent Islamist Cleric returned from exile in February. The Shah, suffering from cancer, was granted asylum in the US in October. The radical Islamists stormed the US Embassy on November 4 and held the staff hostage to pressure for his return and execution.

President Jimmy Carter postured and protested but did nothing substantive. In April 1980, a failed hostage rescue plan, Operation Eagle Claw, further humiliated this country. The visage of Khomeini seemed to terrorize the US population. Our 3-year-old son cried whenever he saw the caricature of “The Captain”:

at a local grocery store:

as he was sure it really was Khomeini.

Although the hostages were released in January 1981 coincident with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the relationships between the US and Iran remained “complex”. Iranian backed proxies were responsible for the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut (17 Americans killed) and the destruction of the Marine barracks in Beirut (241 Americans killed) and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers (19 Americans killed). Iran was responsible for 1/6 of the US Service deaths in the Iraq war.

Under Obama, the seeds of the current hostilities were not only planted but watered and fertilized. The destruction of Israel had been a stated goal of the Islamic Republic since its inception. Under the “Iran Nuclear Deal” pushed by the Obama administration, the US lifted sanctions in return for the empty promises that Iran would not pursue nuclear weapons. More promises…more lies…more the West smoking “hopium”. Clearly, enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade has only one logical goal. To solidify this deal, in the waning hours of the Obama presidency, literal pallets of dollars were airlifted to Iran and no doubt bankrolled the Iranian proxies that have constituted the bulk of terrorism in the past decade. And again, Iran laughed at the stupidity of the Americans.

Like Hitler in Mein Kamp, the Islamic Republic of Iran had made its intentions abundantly and repeatedly clear. It viewed Israel as the “Little Satan” and the US as the “Great Satan”, both of which needed to be destroyed. Through its proxies, it launched a barbaric assault on Jews in October 2023, clearly punctuating its seriousness to do just that. All it needed was the means. It continued to enrich uranium past the point of peaceful uses. It failed to come to the negotiating table in the 60 days offered to them as an off-ramp from the destructive course it was pursuing. So…instead of yet more cowering in the corner, President Trump did what he said he would do. How refreshing.

Had Britain and France similarly forcefully countered Hitler’s militarization of the Rhineland in 1936, there was a reasonable chance that the horrors of the Second World War may have been avoided. Tyrants only stop when they are made to stop. Why is that lesson so hard to understand??

The world made a tragic mistake in 1936. It did not stand up to a bully and 80 million people died as a result. It is still too early to know how long of a reprieve we have— Armageddon is still a future certainty—but there is no question in my mind that we are safer now than we were a few days ago.