On the other hand, Ali Khamenei is even more upbeat than Condi Rice
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had as upbeat and chipper an assessment of the Lebanon war as did Condi Rice of the ceasefire, who spoke of “a strategic setback for the Syrian and Iranian regimes,” via AP:
“Your unprecedented holy war and steadfastness are beyond the limits of my description. It’s a divine victory. It is a victory of Islam,” Khamenei said in the message read by an announcer on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television. Hezbollah is heavily financed and backed by Iran’s Shiite Muslim theocracy.
“With God’s help you were able to prove that military superiority is not (measured) in the number (of soldiers), planes, warships and tanks. Rather, it depends on the power of faith and holy war,” Khamenei said.
“You have ridiculed the myth that the Zionist army is invincible,” he said. Khamenei said Israeli attacks that killed Lebanese civilians and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure have exposed “the real face of America and some European countries, side-by-side with the hated and repugnant Zionist face.”
It is only fair to expect more open aggression and boldness from Iran in the coming days. This war can only be won when an entire ideology is discrdited by its hopes being absolutely obliterated. We are very far from that when the President only dares name the enemy every three months or so, if even then.
August 18th, 2006 at 6:13 am
We must realize the absolute truth to the Khamenei statement quoted here:
“With God’s help you were able to prove that military superiority is not (measured) in the number (of soldiers), planes, warships and tanks. Rather, it depends on the power of faith and holy war”
The West does not (at prestent) have the faith, conviction or desire it needs to win this battle. Although we believe Muslim fanaticism to be an irrational behavior, their extreme devotion to their cause is their power. This is exactly the extent of faith and belief in our ultimate existence that we will need to acquire in order to defeat this enemy. Their will is far superior to ours and gives them the upper hand at present. Can we afford to wait until we have lost the better part of two or three major U.S. cities before our will to survive trumps all?