50 Years of Appeasement of Terrorist Nations Must End
Sept 12, 2001

       MARINA DEL REY, CA--September 11, 2001, was the horrific climax of fifty years of ever-increasing surrender--by American presidents to Middle Eastern dictators--of our basic right to property, liberty and life, said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

       Some examples:
       "Truman and Eisenhower began by ceding to Middle Eastern dictators the property rights in the oil that Americans and British discovered and developed.

       "After the surrender of property came the surrender of liberty. Iranian dictator Khomeini imprisoned American diplomats for more than 400 days. The Carter administration did nothing. Later Khomeini ordered the assassinations of British author Salman Rushdie and his American publisher, simply for exercising their right to free speech. The [first] Bush Administration looked the other way.

       "After the surrender of liberty came the surrender of life itself. Iran abetted the massacre of American soldiers in Saudi Arabia, and then Afghanistan abetted the destruction of our embassies in East Africa. Eager to appease these dictatorial regimes, Clinton either did nothing or launched a few public-relations bombs.

       "Terrorists succeed," said Dr. Brook, "through the sanction and support of the dictators behind them. And the dictators prosper when American presidents abandon their responsibility to defend our rights. President Bush has declared that he will make 'no distinction' between the suicidal terrorists and the governments that supported them. He must carry out this pledge. Their killings are not crimes, but acts of war. The only proper response to such acts is a war in self-defense. Any regime that deprives a single American citizen of his right to property, liberty or life must be met not with appeasement--but with the full force of America's military arsenal."

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Dr. Yaron Brook is available for interviews. To interview Dr. Brook or book him for your show, please e-mail media@aynrandcenter.org

For more articles by Yaron Brook, and his bio, click here.