North Star Writers Group

I spent last Friday evening watching a film that all of you reading this column should see: "United 93." Watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001 again wrenched every emotion from the core of my being and left me awestruck at the outright valor of a group of utterly average Americans who fought back and gave their all on a moment's notice. It also reminded me of the stakes we face as a nation, of the "United 93" situation that now lies before us: Iran, their nascent nuclear program, and their "leader" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The situation in Iran grows ever more frightening by the day – Iran enriching uranium to make it weapons-grade, Iran obtaining BM-25 missiles from North Korea, all while Ahmadinejad makes one psychotic statement after another, be it denying the Holocaust or calling for Israel's annihilation. Suffice it to say, he does not possess the good sense that the USSR did, which caused the threat of mutually assured destruction to keep nuclear weapons from ever being used.

Logically, there can be only two outcomes to this situation: One, the United States and Israel stops Iran before it can produce and/or use a nuclear missile. Two, they do not and Iran has every opportunity to murder millions first. This is our "United 93" moment. We now know our opponent's intentions. And we needn't make cell phone calls to our families to find out; Iran has been proudly announcing them, notwithstanding the skepticism with which Ahmadinejad's mental instability causes us to view it. (Not unlike the passengers having to guess whether the "bomb" the terrorists had was real.)

Ultimately, it mattered not whether the bomb on United 93 was real, of course; the plain intent of the hijackers made the course of action for the passengers clear. Nothing else factored into the equation, nor could it. Fighting back was the only choice, long odds be damned, for it was the only chance of stopping mass murder. And stop it they did.

So too it is with Iran. Allowing them a chance to do what they wish with a nuclear weapon is unthinkable, just as was sitting back and letting United 93 plow into the U.S. Capitol. To think that Iran will just do nothing is naive in the extreme; whether they use it directly or pass it off to a non-state group (i.e. Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah) so as to maintain plausible deniability, make no mistake--they will use a nuclear bomb when they get one. Which means that a US/Israel knockout of the Iranian regime is inevitable; the only question is whether it will come before or after millions are needlessly annihilated. Will it prevent another 9/11 on an even larger scale or be in response to it?

Do we have the same courage as those heroic passengers on United 93, to look into an unfathomable situation and determine to do what must be done, no matter how hard and no matter the cost? They woke up one beautiful early autumn morning, completely unprepared for the horror that was to befall them, and in a matter of minutes a group of civilians summoned the will to fight as those who did on D-Day. While the Iranian situation presents us with equally awful alternatives from which to choose as did they, at least we have the luxury of time, and preparation, and a full measure of strategy. Not to mention the best Armed Forces in the entire world.

If we cannot manage to live up to the example the patriots of United 93 set, we shall not be worthy of the sacrifice they made for us. Just as they recognized the enemy and defeated them, so too must we. I harbor no illusions here. This will not be easy, this will not be without cost, and it will not be popular. But when has the right thing ever been any of those? We must be prepared to do the right thing and bear that burden which comes with it, for it is only to the extent of our resolve and determination to do so that we will keep this nation, for which the heroes of United 93 "gave the last full measure of devotion."

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This is Column # DKK12. Request permission to publish here.