Islamic Jihad, Political Treason, and Epistemological Treason

At a “Stop the Iran Deal Rally” in front of the U.S. Capitol, Senator Ted Cruz identified some important truths. Every Democratic Senator faces a choice, he said:

Do you value the safety and security of the United States of America? Do you value standing with our friend and ally, the nation of Israel? Do you value the lives of millions of Americans? Or do you value more party loyalty to the Obama White House?

To every Democratic Senator who said he or she will support this deal, I ask you to consider how will you look in the eyes of the mothers and fathers of our soldiers, the hundreds of soldiers, American soldiers, who were murdered in Iraq with Iranian IEDs that came from General Sulamani. This deal lifts sanctions on General Sulamani. Tell me . . . how you look a mom in the eyes and say “I voted to lift sanctions on the man who murdered your son when he was defending this nation.”

But beyond that, when we talk about terrorism, it’s worth remembering that if this deal goes through, we know to an absolute certainty, people will die. Americans will die, Israelis will die, Europeans will die. Osama bin Laden never had $100 billion. He was filled with bilious hatred and—using rudimentary tools—murdered nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. We’re now talking about giving the Ayatollah Khamenei—a theocratic, homicidal maniac, who hates America every bit as much as bin Laden did—giving him $100 billion to carry out his murderous plan.

I want to ask every Senate Democrat, how will you look in the eyes of the mother or father or sons or daughters of those who are murdered by jihadists, those Americans who are blown up, those Americans who are shot, those Americans who are killed, those Israelis who are murdered.

And let me be clear: If you vote to send billions of dollars to jihadists who have pledged to murder Americans, then you bear direct responsibility for the murders carried out with the dollars you have given them. You cannot wash your hands of that blood.

Kudos to Senator Cruz. That is an impassioned statement of unequivocal truths (whether his figures are precise is beside the point here). The principle is: If you aid the enemy, then you bear responsibility for the murder your aid makes possible. . . .

About Craig Biddle

Craig is cofounder and editor of The Objective Standard, cofounder and director of education at Objective Standard Institute, and executive director of Prometheus Foundation. He is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It; Rational Egoism: The Morality for Human Flourishing; and the forthcoming Moral Truths Your Parents, Preachers, and Teachers Don’t Want You to Know. He is currently working on his fourth book, “Thinking in Principles.”

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