One thing is clear: We should have no illusions that terrorist organizations can be defeated so long as their state sponsors go unpunished. Israel may be successful in dealing Hezbollah a major blow in Lebanon -- though even that victory is by no means assured if the international community begins to exert pressure on Israel to stop its bombing before it has achieved its military objectives. But Iran, Syria and any other nations that fund, harbor and arm terrorists must be held accountable if we are to win the War on Terror.
Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and now a fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, has said it best: "Iran is our enemy. This is our war. Israel is doing our heavy-lifting."
The United States should not only stand with Israel in this fight against our common enemy but should walk away from any deals with Iran that would allow them to pursue their nuclear program under any circumstances. We should have learned long ago that there is no negotiating with terrorists. The conflict in Lebanon may give us some breathing room to rethink our Iran strategy. As tragic as the deaths of innocent civilians may be in this war, they will not have died in vain if Iran can be stopped from building nuclear weapons.