Birdnow's Aviary

October 28, 2023

"Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead"

Timothy Birdnow

On Facebook a guy named Craig Ball commented on my comparisons of Biden to Jimmy Carter:

Craig said:

if you were the President, what would you do? start bombing and have the hostages killed? Israel army will do that and there will be no blood on America's hands. all the blood for anyone killed is on Hamas. as far as Carter, he's the only real Christian that Washington has seen in a very long time.

I reply:

Craig Ball On May 18, 1904 in Tangier, Morocco an American businessman named Ion Perdicaris was kidnapped and held for ransom. President Teddy Roosevelt showed exactly how you deal with this. He sent one message " Perdicaris alive or Raisuli (the kidnapper) dead".

Guess what Craig? The hostages were released.

You may remember that the Iranians released the American hostages when Reagan was inaugurated. They knew he would do whatever was necessary, and even if it meant sacrificing the hostages.

" Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead"

The kind of weakness now being paraded around the whole world invites such attacks. Mr. Biden has repeatedly shown himself a pushover.

What would I do were I Biden? I would let Israel off their leash. More importanly, I would prepare for our own military operation against Hamas. " Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead"

More than likely Hamas would hand over the hostages and skulk away.

What else would I do? I would reimpose all of the sanctions of Iran and maybe add a few more. I would squeeze them. And I would most definitely NOT give a hundred million dollars in "humanitarian" aid which will only go into the pockets of Hamas (who after all run Palestine) nor would I allow the U.N. to bring in aid. It's harsh, but the Palestinians elected Hamas as their leaders with a solid majority, and while Hamas has not held elections since polls show they have a large majority of support among the Palestinians.

This is a war, and in war people suffer. It's why we don't want war, and why the Palestinians shouldn't have launched one Craig.

As for Mr. Carter, what can I say? It was Carter who was enamored of the Ayatollah Khomeini and helped Khomeini return to Iran. The hostage crisis was a direct result of Carter's willful and arrogant approach. When the Shah called for help Mr. Carter told his aids "F the Shah!" (Carter used quite foul language when not on camera.)

Carter was also a huge liar. He falsely claimed to be a nuclear engineer. He was no such thing; he worked as a technician on a nuclear sub and took a couple of courses in nuclear physics but had n o degree. But he lied about it to the public.

He lied all the time. Fellow Georgia Democrat Lester Maddox called him the biggest liar in America.

And Democrat House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neal heaved a huge sigh of relief when Carter finally left Washington "those guys came in like Pr%#ks and they left the same way". Carter was sanctimonious and smug and treated Congress like they were his servants.

Carter also was an embarrassment. He did an interview with Playboy to shore up his "hip" image "I have lusted in my heart". And he did a photo-op in a canoe and had a rabbit swim out to it. Carter beat the poor thing with a paddle. The "killer rabbit" incident was hilarious at the time; it was like the killer rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It also cheesed off animal rights people.

Carter also got hemorrhoid surgery while President (something that could have been put off) thus further tarnishing the dignity of the office.

And don't forget his brother Billy, who took a whiz on the tarmack with some ambassadors present.

Carter did a number of good things after leaving office, but he was both a terrible President (giving us stagflation, something Keynsian economists said was impossible) and had many Christian failings.

He was DESTROYED by Reagan in 1980. I remember the media actually crying over the election results.

Joe Biden has the terrible track record of Mr. Carter without the redeeming features Mr. Carter possessed.