If the Israelis hadn't taken out Saddam's Nuke plant, He would be own Kuwait today. And Tel Aviv might not exist.
That was an action against a military threat from a hostile state, not against terrorists. Israel’s actions against hostile states, whether preemptive or reactive, have generally been successful, and as a result Israel no longer faces significant threats from hostile states. Israel’s actions against terrorism have, measured by that same yardstick, failed: terrorism directed at Israelis has increased, not declined.
The Israelis are much better off because they used force. And their only way out is to continue to use it against anyone who openly says they want to wipe out Israel, and is making a bomb.
Again, I was discussing Israel's responses to terrorism, and the questionable utility of emulating them. The nuclear threat to Israel comes from hostile states, not terrorists, and belongs in a different discussion.
It is perhaps worth noting that the greatest threat of an Islamic Bomb comes from the possibility of a radical government taking over Pakistan. The Iraq invasion has accelerated the spread of radicalism in Pakistan and diminished the government's already minimal credibility with a populace increasingly inclined toward Islamism. We have inadvertently done a great deal to increase the probability of an established nuclear arsenal falling into Islamist hands.
We would certainly be remiss if we allowed Iran to develop one.
Certainly. Our options for preventing that from happening, though, are fairly limited.
It's worth recalling an old debate. Before the war, we often discussed the impact that an Iraq invasion would have on Iran. Some optimists suggested that the opposition to the mullahs would be strengthened, and their fall hastened. Others suggested that the presence of an immediate external threat would mute opposition and strengthen the radicals.
The Iranian opposition does seem to be more than a bit muted lately. The predictions of imminent demise that were flying around a few months back certainly seem to have faded away.
I guess we know who was right in that argument. Again. |
