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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (168091)	8/3/2005 10:25:21 AM
From: GST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Invade Iran -- oh no, we won't do that. Bush just wants the opportunity to bomb them at will, as often as he likes, and however he likes. International security is best served when the US can simply bomb other countries at will to make its point -- do what you are told. Naturally this all leads to a safer world -- a world where people understand that bombing their country is just our way of saying that we want you to be "free". Our bombs spread liberty and democracy -- and so long as they can be safely dispensed from 40,000 feet, they are a costless tool of "diplomacy" (well perhaps not costless to those they kill, but we don't consider that a cost worth counting). Our top diplomat to the UN will no doubt help to make that point.

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (168091)	8/3/2005 1:14:07 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 281500

What was it I said? When it comes to Iran’s nuclear program, most U.S. and allied officials are in one or another state of denial. All insist it is critical to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet, few understand just how late it is to attempt this. Iran is now no more than 12 to 48 months from acquiring a nuclear bomb, lacks for nothing technologically or materially to produce it, and seems dead set on securing an option to do so. This article, relying on research and meetings with the nation’s leading experts on Iran, the Middle East, and nuclear proliferation — and based upon a working group report on these issues — is intended to make recommendations designed to reduce the harm Iran might do or encourage if it gained nuclear weapons. There are three threats that are likely to increase following Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear option. Even more nuclear proliferation. Iran’s continued insistence that it acquired its nuclear capabilities legally under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (npt) would, if unchallenged, encourage its neighbors (including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Algeria) to develop nuclear options of their own and overtly declare possession or import weapons from elsewhere. Such announcements and efforts would likely undermine nuclear nonproliferation restraints internationally and strain American relations with most of its friends in the Middle East. Dramatically higher oil prices. A nuclear-ready Iran could be emboldened to manipulate oil prices upward, either by threatening the freedom of the seas (by mining oil transit points as it did in the 1980s or by seeking to close the Straits of Hormuz) or by using terrorist proxies to threaten the destruction of Saudi and other Gulf state oil facilities and pipelines. Increased terrorism geared to diminish U.S. influence. With a nuclear weapons option acting as a deterrent to U.S. and allied action against it, Iran would likely lend greater support to terrorists operating against Israel, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Europe, and the U.S. The objective would be to reduce American support for U.S. involvement in the Middle East, for Israel, and for actions against Iran generally, and to elevate Iran as an equal to the U.S. and its allies on all matters connected to the Persian Gulf and related regions. An additional aim of Iran’s support for terrorism would be to keep other nations from backing U.S. policies, including a continued U.S. military presence in the Middle East. All of these threats are serious. If realized, they would undermine U.S. and allied efforts to foster moderate rule in the Middle East, and set into play a series of international competitions that could ultimately result in major wars... frontpagemag.com