I would like to suggest a proposal regarding the Iran nuclear situation that, to my knowledge, has not yet been put forward.
The Administration is worried that Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear power generation are just a guise for developing nuclear weapons. Pundits are proclaiming that, once it is a nuclear power, Iran will threaten Israel. The International community favors diplomacy, the White House prefers saber rattling, and the rest of us think this all sounds awfully familiar and wonder whether the U.S. is going to invade Iran tomorrow or wait until the weekend…
I say: let ‘em have The Bomb.
Seriously. (Well, semi-seriously…) The problem in the middle-east has come down to a clash between modernism and fundamentalism. What could be more modern than nuclear weapons? Sadly, history shows that Mutual Assured Destruction works. Nuclear powers tend to become very polite with each other when they figure out that using their weapons only guarantees that their own cities will be turned into glass.
The news that Iran wants to join the 21st century is actually a very good sign. The political leaders in that country make great hay of the claim that they want to drive the west out of Israel. It is the religious leaders who are really in charge, however, and it would make no sense to return a radioactive hole in the ground to the Palestinians. (“Gee, thanks fellas…â€)
Okay, perhaps one shouldn’t try to make sense out of Radical Islamist politics. Still, you’d think that the Bush Administration would want to encourage the Iranians to develop alternative power sources. After all, if they go nuclear, maybe they’ll use less of our oil…!