Worse Than You Think

Let's think about all of the things the United States has been concerned about since 9/11. First, we were afraid of Osama and his Taliban regime, so we bombed the shit out of Afghanistan. After that, we moved on to Iraq. It seems as though we are no longer concerned about Iraq, or if we are, it doesn't compare to our concern regarding Iran. Iran pops up in the news all the time now. Their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made headlines by questioning whether or not the Holocaust took place. But the world isn't concerned about Ahmadinejad's ridiculous claims. No -- the world is concerned about something far worse. Nuclear bombs.

Now there are two sides to the argument. First, there is the United States and most of Europe, which thinks that Iran is aiming to make a uranium-grade bomb. Then on the other side of the argument we have Iran, claiming that the world is paranoid, and that Iran is developing their nuclear technology only for power.

At the moment, the case the US and Europe are pursing seems more believable. For starters, the entire Iran facility, known as Natanz, has been secret, until an Iranian opposition group exposed the operation. Then, in August of 2003, the U.N. found particles of highly enriched uranium at Natanz. Iran agreed to suspend its enrichment program, but construction still continued. Then by July of 2004, much of the facility had gone underground -- it was beneath 75 feet of earth and about 15 feet of concrete. Last I checked, nuclear power plants didn't have to be foritfied to such a degree...

To make matters worse, not only do we know (for the most part) that Iran has nuclear weaponry, but also that Iran intends to use these weapons. Ahmadinejad has talked about wiping Israel off the map. Wiping an entire country out!! Israel already has nukes, and if Iran attacks Israel, Israel will fire right back! The future of the Middle East isn't looking so good at the moment.

As for the people of Iran, they are backing their government completely. The people of Iran think that they are entitled to nuclear technology. They call the rest of the world hypocritical, considering the fact that the US, India, Pakistan, and Israel all have nukes, and nobody is complaining about them. Of course, none of those countries support terrorism, but the Iranian people don't seem to realize this minor difference in values. If Pakistan had stated its intentions to wipe India off the map, or vice versa, I'm sure the world would have been concerned with them as well. Ditch your government, and maybe we'll reconsider your "right" to nukes.

However, the whole issue is quite delicate in that we really have no way of stopping Iran. Obviously us telling them to stop isn't going to do anything, and neither will treaties. Iran has signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows R&D of nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes, but it looks as though they aren't keeping their promise. The only other alternative would be brute force, which is definetely not a good idea. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think attacking a country that is quietly making nukes in a little underground factory is a good idea. The day those nukes come out of their little hiding spot could be the day that marks the end of the Middle East, or even much of the Western world. We certainly don't want to encourage them.