Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

I find it ludicrous that the United States and Israel continue to adopt a policy of attacking any Middle Eastern country that is suspected of working towards nuclear ambitions.  The only country that has dropped an atomic bomb wants to dictate to others who can and cannot have a nuclear arsenal.  And to reinforce this stance, the United States stands ready to block any move by the United Nations to hold Israel accountable for any of the over the top military escalations it makes towards any of its neighboring countries.  Israel used the excuse of rocket attacks to pulverize the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  Israel attacked Syria under the claim that Syria was developing a missile complex for the sole purpose of attacking Israel.  Israel has attacked Lebanon and Iraq.

And lately, Israel has been eyeing Iran with a great deal of suspicion.  Why, because Iran is working to develop nuclear energy.  Israel claims that Iran is actually working to develop a nuclear bomb and will use that bomb against Israel at the first opportunity.  And thanks to America’s recent history of preemptive strikes when there is a less than reasonable suggestion of an attack, Israel can use just about any old excuse to justify its own preemptive attacks.

Israel is quick to say that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon they are sure to use it against Israel therefore Israel must strike Iran first.  Why, because Israel’s such an aggressive bully of a country that the leadership there surely knows that it will have its comeuppance.  It’s just a matter of time.  And if a country acquires nuclear capabilities it will surely use them against Israel.  If the way Israel responds to a few rocket shells that have a little trouble hitting the ground is any indication, any country with plans to use a nuclear device against Israel is surely tempting fate.

With all the warmongering and finger pointing at Iran and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it should be noted that Iran has never attacked another country.  Iran never attacked Iraq.  Iran never attacked Israel.  Iran has never attacked the United States.  Why on Earth would that country now develop nuclear weapons for the purpose of attacking Israel now?  The fact that Mr. Ahmadinejad threatened Israel is not enough to invite a third World War.  Hell, how many people in how many countries have cried death to America?  If that’s all it took to bust a cap up some country’s ass then the United States would be the busiest warmonger on Earth.  Well, even busier than we are today at least.  No country would be safe from one of our machines of utter death.  Reasonable people know it takes a lot more than saying death to an enemy to launch a war.  Unfortunately, all too often it is unreasonable people who call the shots.

As far as I know there has only been one country ever attacked by nuclear weapons.  Japan is the only country on this planet that was attacked by a nuclear powered aggressor.  Not just once but twice.  And Japan continues to exist very well.  This is not to say that a nuclear attack just rolls off a country’s back like water on a duck’s feathers.  Japan is still suffering from the effects from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki drops.  But the idea that all it takes is a well place nuclear bomb to destroy an entire country is lunacy.  The idea that a country can get away launching an unprovoked nuclear attack on another without any worldwide reprisal is truly ludicrous.

But advocates of Israel will hold fast to the rather weak claim that anyone who is so bold to make a threat against Israel must be watched and destroyed at the slightest opportunity.  The fact that Israel is free to actually use illegal weapons and rain incendiary white phosphorous in the destruction of civilian populations is not enough evidence that American leadership needs to rethink our position as an enabler in Israel’s foreign policy.

Israel is entitled to defend itself.  So is Iran.  If Israel feels the need to protect itself from a perceived aggressor, imagine how Iran must feel against a country that is proven to be an aggressor that has already threatened to commit an actual act of war.  Israel promises to launch an air assault against Iran if Iran gets too close to its nuclear ambitions.

Yes nuclear power can be used as an energy source and is used as an energy source for most countries with nuclear technology.  But the idea that Iran will be the second country to use nuclear weapons, the first country to use nuclear weapons in well over sixty years, against another country is a risk Israel just cannot afford to take.  The paranoid belief that Israel will be destroyed if Iran obtains nuclear technology just doesn’t wash in the real world.  Israel is the far greater danger in this high stakes game of nuclear weapon equipped cat and nuclear energy ambition mouse.