Iran, Threat Or Nuisance

Is Iran a real threat to the national security of the United States. Are they a real threat to the national security of Israel, or for the region. I have yet to hear a real debate about the issue. But there are some things we do know that is never discussed, so lets try and explore the issue here.

I can not think of any country Iran has threatened to attack or invade lately but I can think of a country who has threatened to attack Iran. Iran's history is not one that has attacked or invaded another country in my life time.

Iran has said the Jewish state should be destroyed, but never said that they would be the ones to do so, and for good reasons. They know their country would be destroyed along with their leaders. On the other hand, Israel has used its military power to preempt attacks on Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Time will tell if Iran is developing nuclear weapons. If they do they are not going to launch an attack against Israel or the United States for the same reasons mentioned above and for the same reasons Russia never launched a nuclear attack against the U.S. in 40 years of a cold war. Iran would not pass nuclear weapons to terriorists for the same reasons.

The U.S. launched a war with Iraq over WMD that did not exist and our men and women in uniform paid dearly for that mistake. The nuclear inspection arm of the U.N. has been inspecting Iran's nuclear facilities since day one. Israel, India and Pakistan do not allow such inspections to its nuclear facilities. The case could be made that if any country starts a nuclear war in that part of the world it will be Pakistan, Israel or India since they are unchecked nuclear powers.

Iran gets under Israel's skin when they deny the holocaust but it is obvious the leaders and people of Iran know it happened. Iran taunts Israel just like Israel taunts Iran but that does not justify war. When a country uses its military power with impunity like Israel does the weak will do whatever they have to do to become strong.

The middle east is an unstable place and more so since the invasion of Iraq. Iraq attacked Iran and started a 10 year war during the 80's. The Reagan administration supported Saddam in that war and gave him intelligence on Iran's troop positions. Israel supported Iran in that war. In other words, two close allies, the U.S. and Israel supported opposite sides during that war. If that makes sense, I am not convinced.

Now on September 25th the nation has been told Iran has been operating a "secret" nuclear facility. The problem is it has not been "secret" to the intelligence community of the U.S., Briton or France. Their leaders have know about the facility for several years and say completion is anywhere from 18 months to 3 years away from being finished. The word "secret" is now being used to work up an appetite for a preemptive strike by those who love to send other peoples children off to war.

The Iran thing reminds me of what happened during the early year of President Kennedy's administration as reported in the book, "JFK and the Unspeakable." And I quote. JULY 20, 1961: At a national security meeting, the joint chiefs of staff and CIA director Allen Dulles presented a plan for a preemptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in late 1963, preceded by a period of heightened tensions." President Kennedy walked out of the meeting saying to Secretary of State Dean Rush, "And we call ourselves the human race."

President Kennedy had the wisdom to ignore that advise that would have killed millions on each side in an unnecessary nuclear war. Does the drum beat on Iran sound familiar.