L to R: Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

A Different Approach to Iran

With the positioning of an American aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, and President Bush ratcheting up his accusations of Iranian complicity in the war in Iraq, the world has turned its attention to Iraq's eastern neighbor. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly refused demands from the world community, led by the United States, to shut down his nuclear program, which he claims is for peaceful purposes. It is difficult to square this claim with his recent disgraceful hosting of a Holocaust denial conference, featuring such losers as the American neo-nazi David Duke. It is an even worse sign that Ahmadinejad has claimed that Israel should be "wiped off the map." But what if these signs are not as serious as they seem? Even the most hawkish doomsayers admit that Iran is still years away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon, and if it does, how many of us really believe that President Ahmadinejad would use it on Israel or America? Suppose that Tel Aviv, or God forbid, New York went up in a mushroom cloud tomorrow, and Iran was identified as the responsible party. Wouldn't Israel and America strike back with Minuteman nuclear-tipped missles at the heart of Iran, and wipe that country off the map? Could Iran's president possibly not know this? Is it possible that he is utterly mad, and just doesn't care? I don't think so. I think he is crazy like the proverbial fox, and is using anti-Jewish prejudice and his nuclear ambitions to provoke other world leaders while rallying his people behind him. He is not Hitler - just a tinpot little Caesar like his friend Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, another worldwide provocateur who bashes America to pump up his own image. In my opinion, what needs to be done to send a message to Iran is simply this: Tell Ahmadinejad that he can have all the nuclear weapons he wants, since we probably won't be able to invade his country to stop him, and airstrikes will likely not work either. But if he gives even the slightest hint of using them, well.....in that case we will have no choice but to preemptively strike. I think it will end up like this anyway, once all the diplomatic huffing and puffing die down (if it ever does.) Iran will make the big announcement of their nuclear capabilities, and we will draw the line in the sand: use the weapon at your own peril. I'm willing to bet that in the end, President Ahmadinejad, or one of his successors, will blink first.
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