A major diplomatic coup has been scored by Pres. Obama: the nuclear limits put on Iran. Those on the Right, incl. Netanyahu, describe nuclear bomb building as akin to manufacturing meth in your home. Iranians supposedly have constructed ICBMs to reach every part of the U.S., the implication being that they will be nuclear warhead-tipped. Iran has the capability of hiding nuclear bomb construction sites as well as the products of the construction itself, like uranium particles. Supposedly, a military strike on these sites will make the world safer even though, by definition, we won’t know where the sites are to attack them. All of this frightens the Home of the Brave.
A two minute talk with nuclear arms experts demolishes all these objections to the deal: nuclear bomb building is not something, in Obama’s words, you can quickly wheel away on a dolly and hide. All nuclear bomb building gives off residue, products of the process, which are detectable by technology developed during the Cold War. Iranians have no way to reach the U.S. except via terrorists. A military strike on Iran would create unmanageable repercussions. We have side-lined Russia and China when it comes to inspections, so we can either get “right in” in a nuclear bomb building context, or reimpose sanctions, again, without China’s and Russia’s permission.
BUT, we could always refuse to talk to the Iranians and let them continue their fear-induced bomb building until we felt we just had to attack them. Then we could deal with the fall-out from that. OR, we could engage with Iran and give them reasons not to use the one weapon they have, terrorism. We could engage with them so as to encourage peaceful nuclear programs and put in place disincentives to build nuclear weapons.
Of course, Iran will rearm and no doubt cause mischief in the Middle East, as are all the other countries there. But what exactly the difference between Iran causing mischief and the U.S. causing mischief, e.g. invasion and occupation of Iraq? Extending that line much further, if the U.S. has a nuclear stockpile and Israel has a nuclear stockpile and Russian has a nuclear stockpile, what not Iran?
Well, I’ll tell you why not, and this is a trip down the conservative rabbit hole….. See, the Iranians are a pip-squeak country (it’s around the 18th in the world in both population size and geographic area) who are upstarts (they’ve only been around since the Greeks) and are a bunch of illiterate Arabs (larger body of art literature than all Western cultures combined and they are not Arabs) and terrorists (yes, and they call us terrorists but dark ops incursions into other countries by the U.S. don’t count as terrorism, nor do drone strikes). Most of all, they aren’t Christians.
And that’s why the conservatives will never approve of the treaty…………
Oh! and the main reason to trash the treaty: Obama did it.