But Iran has abided by the Additional Protocol, offered to help the US track Al Qaeda after 9/11, and attempted to engage the US in one-to-one talks in 2003. Between the two, Iran is clearly the more rational -- well, less irrational -- actor.
Of course, if Iran responds to our provocative presence in the Persian Gulf by launching a missile at one of our carriers, Congress will likely trample the likes of Rep. Walter Jones in its rush to vote to authorize an attack.
But, aside from the obvious -- allowing Iran to enrich uranium –- a Congress less insecure about its defense credentials would ease the sanctions and offer concessions as we did to North Korea. Then, instead of persecuting Iran, as opposed to prosecuting it, which would require real evidence, why not change the law to head future crises off at the pass?
Close the troublesome loophole in the NPT: Write an amendment which forbids members that don't yet have nuclear energy from enriching uranium. Grant them the right to buy enriched uranium for peaceful purposes from nuclear NPT states.
With the advent of Peak Oil, dreams of a world free of nuclear energy are fading. But, just like nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament looms over us like a specter. They both wreak havoc with our peace of mind -- the first a threat to our existence, the second to our consciences.
Meanwhile, the nation's two leading nuclear laboratories compete for a contract to build the Reliable Replacement Warhead, designed to lower the odds of accidental or unauthorized detonation. Worse, the administration is now armed with the Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, which paves the way for the preemptive use of nuclear weapons -- and it's just itching to try out those tactical nukes.
But, like it or not, nuclear disarmament is the only way to build a foundation for genuine and long-lasting national security. At some point, we have to admit that as long as we flaunt the NPT by failing to draw down our nukes, states like Iran will remain infantilized in a perpetual state of "It's not fair."
Now let's play "find the flaw in the logic." Upon refusing to meet the Security Council's Ash Wednesday deadline for halting uranium enrichment, Ahmadinejad said, "But justice demands that those who want to hold talks with us shut down their nuclear fuel cycle program too." Logic be damned –- to the administration, if it's Ahmadinejad, it must be an outrage.
The good will the US would accrue by ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty for starters can only be matched by abandoning our designs on the Middle-East. Until then, states will not only be blinded by their fear and envy of our nuclear program, both peaceful and weaponized, but they'll find us too hypocritical to trust.
Meanwhile, we wait to see if the US and Iran go for a compromise proposal tendered by the Swiss to allow "dry enrichment" (suspension of uranium enrichment, but not centrifuge operations). In the interim, let's end where we began, with the words of the embattled ElBaradei:
"We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security -- and indeed continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use."
Russ Wellen is the nuclear deproliferation editor for OpEdNews. He's also on the staffs of Freezerbox and Scholars & Rogues.
"It's hard to tell people not to smoke when you have a cigarette dangling from your mouth." -- Mohamed El Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency
Do you suppose we could elect a President and Vice President who could understand this article? Let me reword that: do you suppose we could elect a President and Vice President who WANTED to understand this article?
by
Christie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 149 comments)
on Friday, March 2, 2007 at 4:44:35 AM
. . . to think how little actual interest they have in foreign affairs. ("Brinksmanship" is more their style.)
Has anyone noticed how not only isn't Bush interested in matters of government, but he doesn't seem interested in anything?
I guess he's a sports fan. Supposedly he reads a ton of history books. If that's true (which I doubt), where does he find the time? We can't help but conclude it's an escape from real governing.
In contrast, another one of our worst presidents was over-invested in foreign policy: Nixon, who lived an breathed it with Kissinger.
by
Russ Wellen (58 articles, 1029 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 335 comments)
on Friday, March 2, 2007 at 6:23:19 AM
