Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 12:15:05 AM
After five years of negotiations and economic sanctions against Iran, the West has been rewarded in only one way: Iran is now five years closer to having the ability to launch a nuclear weapon. Barack Obama and the State Department are on the same page when it comes to Iran. We need another five years to negotiate and give strong incentives for Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program. For liberals it's as if the last five years never happened.
As John Bolton states in his recent colum "Israel, Iran and the Bomb", there are many varying estimates on what the timetable is for Iran to have a fully operational nuclear weapons program with the capability to launch nuclear warheads. The fact is that no one but the Islamic fascists ruling Iran know the timetable. John McCain does not know, Barack Obama does not know, the Defense Department does not know, the State Department does not know, the President does not know, and even more shocking to us all... the EU does not know. This November American voters decide whether Barack Obama or John McCain will be our next President. The question then becomes: what are their plans for dealing with Iran's nuclear weapons program, assuming Iran has not already achieved their goals by that time?
Obama wants to sit across the table from the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad in hopes of sprinkling fairy dust and happy thoughts on our enemies, much like we've attempted to do in the past five years but with one difference. Obama aims to legitimize Iran even more by direct negotiations. John McCain emphasizes our need for a powerful missile defense system. I completely agree with that. However, I am more interested in stopping Iran from ever having the capability of launching a nuclear weapon. Out of the two candidates, McCain is at least thinking intelligently and responsibly where Iran is concerned.
This is where the driving point of John Bolton's column comes into the picture. If no one else is going to stop Iran, Israel will. Much more so than any other country, Israel cannot allow Iran to launch a nuclear missile. These aren't the type of weapons that require the country firing them to hit a precise target. A nuclear missile striking anywhere in Israel would be a catastrophe unlike any other. The nuclear weapons of today aren't your grandfather's nuclear missiles. Not by any measure. A nuclear weapon's explosion in Israel would utterly devestate the country. The next question:
What will the U.S. do if Israel decides to initiate military action? There was a time when the Bush administration might itself have seriously considered using force, but all public signs are that such a moment has passed.
Israel sees clearly what the next 12 months will bring, which is why ongoing U.S.-Israeli consultations could be dispositive. Israel told the Bush administration it would destroy North Korea's reactor in Syria in spring, 2007, and said it would not wait past summer's end to take action. And take action it did, seeing a Syrian nuclear capability, for all practical purposes Iran's agent on its northern border, as an existential threat. When the real source of the threat, not just a surrogate, nears the capacity for nuclear Holocaust, can anyone seriously doubt Israel's propensities, whatever the impact on gasoline prices?
Even though the United States could stop Iran permanently, it appears we aren't going to. John Bolton makes a point that Americans need to seriously consider: Israel will not be debating the price of gasoline when it comes to being faced with another Holocaust. What they will do is defend themselves and destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program with a military strike.
The appropriate and necessary role of the United States is to cooperate fully with Israel when they decide to attack. The more successful Israel is in taking care of Iran, the better off the entire world will be. Not only that, the smoother the operations proceed the less negative rammifications we will have to endure during the fallout. Israel will ask for our aid and support, but they won't ask for our permission. Their nation does not sit halfway around the world from Iran like ours. Stopping Iran is a fact on which their very existence rests. Therefore, as John Bolton so directly asks: What will the U.S. do if Israel decides to initiate military action?