Thursday, February 16, 2006

The Larger WMD Question And Iran


".....Iran wants to use nuclear technology purely for peaceful purposes, that it opposes all weapons of mass destruction and favors all countries getting rid of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons."

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Iran accuses the west of "nuclear apartheid."

Recently some senior French official was in India promising to help India advance its nuclear energy hopes. But there were conditions. India had to develop more stringent divisions between its civilian and military facilities. Does France have them?

I am for preventing nuclear proliferation. Ultimately all such weapons have to be dismantled. They can not possibly be put to use, no matter who has them, so why have them if not to make some kind of a political statement against the have-nots?

There have been times when the US has discussed using "smart" nuclear bombs to penetrate deep bunkers possibly used by terrorists with "limited" radiation fallouts. Whoever has been talking this talk in the military establishment, you have to ask, are these people sane?

WMDs. The short term talk has to be prevent proliferation. But the long term talk has to be elimination. And the long term talk framework might make short term talk more possible.

In the case of Iran, there is also the issue of helping that country democratize itself. There are strong domestic undercurrents to that effect. We have to find ways to help them.

On The Web

CIA - The World Factbook -- Iran
Iran Daily
Irna
Iran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tehran Times

In The News

France Joins In Criticizing Iran CBS News
US turning up the heat on Iran The Standard, Hong Kong
Merkel optimistic diplomacy can work in Iran nuclear dispute Ireland Online, Ireland
Iran Renames Danish Pastries Houston Chronicle, United States
Iran's Parliament speaker visits ally Cuba IranMania News, Iran
Iran Open To Helping Venezuelan Nuclear Program RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Pakistani minister in India for talks on Iran gas IranMania News, Iran
India, Pak to discuss execution of Iran-Pakistan-India gas ... Islamic Republic News Agency
France says Iran has secret nuclear program Reuters
Iran hopes for Russian help in nuclear settlement - ambassador RIA Novosti, Russia

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Sunday, February 12, 2006

Complicated Iraq


That Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and those might get into the hands of ruthless terrorists who will not hesitate to use them for a second, that was the official reason the US invaded Iraq.

Democracy is a great thing, Saddam was a bad guy, true, but those were not the official reasons given. And if they are the reasons given now, will the US invade every country that is not a democracy, will it take out every Saddam of the world? If not, why did Iraq deserve the special favor?

Now we know Iraq did not have the weapons of mass destruction, and we always knew it was not Saddam but Osama who was behind 9/11. But 40% of Republicans believe today it was Saddam, and that is why he had to be taken out. Dick Cheney repeatedly made the nonexistent connection while drumming up support for the war. Some say the intelligence itself was fabricated, very much on purpose. Was it? And if it was not, how was it so faulty? It was not a matter of degree, it was like the intelligence agencies reported having found an entire new planet in the solar system. Finally they found the elephant in the room, for once. Only not true.

But if it is about weapons of mass destruction, North Korea went from not nuclear to nuclear on W's watch. Iran is on the march. And Iran sponsors groups across the region that are shady. So maybe it was not about weapons of mass destruction, or even their spread.

And if it is now about democracy, 40% of humanity longs for it. Iraq is but a small slice of that.

And if your official reason for going in is fundamentally discredited, should you not be in a hurry to get out? If that requires a faster training of the local army, should that not be expedited?

I am glad Saddam is gone, and I think it is America's duty to proactively spread democracy around the world, now squarely tied to its very security, but the Iraq way is not it. $200 billion and counting, 2,200 American lives, 30,000 Iraqi lives. That price is too steep on all sides. There has to be another way, there has to be a progressive way.

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