WarSclerotic

Why we all should worry about Iran – Chicago Sun-Times.

Last weekend, Iranian negotiators met with the key international powers regarding the Iranian nuclear program.

The Iranians made no concessions. Their chief negotiator said suspension of the nuclear program was “impossible.”

The Iranians also said that they expected sanctions to be lifted. Both sides agreed to meet in five weeks in Baghdad to discuss further.

Israel is concerned. We all should be as well.

Let’s review:

The Iranian regime has sponsored acts of terrorism around the globe including many targeting U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Iranian regime has killed thousands of its own Baha’i citizens and recently registered the names and whereabouts of every Baha’i family while expelling them from universities, prohibiting them from obtaining business licenses and jailing many of their community leaders.

The Iranian regime responded to protesters who had the temerity to protest a stolen election in 2009 by unleashing security forces that in the words of a U.S. State Department report “committed acts of politically motivated violence and repression, including torture, beatings, and rape.”

The Iranian regime gave its support of an attack on the British embassy in Tehran forcing its evacuation and closure.

The Iranian regime has threatened to block the Straits of Hormuz, which in 2011 accounted for an estimated 35 percent of oil worldwide transported by tankers.

The Iranian regime has a defense minister that is wanted by Argentine authorities and is the subject of an Interpol “red notice,” for his complicity in a 1994 terrorist attack in Buenos Aires that killed 115 people and injured hundreds.

The Iranian regime has had elements within it indicted for a plot to blow up a Washington, D.C., restaurant in order to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and, by the way, no doubt dozens of American citizens.

The list goes on. But just take those points and notice the two themes that emerge.

First, as horrific as each one of those points might be, imagine how much more complicated they become with a nuclear-armed Iran. As little as the world has been able to do to curb Iran’s many abuses, what could be done with an Iran with nuclear weaponry?

Second, not one of those points mentions Israel.

As talking heads and newspaper columnists continue to ask themselves what Israel might or might not do, perhaps the better question should be what other steps can everyone else take to stop it from happening.

There is no one who hopes more than Israel that diplomatic pressure, biting sanctions and keeping all options on the table will neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat.

Yet as Iran gets closer to nuclear weaponization, the question should not be what Israel will do.

The question should be what will the world do?

This entry was posted on April 21, 2012 at 9:25 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.