The Growing Iranian Threat

Though there have been a number of articles that indicate some of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad somewhat outlandish claims and Muslim beliefs, but this article from the UK Telegraph is quite indicative of how his beliefs may impact a coming international confrontation: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/14/wiran14.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/14/ixworld.html

If, like me, you stay up till odd hours of the morning listening to AM radio, you catch George Noory’s globally broadcasted and syndicated radio program, where he explores some of the wildest beliefs and predications of President Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad’s statements, which range from the destruction of Israel, to the movement Israel to Germany or Alaska, and the Iranian ‘right to nuclear research,’ hint the development of Iranian nuclear weapons could spell disaster in the middle-east. Noory and his guests note that Ahmadinejad’s statements concerned with mysticism and the Muslim faith sound dangerously similar to the brand of Muslim extremism that gives rise to terrorism, the kind that convinces otherwise potentially rational people to blow themselves up with bombs or drive passenger planes into buildings. Not that I am going to condemn Islam here, rather, extremism in almost anything can have disastrous ramifications.

Many Americans question the hypocrisy of maintaining an arsenal of nuclear warheads, while preventing other nation-states from researching the development of such weapon technology. Where some see hypocrisy, I see common sense. The U.S. and other nations with nuclear weapons technology have consistently shown restraint from utilizing such weapons since they became well-developed and effective. As a result, the threat of nuclear devastation on a day-to-day basis is relatively low. But, when placed in the hands of terrorists or religious extremists, threat of nuclear attack seems substantially more plausible. Especially if you’re living in Israel.

To put it in another context: would you give Rev. Pat Robertson the authority to launch nuclear weapons? Rev. Robertson is a lunatic and threatening in his own right, but at least his threats lack the capacity to instantly extinguish the lives of millions of people. Here differ Rev. Robertson and President Ahmadinejad.

Iraq’s oppressive and ruthless regime, led by Saddam Hussein, had the potential to wreak havoc on the Middle East. In reality, and in retrospect, it is probably more likely that Hussein would have used nuclear warheads to strengthen his stranglehold in the region, further his own wealth, and entrench his government as the dominant leaders in Iraq for years to come. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn’t appear to exhibit the same concern for wealth and power—rather, President Ahmadinejad appears more interested in a kind of religious victory of Judaism and other religions. As we’ve seen time and time again with atrocities like the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Crucifixion, Judeo-Christian extremism causes massive death and suffering. September 11th and the endless stream of suicide bombers have showed us that Muslim extremism is no different, and implicates the same source of fundamentalism.

The worst aspect of the situation lies in the unconvincing case for war in Iraq, which originally proved to be based upon faulty information and rationale, has left the U.S. military somewhat strained in terms of resources, and the American public with flagging confidence in the Bush administration’s ability to ‘smell a rat,’ as it were.