The Deep Insight

Why is America afraid of a Iranian nuclear program?  I don’t see what the big deal is.  The government paints a doom and gloom picture of nuclear Armageddon if Iran obtains a nuke.  Tehran at best represents a minor threat to the national security of the United States.  They do not have the ability to attack us on the homeland our anywhere of vital importance to us.  So if they are not an urgent threat why has our government threatened to “booomb boomb boomb Iran” as the Republican nominee would say?  The reasons are extremely complicated but I think I might have some answers.

One stated reason the government said was to protect Israel.  I don’t think that Israel needs our protection, they have the same military equipment we have because we sold it to them!  They are fully capable of taking care of themselves.  Even if Iran obtained a nuke they would not use it against Israel.  For one they would be sealing their own fate because Israel has their own nukes that they could use against an Iranian attack.  Two, I doubt they would want the blood of millions of Palestinians on their hands.  The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are extremely close to Israel.  A nuclear attack will no doubt kill palestinians in the initial attack or the fallout  This would turn all of the Islamic world against them, as well as the international community.  I think that the main reason why Iran is pursuing a nuke has to do with internal domestic Iranian politics.  It has nothing to do with wanting to wipe out Israel.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected as a populist back in 2005.  He campaigned to re-distribute the oil wealth, help the poor and fix the economy, none of these has happened.  Inflation in Iran has risen to 21.5% and probably will continue to rise because of the tough economic sanctions place on them for pursuing nukes.  Ahmadinejad is pursuing nuclear technology to divert attention from his poor economic track record.  If he keeps the attention of the Iranian people on the United States, he gets a free pass.  Our government’s rhetoric just plays into their hands.

Another reason I presume is to preserve the Islamic Republic from attack from foreign attackers namely the U.S.  They saw what happened to Iraq, a country with no WMD be taken out over false accusations.  The Iranian government did not want this happening to them so they decided to pursue nuclear technology sooner rather than later.  They know that if you have a nuke no one is going to mess with you.  I believe that the Iranians are not dumb enough to use a nuke against the U.S. or anyone else for that matter.  I look at it as a form of life insurance policy for them.  They want to preserve their legacy as a “pure Islamic country”.  I for one am not afraid of Iran obtaining a nuke because our country has more than enough military power to deal with them.

 Are we really afraid of this guy?

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