Mon, May 15, 2006
Iran—10:36 AM
Scott Adams has been thinking about the likelihood of nuclear weapons in Iran. These days, I think we'd all do good to be somewhat skeptical of who Bush refers to as an imminent nuclear threat. Don't disregard it altogether, but take it with a grain of salt, is all I'm saying.
I don't follow the news. (Stephen Colbert tells me how to feel about things.) But last week, I read a lot about this letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and how everyone dismissed it as a joke, but it seemed to make a few okay points as far as I could tell. I mean obviously the guy is posturing and it shouldn't be regarded as a purely diplomatic overture. But it seemed kind of optimistic and forward-looking – in some passages – the kind of thing that might be a starting point for discussions which might yield a peaceful (i.e., shockless, aweless) resolution. Remember when world leaders used to write each other long, involved letters that were respectful and sometimes critical? Well, me either. It went out with the XYZ Affair. I just don't think the president has to respond to everything like it's a PR problem.
Anyway, one of the things that bugged me about the whole Iranian nuclear program thing is, who decides they're not allowed to build nukes? One of you smarties will probably tell me some world body like the UN decided it, and that's cool, but... why? I mean, what's the standard by which we decide that a country doesn't have the right to build an arsenal to defend itself? They're over there where all the shit's going down – they probably need nukes more than we do.
Which brings me to my other point: if we go around demanding that nobody else have a nuclear stockpile, doesn't that remove the justification for our own? I mean, if the Bushies successfully talk Iran and North Korea into doing away with all their bombs, can we slice the defense budget in half and get some public schools a history textbook that mentions the reunification of Germany?
I'm supposed to "blame America first" every month or so, or they take away my dirty hippie pacifist liberal membership card. (Actually, it's not so much a card, since cards represent The Man's subjugation of trees to do his communicating for him; it's more of a polished hazel nut casing.) But I'm not trying to bash America here. I love America, and I understand that its position as the world's police is accepted somewhat grudgingly – as Spidey's aunt says, great power/great responsibility. This administration has pursued that responsibility more enthusiastically than some, but hey, we let them do it. (Not me personally, but you did. Those of you in Congress.)
It just seems odd that we make a list of who we trust with nuclear weapons and who we don't and if you're on the wrong list you're not allowed to enrich any uranium no matter what. I bet if you took a poll, a majority of people don't trust us with nukes either. But I'm hoping Scott's right and Iran becomes an ally and everything settles down.
