DEAR EDITOR:
I believe the rush by Iran to produce material for developing
and making atomic weapons will force the United States to have to
make a difficult decision at some point very soon. I believe that
allowing Iran to develop, make and stockpile nuclear weapons will
place the entire Middle East region and the United States at great
risk because of the type of government ruling Iran.
DEAR EDITOR:
I believe the rush by Iran to produce material for developing and making atomic weapons will force the United States to have to make a difficult decision at some point very soon. I believe that allowing Iran to develop, make and stockpile nuclear weapons will place the entire Middle East region and the United States at great risk because of the type of government ruling Iran.
In the past Iran has supported terrorists, and is known to be backing some of the attacks in Iraq. It appears that Iran wants to be the dominate power in the region and wants nuclear weapons to both coerce its neighbors into submission but also as a shield against the United States. Iran’s possession of actual working nuclear weapons would make it very difficult to stop Iran’s ruling Shiite government and its push for control in the area.
The threat Iran possess to Israel may force the Israeli military to act first by an attack upon the nuclear facilities around Tehran and in other areas of Iran. Israel was willing to suffer the condemnation by Europe and the UN when it attacked and destroyed the Iraq nuclear weapons research facility at Osirak, Iraq on June 7, 1981. I believe that Israel will again be forced to attack a nuclear weapons development site in Iran, if they fell their country’s very existence is at stake. The knowledge that Israel will at some point launch an attack may force the U.S. to conduct a pre-emptive strike because of the “uproar” that any attack by Israel would cause in the Muslim world.
Before the advent of weapons of mass destruction, countries could suffer an attack and then fight back. These new powerful weapons no longer give a country this luxury, and especially when dealing with countries and people that seem to have no problem with use of suicide bombers and the death of large numbers of people. I know many people do not believe the U.S. should ever launch a pre-emptive attack, but would the U.S. have been right to attack the Imperial Japanese Navy on the night of Dec. 6, 1941?
Jim Hallum, Gilroy.
Submitted Thursday, Aug. 5 to The Dispatch.
