(Washington Post) William M. Arkin - Does the U.S. have a war plan for stopping Iran in its pursuit of nuclear weapons? The diplomatic effort directed at Iran would be mightily enhanced if that country understood that the U.S. is so serious about deterring the Iranian quest for nuclear weapons that it would be willing to go to war to stop that quest from reaching fruition. Iran needs to understand that the U.S. isn't hamstrung by a lack of options. It needs to realize that it can't just stonewall and evade its international obligations, that it can't burrow further underground in hopes that it will "win" merely because war is messy. Iran controls the two basic triggers that could set off U.S. military action. The first would be its acquisition of nuclear capability in defiance of the international community. The second trigger would be Iran's lashing out militarily (or through proxy terrorism) at the U.S. or its allies, or closing the Strait of Hormuz to international oil traffic.
2006-04-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive