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Obama Must Act Promptly to Prevent a Nuclear Iran

(U.S. News) Mortimer B. Zuckerman - The gravest national security challenge facing the U.S. is clearly how to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. It is also the most urgent. Conciliation has failed. Diplomacy has failed. Coercion has failed. Covert action has failed. These efforts have no doubt delayed the regime in Tehran, but they have not deterred it. The clock is running on atomic time. Iran is now about to cross the nuclear threshold and enter what is referred to as a zone of immunity. It is also seen close to having the ability to prepare more than one missile-ready device within about three months of a decision to proceed. U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says Iran "has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East and it is expanding the scale, reach, and sophistication of its ballistic missile force, many of which are inherently capable of carrying a nuclear payload." So what have these missiles to do with the development of nuclear power for the "peaceful" purposes Iran professes? There is a wise axiom, "Do not take the smallest chance of a catastrophic outcome." An Iran led by fanatical, brutal, and millenarian leaders may bring about such an outcome because their radical ideology makes them impervious to any deterrence that we normally think would restrain most countries. Iran has shown consistent hostility to the U.S. and its allies. It is by all accounts the world's chief sponsor of terrorism. It can transfer nuclear materials to terrorists with the same care for peace as it exhibits in supplying thousands of missiles to Hizbullah. Imagine the havoc it could create in the U.S. by making small nuclear "dirty" bombs and using suicide attackers to bring them into Manhattan or Los Angeles ports. Virtually every expert on the Middle East believes that Iran will use a nuclear weapon if it is able to gain one.
2012-03-02 00:00:00
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