LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE:

Iran: The babble and the bomb (Ehsan Ahrari, 8/20/04, Asia Times)

Let's be clear about one issue. Neither Iran nor North Korea should develop nuclear weapons. We already have too many nuclear powers on this small planet of ours, armed with enough nuclear weapons to blow it up many times over. But what if Iran does develop nuclear weapons? A number of facts and fictions about this issue should be well understood.

The first fact is that Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons. Second, it aspires to develop such weapons, if not now, then certainly in the foreseeable future - say, within 10 years. Third, Iran is genuinely afraid of a militaristic United States whose military forces are lurking beyond Iran's eastern border in Afghanistan and its western borders in Iraq, and, like North Korea, considers its own nuclear weapons as a source of deterrence to potential US military action against the regime. [...]

Under a re-elected Bush, Iran has most to fear about America's potential exercise of regime change, for a variety of reasons.

You'll likely not be surprised that not listed among Mr. Ahrari's reasons is that the regime is unpopular with its own people who desire genuine democracy, economic development, and renewed friendship with the U.S.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 20, 2004 6:19 PM