Kowabunga

Iran is continuing its march towards nuclear munitions, which comes as no surprise to me. From Reuters:

Iran will not negotiate with anyone about its right to nuclear technology, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, hours before talks aimed at defusing an atomic row with the West were to start in Rome.

Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to build an atomic bomb, a charge Tehran denies, insisting it only wants to master atomic technology so it can make electricity and save its huge oil and gas reserves for export.

Sounds as though Iran is taking a page out of the North Korea playbook when it comes to their nuclear plans. North Korea had promised that they would not use nuclear technology for anything other than energy. the Clintons bought it hook, line and (lead) sinker. Even after we, the American taxpayer, foot the bill for their nuclear facilities, they continued to claim it was only for energy development. Right up until they detonated their first nuke.

Iran is playing the same game, however there are differences on where things could end up. Where China may have made token efforts to rein in North Korea, Russia is siding with Iran, probably because they are building the infrastructure and want to get paid. Iran is also far more likely than North Korea to supply al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups with high quality fissionable material with which to build bombs (and that's not difficult to do!). You can bet if a mushroom cloud suddenly appears over Tel Aviv or New York, the uranium or plutonium used will have come from Iran.

"We are in favor of talks but we will not negotiate with anyone about our right to nuclear technology," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Iranian state television during his trip to Armenia, which ended on Tuesday.

"The party which should set conditions is Iran not the other party," he was quoted as saying.

There is a big difference in a willingness to negotiate a resolution to the problems of a nuclear armed Iran and the probability that, like North Korea, Iran will use nuclear technology as a means of extorting Western nations. Nuclear tech will bolster the position of the Ayatollahs that rule Iran. They can use it as a weapon against Israel and/or America, arm terrorist groups, or simply use it as a bartering tool, trotting it out every time they want something from the U.N. or the West.

As for Iran being the one to set the conditions for discussions, then that is just a fancy way of saying they aren't interested in negotiating.

People keep claiming it will be at least 10 years before Iran can build a nuclear bomb. North Korea did it in less time, and we ponyed up the financing for it. And people also forget that the U.S. did it in about three years without the technology (like computers, lasers, etc.) that is now available today. The question is, how do we deal with Iran and eliminate the nuclear threat before mushroom clouds start sprouting up over American cities in the name of Allah? And much time do we really have?

Tags:

Iraq Nuclear Weapons