PrintNovember 3, 2009
Should Iran Worry that We'd Nuke Them If They Nuked Us?
As President Obama continues to play Charlie Brown to Iran's Lucy and flops each time he tries to kick the nuclear football away, we need to ask two questions. (1) Should Iranian leaders be afraid that President Obama would nuke Iran if Iran nuked the United States, or any U.S. ally? (2) Would Iranian leaders care if President Obama did nuke Iran?After all, it's the assumption that the cost of using nuclear weapons would outweigh any conceivable gains that has deterred countries from starting a nuclear war -- so far. Not that there haven't been close calls. The United States almost went to war with the Soviet Union during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and again in 1983 during NATO's Able Archer exercise, a simulated nuclear strike that some Soviet leaders mistakenly believed was cover for an actual attack.For Iranian leaders to be deterred from using nuclear weapons against the United States or any U.S. ally, they must fear that President Obama would reciprocate any Iranian nuclear...(Read Full Article)
