Nextonthelist

Take a few moments looking at the map and you’ll realize the strategic importance of Iran. Bordered by Iraq to the West and Afghanistan to the East, Iran is right in the middle of what the United States is doing in the Middle East.

You can also see the problems this poses to our policies in the region. The ability of Iran to influence and undermine her neighbors is known and documented. Imagine an emboldened and nuclear Iran?

Iran is a headache quickly becoming a migraine.

Put this in the “it only takes one” column. It was reported in 2005 (see here) that the Iranians have tested detonating a Shahab-3 in high altitude flight. Analysts say this means one thing: airbust.

How bad is it? It’s all in the electromagnetic pulse. Need more convincing?

Here is the gist from a reference noted above: “EMP is one of a smalll number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences.”

Further

What is different now is that some potential sources of EMP threats are difficult to deter — they can be terrorist groups that have no state identity, have only one or a few weapons, and are motivated to attack the US without regard for their own safety.

Rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, may also be developing the capability to pose an EMP threat to the United States, and may also be unpredictable and difficult to deter.

It should be clear that having a nuclear weapon is no light matter. Iran is a sworn enemy with theological, ideological, and political desire to bring about the destruction of the United States. The United States should not and hopefully will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear bomb.

So why would Iran want a bomb?

1. Instant prestige among fellow Islamists.
2. Deterent to the United States, Israel, or any that might try military operations.
3. Balance of Power with Israel (most believe Israel has many nuclear weapons).

The bomb would definitely change strategic thinking in the Gulf.
A recent editorial by Amir Taheri stated:

Last year, it was after another khalvat that Ahmadinejad announced his intention to stand for president. Now, he boasts that the Imam gave him the presidency for a single task: provoking a “clash of civilisations” in which the Muslim world, led by Iran, takes on the “infidel” West, led by the United States, and defeats it in a slow but prolonged contest that, in military jargon, sounds like a low intensity, asymmetrical war.

If indeed the Iranian leaders are taken at their word, it is in the best interests of the United States to take on Iran before it gets a nuke and then becomes all the more difficult to manage.

So Iran wants to rattle the world’s cage with the strategic ambiguity about its nuclear weapons program. Aside from Ahmadinejad’s grand-standing (perfect play to the hard-core Islamist vote), is it possible that the Iranians just don’t get it?

One would think that the Iranian generals would understand the doctrine of “mutually assured destruction” (MAD). Any nuclear attack would be met with an equal or far greater counter-attack. Perhaps the Iranians are willing to gamble that we really wouldn’t pull the trigger?

The daily threats against Israel and the United States by the Iranians has served to paint a giant-sized bullseye centered on Tehran.

One thing you can say about the lunatic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he likes attention. Moving himself to the top of the list, AhMADinejad has a penchant for anti-semitic, foot-in-the-mouth statements that only German neo-nazis could love.

So he wants attention? Well, he’s got it. Denounced by many as “the next Hitler”, this man is leading Iran into a conflict it will certainly lose. He’s definitely earned top billing as “next on the list” for a little loving from Uncle Sam.