08.06
I know that it’s pretty presumptuous of me (just a humble network admin.) to name a post “The Truth About Iran.” Like I know stuff. But, I don’t mean it that way. What I mean when I say “the truth” is simply that what we are constantly bombarded with by the MSM is not it. I don’t claim to know anything about Iran, but the fact is, I don’t have to. It doesn’t take a PhD in Persian Historiography to know that the “IRAN BAD, AMERICA GOOD” tripe that we get bombarded with is childishness. The world doesn’t work that way. Reality is a little more complex than cowboys and Indians.
So what is the truth? Is Iran ruled by a madman with a lust for nuclear weapons to nuke Israel with at the first opportunity? Well, first off, it’s worth watching Scott Horton’s recent comments about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Tom Woods posted this over at LRC:
I’m not saying that Iran is no threat to anybody and that they don’t do bad things. And, that’s not what Scott is saying here either. They could bomb some country tomorrow for all I know. But, of course, so could we. We drone bomb Pakistan almost every day. What he’s saying here is that the information about Iran we get in the news is a clipped, highly generalized version of the truth, so that it’s no longer truth. When MSNBC reports that Iran is “enriching Uranium,” they conveniently leave out all of the details.
But, even all of that isn’t necessary to get a good feel for what is up with Iran. It’s obvious. Just look at a map:
Iran is completely surrounded by the U.S. allies, and Turkmenistan is neutral. Even if they do have a super secret nuke program that the IAEA doesn’t know about, who could blame them? I’ve yet to hear anyone give a cogent argument for why Iran isn’t allowed to have nuclear weapons when so many other countries have them already. Even Pakistan, to their south has nukes. If I was Iran, I would want some nukes too.
The only argument you ever hear for why Iran shouldn’t have nuclear weapons is that they might nuke Israel. But, for that to happen, they would have to be completely insane. Why would they nuke Israel when there is no doubt that nuclear retaliation from multiple countries would be immediate and total. It’s called mutually assured destruction. It’s not just a quaint notion from the 80′s. Mutually assured destruction is logical. Adheminijad may have some odd beliefs and be a total anti-semite, but he isn’t stupid. He, like every other politician, wants power. And it’s hard to have power over a country laid waste by retaliatory nuclear strikes.
Like I said, I don’t claim to know a great deal about Iran, but I know enough about human nature and logic to know that the probability of them getting a nuclear weapon and firing them off at Tel Aviv unprovoked is pretty slim. It would be suicide.
