Go in, get rid of the nukes/regime, leave
Once again, we face a choice between bad and worse options. There can be no “surgical” strike in any meaningful sense: Iran’s clients on the ground will retaliate in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Europe. Nor should we put much stock in the country’s allegedly “pro-American” youth. This shouldn’t be a touchy-feely nation-building exercise: rehabilitation may be a bonus, but the primary objective should be punishment—and incarceration. It’s up to the Iranian people how nutty a government they want to live with, but extraterritorial nuttiness has to be shown not to pay. That means swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime—but no occupation.Mark Steyn is pretty clear about what the stakes are in Iran. It is not a cheering prospect. However, at the moment, it is possible. Once the Iranians have working warheads it may not be possible at all and that leads to the very bad option of nuclear blackmail.The cost of de-nuking Iran will be high now but significantly higher with every year it’s postponed. The lesson of the Danish cartoons is the clearest reminder that what is at stake here is the credibility of our civilization. Whether or not we end the nuclearization of the Islamic Republic will be an act that defines our time.
city journal
April 12th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
How are the “stakes in Iran” different from the stakes in North Korea?
April 13th, 2006 at 1:21 am
North Korea isn’t on one side of the Hormuz.
April 13th, 2006 at 1:27 am
Or, Alan, Pakistan.
The principle substantive difference is that Iran does not seem ot have nukes yet. NK does.
I am less concerned with the Strait of Hormuz because it can be cleared and, if people spent a few hours planning an invasion of Iran they might well assign more than a few marines to take the Iranian side early on.
April 14th, 2006 at 1:38 am
Clearing the strait isn’t enough. The entire Gulf is not much better than a puddle. Other than the US and the US Navy, no-one will particularly care if the Iranians sink a few US navy ships up to and including aircraft carriers. But, if a couple of tankers go down, or even if the tanker owners and insurers assess the likelihood of such to be high, one thing will happen and another thing may happen:
1) Shipping insurance rates will increase.
2) Shipping may cease or diminish.
The other difference between NK and Iran, BTW, is that Kim pretty much just wants to be left alone. He isn’t ranting about destroying SK or Japan or anything else.