I Won't Be Sleeping Tonight

I don't think I've read anything as frightening as this article from the New Yorker in a long time. The article goes into a lot of detail as to the Administration's plans for Iran. Yes, Iran, I didn't mis-type.

There's a lot of the same rhetoric in there that we heard in the lead up to the Iraq war. Once again, they're telling us that they're pursuing a diplomatic solution but reportedly have already made the decision to go to war. Once again they're "briefing Congress" selectively, only briefing certain members deemed faithful to the President and pro-war in stance.

But here's the quote from the article that will keep me from sleeping tonight:

One of the military's initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites.

The article goes on to quote several sources that this option is being seriously considered.

If that's true, and if we do it, the rest of the world is going to end us. Not just complain, not just strike back feebly, but unify together and wipe us off the face of the planet.

No one wants to take on the big kid in the playground, and as long as all he's doing is menacing people and maybe taking their lunch money, no one does anything about it. But if he graduates to breaking limbs or actually killing the smaller kids, sooner or later they WILL rise up and take him out.

There has only ever been ONE nuclear war on this planet, and WE were the only ones who made it so. If we start the second one, the rest of the world will realize we are too dangerous to be allowed to exist, and they will end us.

The ONLY good thing about nuclear weaponry is that we're all so afraid of the other guy's that we don't use our own. There may be conflicts in which the use of nukes is justified. Some have argued that their use in World War II ended the war much more quickly, and ultimately SAVED lives. But there can be no good outcome, no justifiable reason to use nukes in a preemptive war, even if you accept the morality and/or necessity of such a war.

Bullying the other kids on the planet will make them dislike us, and probably grumble a lot, but most will probably just try to stay out of our way. If we break out the nukes, we become the terrorist state we're claiming to fight, and there WILL be a wide spread united world effort to put us down and make sure we can never do such a thing again.

Mark my words. Think about it. And see if you, like me, have trouble getting to sleep tonight.

Liam.