Iran's Time Bomb

THERE IS A TIME WHEN ACTION MUST BE TAKEN AND THAT TIME IS NOW. THE FEAR TO ME IS THAT IF WE END UP WITH OBAMA WE WILL SHORTLY LOSE OUR NATION VIA INSURRECTION OR INVASION VIA SUIT CASE NUKES OR INTERCONTINENTAL MISSILES FROM OUR KNOW ENEMIES.A THOUGHT FROM DAA.

Iran's Time Bomb
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, August 08, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Geopolitics: Summer vacations, Olympic Games and even election campaigns must not distract us from the frightening reality that Iran is building a nuclear bomb and that it may soon be too late to do anything about it.

The U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China offered Iran a generous package of incentives last week hoping to convince the mullahs that developing a nuclear weapon is not in their interest. Iran's answer? A vague promise of a "final response" somewhere down the line.

It's obvious that Tehran is stalling. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knows that the most serious nation in the group — the U.S. — is going through a change of administrations, and that all he has to do is wait. If Barack Obama wins — and Iran 's leaders clearly believe he will — then game over. Obama won't be nearly as tough or as resilient as President Bush, or even France's Nicolas Sarkozy.

That's the game we're playing. Iran has doubled to 6,000 the number of high-tech centrifuges it has working to turn raw yellowcake uranium into highly refined nuclear material that can be used in a bomb. And tests of its Shahab-3 missiles, capable of reaching Europe, show Tehran is serious about its threats.

Three separate resolutions have been voted by the U.N. Security Council calling on Iran to halt its uranium-refinement program. Iran answers no and gets away with it. The reason, sad to say, is our "allies" in getting Iran's compliance are half-engaged at best.

China's daily need for oil is growing by half a million barrels a year. It's also building a blue ocean navy to rival ours. Think it wants to help?

Russia, meanwhile, has hundreds of billions of dollars worth of construction projects in Iran. And just last week, it released a strategic plan, "Concept to Develop the Russian Armed Forces until 2030," that recognizes the U.S. as the world's sole superpower and one of Russia's biggest threats.

Here are two major members of the Security Council, each viewing the U.S. as a potential foe and neither wanting to upset Iran. From them we can expect no help.

As for Europe, another new report reveals that its exports to Iran have surged 18% the past year. So much for economic sanctions the European Union claims to want.

That leaves only two serious players at the table across from Iran — the U.S. and Israel. We're already engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we've reportedly sent two more aircraft carriers to the Gulf and Red Sea to join the two battle groups there now.

But as the military sends one message, the State Department sends another. "Iran has a way out if they ever wish," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week about Tehran's intransigence, "but we will seriously pursue sanctions if they don't."

Talk about sanctions isn't enough — especially if we can't get Russia and China to go along.

In recent days, Iran's rhetoric has hardened, including a threat to shut the waterway through which a quarter of the world's oil travels. "Closing the Strait of Hormuz for an unlimited period of time would be very easy," said Iranian Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the radical Revolutionary Guards.

Those who still think Iran poses no threat should think again. So should those who think time is on our side. Iran has repeatedly threatened to get rid of Israel, and three weeks have already passed since Mohamad ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, declared that Iran could have a bomb "within six months" — just in time for a new American president to take office.

Given the uncertainty and danger, Israel is reportedly doing what it must — prepare to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. It has conducted war games in the Mediterranean and gone on a global buying spree to build up its arsenal of attack jets and submarines.

Israel says it can take out Iran's nukes, and there's no reason to doubt that. If it does, the U.S. should be prepared to give any aid Israel needs — including using those powerful Gulf battle groups.

Michael Rubin, an expert on Iran and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has observed that "Iranians play chess while Americans play checkers."

There is no excuse for us to get into a position where we're staring dumbfounded at the game board when Ahmadinejad, having finally developed a nuclear weapon, shouts "checkmate!"



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