In the wake of Gaza, can the world afford to live with a nuclear Israel?
By Lech Biegalski
Global Research,
February 14, 2009
On February 14, Australian News Agency “The Age” reported:
A SENIOR Israeli diplomat has warned that Israel is ready to launch a military offensive against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
In an interview with The Age, Dan Gillerman, who was Israel's permanent representative at the United Nations from 2003 until last September, said time for diplomatic efforts to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear capability might have already expired.
“The world cannot afford to live with a nuclear Iran,” Mr Gillerman said.
The truth is that, after witnessing Israeli war crimes in Lebanon and in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, the world cannot afford to live with nuclear Israel. As opposed to Iran, Israel has secretly developed hundreds of nuclear warheads and delivery weapons outside of any supervision by international community. Iran continues to run its nuclear program in cooperation with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
According to the Press TV report of February 13,
The new chief of US intelligence has confirmed the findings of a 2007 intelligence report that Iran has no nuclear weapons program.
Dennis Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his organization has assessed that Tehran does not have nuclear weapons design and weaponization work.
A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), issued in November 2007 by the sixteen US intelligence agencies, clarified that Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
The 2007 intelligence report was widely seen as a setback for Bush administration efforts to pressure Iran and halt its nuclear program.
The UN nuclear watchdog, which has carried out the highest number of inspections in its history on Iranian nuclear sites, has also found nothing to indicate that the program has diverted toward weaponization.
In the meantime, both US and Israeli governments continue to press the issue of suspected development of military nuclear technology in Iran, slapping three rounds of sanctions against Tehran. Israel openly threatens to attack Iran in order to destroy its nuclear and scientific facilities.
The real problem, as we all know by now, is this:
Unlike the US and Israel, Iran has not attacked other countries in recent history. There is enough documented evidence indicating that the US planned the oil wars long ago and that Iran was one of the targets. Strong Iran is also an obstacle for Israeli territorial expansion in Arab countries. In this situation, EVEN IF Iran was trying to develop an effective nuclear deterrence capability IN SELF-DEFENCE, it would be perfectly understandable and perfectly justifiable.
If the US and Israel want other countries to give up their nuclear programs, they should give an example by doing same first. This, however, will not happen because these two “partners” believe that they can unilaterally bully other nations into submission. The clear pattern here is: disarm, so that we can take over your resources and your territories, or else we will attack you!
By the way, nobody has yet explained why “the world cannot live with a nuclear Iran”. The world lives with nuclear America, with nuclear Russia, nuclear China, and India, and Pakistan, and nuclear France, and United Kingdom, with nuclear Israel, and probably a host of other nuclear countries - and nobody threatens a war against them for this reason. Somehow, the world is safer, when countries have nuclear deterrence capabilities. Nobody questions their rights to develop nuclear programs for peaceful or military purposes. So why Iran? I think I have already answered that naive question.
Interestingly, Russia is not using their veto power in the UN Security Council to block the sanctions against Iran. Maybe Russia wants us to step into this mess and stretch ourselves flat? I wouldn't be surprised. Russia is extremely good at diplomacy and at long-term chess games.
Recently,
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated late Tuesday that the Obama administration might reconsider plans for a missile defense system in Europe, if Iran stops what U.S. officials believe is a drive for nuclear weapons. (Source)
This was a direct ultimatum addressed to Russia. “Help us bully Iran, or we will set up our rockets on your border”. Again, the real question is, “If the European missile defence system is to prevent Iranian nuclear warheads from reaching America, why are they being placed in Poland instead of Germany, the UK or France? Or in Iceland? Or, in Canada?” Obviously, the European missile defence system in Poland threatens Russia and this is why it became a bargaining chip in the geopolitical game for the Middle East and Caucasus. Hillary (who allegedly has an extensive experience in politics) has finally admitted it.
Surely, Mr. Lavrov is working on an appropriate move in response to this “invitation”. Perhaps, the answer should be, “In the spirit of cooperation and pending the UN investigation into Israel's war crimes in Gaza, if the US helps us force Israel to eliminate its nuclear weapons and to accept international inspections of its nuclear facilities, we will help you deal with Iran.”
NOTE:
I disagree with the author's suggestion that nuclear deterrence is something to be attained or that the world is safer when countries have nuclear deterrent capabilities. While some nuclear weapons capable countries "might" conceivably be saved from attack (a debatable point itself), the world in the aggregate experiences increasing risk of annihilation every time an additional nuclear warhead becomes operational. It is clearly immoral to create weapons which are designed to kill hundreds if not millions of innocent people at once. Nor could they ever be utilized in a morally licit and defensive way. The latter is true even for battlefield (tactical) nuclear weapons.
Moreover the idea that these weapons will never be used is not credible. We are fortunate that they were used only twice--tragically by the United States. Our doing so represented crimes against humanity. In the annals of war, no weapon once in existence has ever not been used and that includes nuclear weaponry. In the absence of a credible global nuclear disarmament effort--they will be used again. It is only a matter of time given the fallen nature of human beings--as history amply demonstrates. Nuclear weapons categorically violate the Just War Doctrinal Corpus on multiple accounts.
I do agree that Israel is currently more dangerous to the world than Iran especially in view of the fact that no credible evidence exists that Iran has or is close to developing a nuclear weapon (see the latest relevant NIE for example). Israel is reported to possess several hundred nuclear weapons none of which have ever been inspected by the IAEA or any other credible body. In that regard, Israel has refused to sign the NP--for obvious reasons. Given the crimes against humanity which Israel perpetrated in Lebanon (2007) and in Gaza (12/08) she cannot be trusted with a nuclear capability. In that regard, neither can the United States given our immoral invasion of Iraq.
All the nuclear weapon's states should actively/cooperatively reduce their arsenal's to zero in exchange for the non-nuclear weapon's states continuing to remain non-nuclear as the NPT demands. The United States is a signatory and is currently in violation of the treaty which by the way is also part of US law. This should be widely publicized and debated in the hope of changing national nuclear weapon's policy.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
