Deadly Games

Iran is threatening to block the IAEA from inspecting various sites associated with Iran's nuclear program. Iran has adopted the North Korean playbook, knowing that the IAEA is completely powerless to act.

Yet, no matter how bad the situation is now, the moment Iran gets the bomb, the danger level rises exponentially. And no matter how bad all of our options look right now, none are so bad as watching Iran with a nuclear weapon. Victor Davis Hanson has more.

And Iran can threaten to do all this under the aegis of a crazed Islamist regime more eager for the paradise of the next world than for the material present so dear to the affluent and decadent West. If Iran can play brinkmanship now on just the promise of nuclear weapons, imagine its roguery to come when it is replete with them.

When a supposedly unhinged Mr. Ahmadinejad threatens the destruction of Israel and then summarily proceeds to violate international protocols aimed at monitoring Iran’s nuclear industry, we all take note. Any country that burns off some of its natural gas at the wellhead while claiming that it needs nuclear power for domestic energy is simply lying. Terrorism, vast petroleum reserves, nuclear weapons, and boasts of wiping neighboring nations off the map are a bad combination.

So we all agree on the extent of the crisis, but not on the solutions, which can be summarized by four general options.

The four options are best summed as follows: the ostrich, stepping up global pressure, Israel goes medieval on Iran's nuclear program with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch just as it did Iraq in 1981, and the US airstrike. Davis continues:

So where do these bad and worse choices leave us? Right where we are now — holding and circling while waiting for a break in the clouds.

Still, there are two parameters we should accept — namely, that Iran should not be allowed to arm its existing missiles with nukes and that Israel should not have to do the dirty work of taking out Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

The Europeans and the Americans right now must accelerate their efforts and bring the crisis to a climax at the Security Council to force China and Russia publicly to take sides. India, Pakistan, and the Arab League should all be brought in and briefed on the dilemma, and asked to go on record supporting U.N. action.

The public relations war is critical.

And it's actually that part of the war that I fear the most. We've seen the media solidly anti-war and taking great pains to cast even successes as failures. The media has downplayed every success, which undermines the war effort and turning the hearts and minds of our enemies from violence towards dialogue. At the same time, the media has published leaks of classified programs that are supposed to provide national security without worry of consequences or the potential toll from terrorists exploiting the news of said programs (but have actively withheld information to save the life of a single journalist taken hostage in Iraq - Jill Carroll). The dichotomy isn't lost on the public, and although they note the tone in the media, the media still forms the basis of public opinion. The Administration must do a better job laying out the groundwork on action against Iran.

UPDATE:
President Bush has publicly stated that a nuclear armed Iran poses a 'great risk.' Vast understatement there, Mr. President.

UPDATE:
Also noting VDH's comments: Dr. Sanity.