Dilemma: Bomb Iran or let Iran get the bomb?

TRANSCRIPT

Unless President Obama and our allies move quickly to derail Iran’s nuclear weapons program, we will soon be faced with the choice between two horrible options: bombing Iran or letting Iran get the bomb.

If we, or Israel, bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, most observers feel we could – at best – set Iran’s nuclear weapons program back a few years. Chairman of the Jt. Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen warns that an attack could ignite a regional war in the Middle East – with Iran retaliating by unleashing Hezbollah and Hamas on Israel, reactivating Shiite militias in Iraq, and even mining the Strait of Hormuz. This would send the price of oil, and gasoline at American pumps, through the roof.

On the other hand, if Iran gets the bomb, it would set off a nuclear arms race throughout the middle east, as moderate Sunni Arab states rush to build their own nuclear arsenals. Not only would this increase chances a nuclear weapon could be used, accidentally or intentionally, but also that nuclear materials could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Is there a third way? Perhaps. Regime change – not by sending Americans boots on the ground, but encouraging Iranian reformers on the streets – like President Reagan did with the Solidarity Labor movement in Poland in the 1980’s.

President Obama should speak out forcefully against the Iranian regime’s abuses and in favor of the democratic opposition movement, and aid private groups working to keep the movement’s internet communications online. His moral authority carries great weight in the Arab world.

He should also impose crippling gasoline sanctions that zero in on the foreign companies that sell, transport or insure gasoline shipments to Iran.

In the end it is the Iranian people who offer the best chance of derailing Iran’s nuclear program, by changing their regime from within and rejoining the community of nations.