An Iranian Nutjob

Iran's new President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, really is off-the-charts insane. Just to give you an idea, so far, although at this point he is still only the President-elect, he has described the Holocaust as a "myth," threatened to "[wipe Israel] off the map", decided that the state of Israel should be in Europe not the Middle East, and, most recently, openly hoped that the "criminal" Ariel Sharon will "[join] his ancestors" (a.k.a die) as a result of his illness.

Honestly, this guy must really have mental health issues. But that aside, he is also incredibly dangerous. He leads a Nation that is developing nuclear weapons, and that has some 68 million people, many of whom are either gullible or stupid (or maybe both) enough to believe and agree with each of the above quotations.

Interestingly enough, the potentially dangerous nature of the latest President of Iran, makes our our work in Iraq all the more important. The presence of a stable Republic of Iraq will make negotiating with Iran easier. One way that Iraq's rise will help us with Iran is simply by voiding the need for Iranian oil. The combination of Saudi Arabia and a stable Iraq in the Middle East will make it easy for us to simply place an embargo on Iran, which could be deadly to their economy. Additionally, having another steadying presence in the Middle East besides just Israel will facilitate economic, political and other operations in the region; a tremendous benefit when trying to deal with Rogue States, such as Iran.

The problem of course is the fact that Iran seems to be fairly close to building a nuclear weapon. The question then becomes, what would they do with a nuke? Well, since they are developing a nuclear weapon and not an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, hitting the US, Japan, or continental Europe won't be possible. That, of course, leaves the Middle East and the tiny little Nation that Iran feels should be "wiped off the map": Israel. Just one small problem, Israel also has the bomb (more than one bomb, I might add), and they are certainly not afraid to use them if Iran presses the right buttons.

So, am I saying that a nuclear war resulting (most likely) in the destruction of Iran will occur within 15 years? No. Or at least I hope not. But this complete moron who is now President in Iran is all the more reason to quickly move the Iranian issue into our playing field. The EU has tried and failed, and they will gladly continue to try and fail (over and over again), unless the United States steps in. Does this mean troops? Extremely unlikely (and not very plausible at this point), although threatening to use them might be the place for Bush to start.

The question of what to do with Iran, as you can perhaps tell from this post, is at the very least a murky one, but it is one of great concern. It needs to be addressed not only for our own sake but for the sake of our Middle Eastern ally Israel, and for the sake of the newly emerging Iraq.