The connivance of Iranian Mullahs to make nukes
should irk the civilized world
By
A.H. Jaffor Ullah
Iran
is again in the headline world over.
This time it is not their exercise in futility over electing the
parliament members. Remember in early 2004, how did the Mullahs bar
reform-minded liberal candidates from competing in the election? Now
that they have gotten their way to elect only conservative candidates
for their legislative assembly, they have focused their attention to
making nukes. The sad part is that the Europeans and the rest of the
world coddle the Mullahs as the nation is on its way to blast off the
first nuke anytime soon. It is therefore very pathetic to see that
“the world shrugs as Iranian builds its nuclear bomb.” The phrase
put under inverted commas is not mine. The lead editorial of the Wall
Street Journal on Iranian Mullah’s connivance to make nuke had
written the sentence.
Iran
was inspired to make nuclear device once both
India
and
Pakistan
blasted their experimental nuclear devices on May 11, 1998, (in
Pokhran,
Rajasthan
,
India
) and May 30, 1998 (in Chagai Hills,
Baluchistan
,
Pakistan
).
Iran
wants to join the exclusive nuclear club for whatever reasons. The
intelligence communities believe that
Iran
might go nuclear within the next year or two. The sign is written all
over. These are following three infractions done by
Iran
in recent days: 1. Inspectors from International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) found traces of nuclear-weapons-grade uranium in selective site
inside
Iran
; 2. Important information about the P-2 centrifuge used in uranium
enrichment program has frequently required repeated requests from IAEA,
and in some cases changing or contradictory information was given by
Iran; 3.
Iran
’s postponement until mid-April 2004 of the visits originally
scheduled for mid-march 2004 resulted in a delay in the taking of
environmental sample and their analysis by IAEA inspectors.
The world learned about the above infractions when IAEA inspectors had
found multiple traces of 36% enriched uranium, which have no civilian
uses and nor could it be used in a nuclear reactor to generate power.
Up until now, the Iranian authorities could not offer a satisfactory
answer. To make matters worse, the Iranian authorities had lied about
having a sophisticated P-2 centrifuge for weapon-grade uranium
enrichment program of the kind peddled by Dr. A. Qader Khan of
Pakistan
. On top of it, Iranians have sought thousands magnets for
centrifuge-based enrichment of weapon-grade uranium. Finally, Iranians
have not been able to offer any reasonable explanation for their
experimentation with polonium-210, which is considered by IAEA to be
the nuclear bomb trigger. The IAEA inspectors think that the reason
they were barred from entering selective sites inside
Iran
is the sanitization of those sites in mid-march 2004.
Since
Iran
is a major petroleum-producing nation on earth, it cannot say so
easily that they are using radioactive uranium to generate
electricity. We also know that there are hawks in
Iran
who want
Iran
to have “Islamic Nukes” to threat the existence of Jewish State,
Israel, and frustrate the so-called American colonialism in oil-rich
Middle East
. To make matters worse, on June 12, 2004, Associated Press quoted
Iran
’s foreign minister Kamal Kharazi as declaring that “
Iran
has to be recognized by the international community as a member of the
nuclear club. This is an irreversible path.” This pernicious
statement by the Iranian foreign minister had caught the attention of
many U.S. policymakers by surprise. The harsh statement by Mr. Kamal
Kharazi finally provoked the U.S. State Department to declare that
Iran’s nuclear activities “are in no way peaceful” and
“specifically designed to create weapons.” I culled this from the
Wall Street Journal’s editorial published on June 14, 2004. The same
editorial wrote, “We have heard a disturbing number of quiet remarks
in Washington and other Western capitals recently to the effect that
the world will just have to “get used to” the idea of the Iranians
having nukes.”
This kind of sentiments to tolerate one more nation developing nukes
is a very bad trend. Iran is not a stable nation by any measure of
standard. In the name of democracy, they conducted a “fair”
election only to bar liberal candidates. The Mullahs of Iran have
ulterior motives to export their brand of Islamism in neighboring
nations. Suddenly, the Americans will find out that the nations who
are being protected by the security umbrella provided by this country
will be jeopardized by Iranian’s bomb. Many nations in the Middle
East may feel uneasy about Iran having its nuke; they would surely go
for developing their own nukes thus ushering in a new round of nuke
making. Therefore, Iran’s nuke making may engender a nuclear arms
race in most volatile nations on earth.
Every time Iran does something out of ordinary in their quest to make
nuclear devices, the U.S. goes to European nations thinking that they
could broker a deal. Some months ago, the U.S. asked the Europeans to
arrange an inspection done by the IAEA inspectors. The Iranians have
violated the agreement with impunity. Therefore, the multilateral
diplomacy is not having any effect on the rogue nation of Iran.
Under this backdrop, the WSJ editorial asked whether the Europeans
would ever admit that Iran is indeed a rogue nation. There should be a
measure of equanimity between the U.S. and her allies vis-à-vis
Iran’s stance on developing nukes. Only then, the West could perhaps
prepare a covert and military options to sabotage the Iranian nuclear
weapon developing program. The other option could be to aid the forces
in Iran who wants a fundamental change in their country. If the West
let Iran go nuke out of benign neglect, then history will not look
kindly. For, it takes only one rogue nation to make the world askew.
If a single terrorist organization such as al-Qaeda could do so much
damage by hijacking four passenger planes on one solitary day and then
demolishing some tall buildings, then think about the consequence of
one rogue nation that has nuclear arsenals and is willing to blast
them to their perceived enemy could do to our humankind. Yes, it is
possible. To keep the world a safer place for our next generations we
should fight tooth and nail to make sure that no other nation could
develop nuclear bombs. As a deterrent, the West could ask Iran to join
the exclusive nuclear club without having to develop nuke. That way,
their ego is satisfied and none of the neighbors have to fret over
Mullah’s Green nuke.
-----------------------------------------
Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New
Orleans, USA
