by Joey Goze

Created on: December 24, 2006   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

In weighing such a question, there are many points to consider. The cost of lives versus the cost of not acting. The long term consequence both of attacking or not. In this, it is with a heavy heart that I would have to support a full attack of Iran. There are a number of reasons to justify this as will be shown here.

Let us consider the current Iranian leadership. The prime minister of Iran is a religious fanatic bent on bringing in the Islamic version of a messianic era. He has been quoted on this point several times. Without hesitation, he believes that to bring about this era of Islamic rule, he must initiate a world war. His current conventional weapons can not be used to this end. He requires a nuclear weapon and with such, he would start his messianic era war.

Moreover, he is the only leader in recent memory that has stood up to the world and stated that another sovereign state should be wiped off the map (i.e., Israel) and that Europe and the U.S. would be next. These are not the words of a government that is seeking nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. These are words of threat that indicate well what Iran's intentions would be if they gain access to a nuclear weapon.

In this, we see the price we are going to have to pay for inaction now. Sure, we could not attack, and things would remain in the realm of arguments at the U.N., at least for a while. Iran will continue its clandestine efforts and no one will be the wiser. Then one day, we will wake up to a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv. Israel would surely retaliate with everything it has (I would assume they would also take out Damascus at the same time, two birds with one stone, that sort of thing). The U.S. would most likely get involved and the whole situation would spin quickly out of control. The loss of life in this scenario greatly outweighs what would happen if the U.S. will take care of Iran right now.

In the U.S. attacks first scenario, we can assume the U.S. will knock out most of Iran's capabilities, but not all. Iran might launch a few conventional weapons in Israel's direction, but most likely, Israel will remain out of the fight for diplomatic reasons (a la Gulf War I). Syria will run for cover as she always does. Maybe Hizbollah starts up again on Israel's northern border, but Israel can handle that. There will be loss of life, mostly Iranian, but with smart weapon technology, numbers will remain low compared to the WWIII scenario.

As I write, I see how brutally harsh it is to talk about deaths of people in cold numbers. I wish we as a human race did not have to arrive to such situations in which we must choose courses of action in which people die. Unfortunately, this is life and it is preferable to choose the least offensive course of action. I only hope the choice is made as soon as possible.

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