More than 10 years after 9/11, you let your guard down and forget that the world is still an incredibly dangerous place.
The Middle East usually reminds us. As I write this, the government of Syria is trying to clamp down on a rebellion and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that the situation there could quickly degenerate into a “brutal civil war.” Meanwhile, the government of Egypt — which is now controlled by the radical Muslim Brotherhood — plans to put on trial 19 Americans accused of violating funding laws for foreign nongovernmental organizations.
So what would it mean for Iran to have nuclear weapons? At least three things: that Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East, would live under the constant threat of being wiped off the map; that the global balance of power would shift as other rogue leaders and developing nations rallied to Iran’s side; and that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, choking off much of the world’s oil supply, or do just about anything else it wanted and the rest of the world would be reluctant to protest for fear of sparking a nuclear confrontation.
It’s one nightmare scenario after another.
On the streets of Jerusalem, here’s what they say about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: that here you have someone who denies the Holocaust ever happened, and yet would, if given the chance and given a nuclear weapon, gladly stage a recurrence.
The Israeli people are counting on their leaders to protect them and their country with whatever action is necessary. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta raised eyebrows recently when he said that Israel could bomb Iran as early as this spring.
But this isn’t just a problem for Israel. Iran is a global menace. James R. Clapper Jr., director of national intelligence, recently told the Senate intelligence committee that Iran is increasingly likely to launch terrorist attacks inside the United States “in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.”
Here’s more bad news: Consider the cozy relationship between Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Could we be looking at the possibility of a Venezuelan missile crisis?
