by Joe Snyder
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No one really knows whether Iran has a nuclear capability or not but former Secretary of State Alexander Haig is warning that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a front-runner wildcard in the standoff. Says Haig: "He is a first-class nutcase and we must be very careful."
"There is no question we have the assets to attack him, but this is the fellow who says he will destroy Israel and that he’s already at war with the United States and will "bring us down" as well. That’s the opinion of Haig who adds that hollow threats against Iran will do little to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Haig wants the U.S. to keep "emphasizing" the diplomatic route to convince Iran to skip development of nuclear weapons. Haig admits he’s skeptical Iran’s leadership will listen.
America cannot over-run just anybody these days because we already have more commitments of military force scattered around the globe than we can handle.
"We’re up to our necks in Iraq and Afghanistan and we’ve got to be careful. The more we bombast and threaten, the more ammunition we give to our enemies to rally against the U.S.," Haig cautions.
"Iran is our biggest threat in the region," he said. "We know where the leadership wants to take them. We need to have some high level, direct talks with them. The situation is serious. Iran cannot afford a knockdown, drag-out fight with the U.S. and they are surely aware of it."
Wesley Clark, a former U.S. Army general and a 2004 presidential candidate, agrees that the United States must "tone down" its rhetoric in its ongoing stand off with Iran over its nuclear development. The International Atomic Energy Agency has charged that Iran openly defied a UN request to cease its nuclear development. Clark suggests the U.S. should talk directly to Iran on this, rather than engage in bravado via the media.
Clark says we should talk directly to Iran about their security concerns, plus try to include Iran with a regional security framework that provides them assurances they need to cease nuclear weaponry. One of my favorite columnists, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times, appears more worried about the Bush Administration than nuclear-armed Iran. In his column Friedman said it is important to get Iran right and questions if the Bush Administration has the ability to get much of anything right.
Friedman says a better course of action than an attack would be to keep a nuclear Iran at bay through "deterrence" – making it clear that if Iran uses a nuclear weapon or gives one to terrorists, the U.S. should destroy all of their nuclear sites.
Oh yes, Iran has said Israel should be wiped off the map." Golly, Gee! Isn’t this a great time to observe how intelligent mankind has become?