Stop bullying Iran in an effort to justify another war

"War is something absurd, useless, that nothing can justify." -Louis de Cazenave

"It is a tribute to the humanity of ordinary people that horrible acts must be camouflaged in a thicket of deceptive words like "security," "peace," "freedom," "democracy," the "national interest" in order to justify them." -Howard Zinn

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." -Dwight D. Eisenhower

"You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride." -General William Tecumseh Sherman, during the Civil War, in a letter to the City of Atlanta

"Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out…and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel ... and in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man" — with his mouth." -Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." -John F. Kennedy



As unpopular as the sentiment may be to some: Iran has just as much of a right to utilize the power of the atom to generate electricity as any other civil society.

That said; if they are attempting to foster a clandestine nuclear weapons program, then that is definitely cause for concern. However, backing them into a corner will not facilitate inspections from international nuclear watchdogs; but it may very well facilitate the very interest in nuclear weaponry that's being used as thin justification for pursuing the nation of Iran so doggedly. If you were a small nation facing international pressure and the threat of unprovoked bombing or invasion from the most powerful military in the world; wouldn't it make nuclear weapons seem like a good idea to you, too?

Fact is: It's ridiculous that North Korea purportedly tested a nuclear weapon, and was subsequently rewarded with a lifting of sanctions; but Iran has done no such thing and is being treated as if it has nuclear warheads mounted on top of its medium-range Shaheed-3 missiles.

What's the reason for the difference? Undoubtedly the primary reason is the vast reservoir of oil that lies beneath the Iranian nation, and its unbelievable value in light of current economic conditions.