As the IAEA reports that Iran has stopped enriching uranium to the twenty percent level required to produce a nuclear weapon in order to meet its obligations under the recently signed accord, the Obama administration fights tooth and nail to prevent the United States Senate from enforcing consequences of Iran’s breaking of the international agreement.
The deal was engineered by the P5+1 powers as a temporary phase to allow a permanent solution to be developed to halt the Iranian nuclear weapons program. The administration also refuses to release the details of the deal to the general public. This tells me that Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Kerry are hellbent on getting an agreement in place with Iran to prevent the need for military action, no matter the cost to Israel’s security or American long-term interests in the region. They are not hellbent on stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Israeli opposition to the agreement is well documented. This is because Israel is on her own. She can no longer count on the United States to protect her existence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated recently that the agreement does nothing to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability. For political expediency, America has abandoned her long term democratic ally in the Middle East.
Now let’s take this a step further. In addition to nuclear weapons, Iran is developing long range missile delivery systems, or ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles). These weapons could strike Israel within minutes and provide almost no warning in advance of detonation. Israel could not count on its missile defense systems to shoot down one hundred percent of the Iranian volley. If any of these missiles deployed a nuclear warhead, Israel would be destroyed.
The Jewish State is a very small country geographically. A few atomic bombs detonated in her major cities or an airburst overhead would destroy her completely for decades to come. At the very least, it would destroy her vibrant economy. So, Israel cannot take that chance; she has to strike preemptively.
The Islamic government of Iran has publicly stated numerous times its desire to destroy the state of Israel. As recently as Sept. 2012, former-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while speaking at the United Nations, stated that Israel should be eliminated. In addition, Iran has recently used weapons of mass destruction through its proxy Bashar al-Assad on Israel’s border against the Syrian opposition.
With these facts in mind, Israel cannot allow Iran to become a nuclear power. If the United States and the rest of the world will not prevent this from happening, Israel will have to act alone militarily. She has no choice. Israel’s motivation is survival, not political expediency.
The question is not whether or not the Israeli Air Force can penetrate Iran’s air defense network but rather if it can mount a sustained campaign that will destroy Iran’s underground nuclear facilities. It is well known that Iran has spent years hardening and dispersing its nuclear sites to make them survivable in the event of an attack. With its back against the wall and with no friends in the region, Israel may eventually have no choice but to employ nuclear weapons to prevent the destruction of the Jewish State. This may be especially true if an Israeli first strike with conventional weapons is deemed to be ineffective.
It was less than one hundred years ago that the world refused to look an aggressor against the Jewish race in the face and stand up to evil. By attempting to declare peace and avoid military action at any cost to its allies, the Obama administration may be remembered for bringing “peace in our time.”
L. Todd Wood is a former USAF Special operations helicopter pilot. His second thriller novel, Sugar, was published in 2013 and deals with American policy in the Middle East. LToddWood.com
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