Nukes Part 5

Iran has recently test-fired 9 more missiles. These are a little different, as they have a big enough range to hit Israel.

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Brig Gen Hoseyn Salami, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' air force, said: "Our missiles are ready for shooting at any place and any time, quickly and with accuracy.

"The enemy must not repeat its mistakes. The enemy targets are under surveillance."

Secretary Rice claims that this just helps the United States' case for building a missile defense system in eastern Europe. This comes just a few days after Russia claimed (again) they would take military action to keep the system from being built.

I stood by Iran. I truly believed, and maybe still believe, that they are using nuclear technology for civilian purposes only. However, actions such as these do not help their case, and they cannot be naive enough to think that they can do missile tests without anyone connecting that to their nuclear program.

Regardless, it has long been apparent that Israel has many enemies in the middle east, and Iran is just one of them. Looking at Israel's extensive nuclear program and their threats on Iran and other countries, it is really not surprising that Iran would fight back.

A lot of us "westerners" seem to have a hard time understanding the idea of provocation. Especially the U.S., as the arguably leading (but possibly waning?) world power sometimes does not seem to understand basic principles such as defense until is pertains only to itself. Iran tests less than a dozen missiles in response to the U.S. and Israel's hostile language (McCain: "Bomb bomb Iran.") and suddenly this is an awful thing for Iran to do, and is considered a hostile action. Yet the U.S. thinks that it's missile defense system would not be hostile, and that it would be justified even though the threat is not anywhere near as imminent as the one on Iran (see Nukes Part 2). See the double standard?

I am not suggesting that because we have missiles, they should be allowed missiles. Nuclear proliferation for anything other than civilian use is dangerous, and unjustified in my opinion. What I am saying is that we are just as guilty as them, and to suggest that they are more "evil" or "hostile" because they do the same thing that many other countries have done is just ridiculous.

It is clear that the real problem here is not Iran's nuclear program or it's missile testing. Look back to Nukes for a list of countries that have nuclear programs. Even more countries test missiles all the time. The real issue here is Iran's tense relationship with Israel, and by association (to my dismay) the United States, and this existed before Iran's nuclear program was discovered and especially before these latest missile testings. If the relationship is the real problem, then how can we expect harsh talk, or even dare I say military action (knock on wood) to ever fix this true issue?