Full Release - IRmep

. ~The lrani~ Bomb
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Middle East that President Bush says he wants to shape."
Therefore, for the '(:J.S., stopping Tehran's Islamist government before it obtains the means.to carry out
threats to attack Americans forces in Iraq and elsewhere should .be an urgent priority. FQr Israel, however,
denying the ruling Iranian mullahs nuclear arms is literally a matter ofnational life and death.
Israel's concern about the growing existential threat from Iran can only be heightened by overtures Sen.
John Kerry and his running mate have been making lately to Tehran"" In remarks Monday, vice
presidential candidate John Edwards said a Kerry administration would offer the Iranians a "great
bargain":'They could keep their nuclear energy program and obtainfor it Western supplies ofenriched
uranium fuel, provided the regime in Tehran promised to forswear nuclear weapons. According to Mr.
Edwards, ifIran did not accept this "bargain," everyone - including our European alliesl~ would
recognize the true, military purpose'ofthis program and would,"standwith us" in!evying on'lran "very
heavy sanctions."
There is just one problem: Based oJ) what is knoWn about Iran's program and intentions -let alone its
history ofanimus toward us - only the recklessly naive could still believe such a deal is necessary to
divine the mullahs' true purposes.
While it may be inconvenient to say so, Iran is clearly putting into place a complete nuclear fuel cycle so
as to obtain both weapons and power from its reactor and enrichment facilities. And a deal like that on
offer from Messrs. Kerry and Edwards failed abysmally in North Korea.
Ifthe United States is unwilling to take concrete steps to prevent the Iranian Bomb from coming to
fruition, its Israeli ally will·likely feel compelled to act unilaterally - just as it did with the 1981 raid
that neutralized Saddam Hussein's nuclear infrastructure. At the time, the Reagan adminis~tionjoined
the world in sharply protesting Israel's attack.
A decade later, however, the value ofthe contribu~ion thus made to American security was noted by
then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, who said he thanked God every day during Operation Desert Storm
that Israel had kept Iraq a nuclear-free zone. Ifsuch a counterproliferation strategy becomes necessary
once again, it will be in all ofour interests to have Israel succeed.
Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is president ofthe Center[or Security Policy and a coiumnis(for The Washington
Times. ...
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