How do we avoid it?

I was deeply concerned this morning as I read Israel's claim that the axis of terror is leading us towards the first world war of the 21st Century. It's the first time I've heard a public official actually say what we're all thinking. At first my mind was flooded with images of human carnage- melted bodies plastered gooily to charred remnants of houses and buildings. Environmental destruction for hundreds of miles- an eerie silence amidst a once bustling downtown, now infested with mutated rats bleeding from their guts from radiation, lapping fragments of liquified skull, half digested fecal material and roasted human fat sandwiched like oozing overcooked smores from pigeon pecked bones.

But then my mind turned to more selfish things. Will we ever see another superbowl or world series again? What good is my career or my desire to buy a house when gas is 5 bucks a gallon and my earnings are cut in half? What good is my friend Patrick's construction when nobody can afford to construct? What good is looking to the future with this on the horizon? How would the Christians react were they to see their made-up bible prophecies come to fruition? Would we then elect a Pat Robertson? Could I afford a plane ticket out of the country fast enough?

Frankly, I don't see a way to prevent Iran from getting nukes. They picked a perfect time to taunt us, bogged down in Iraq, with public outrage at a failed foreign invasion sold falsely by knowingly shaky information at best and bald faced lies at worst. We bomb them and they just keep working even harder, garnering public support not just from their country but from the growing global anti-American sentiment. We bomb them and we start to lose the liberal Iranian youth who listen to classic rock and love American culture and who may be the only ones willing to "greet us with flowers in the street". We bomb them and suddenly more terrorist organizations sprout up and more technology, organization and financial supporters are willing to back them. Life is tough when you're at the top of the totem pole. In short, I think we're screwed. We may be living at the height of the American Empire right now. It may not ever get any better than this. I see no solution, and now some commentators are pretty much giving up and saying "maybe we can live with a nuclear Iran".

I'll have to agree with George Bush on this one- no, we can't. Good god, please no. It's unimaginable. In fact I think most of us agree since most of us backed the Iraq invasion (based on the false intelligence of course) for the same exact reasons we are concerned with Iran, only Iran is demonstrably more dangerous. Another decade or two and they have an arsenal like the old Soviet Union (as if even 1% of their arsenal wouldn't be enough already), and we may as well be bargaining with a group of people teleported straight from the 9th century who have the power to end civilization and are unafraid of death. But it may be unstoppable. I can picture all out war. With all stops pulled, it may seem an easy victory to us now. Civilian deaths? Who's counting now? Just let Jed and Jimbob from the cable hunting channel have their way and "turn it to glass",
oh... "in the name of Jesus" and republican family values of course.

Then enter every Tom Dick and Harry who thinks they can gain a stake while we're not looking- North Korea, China, Russia. It's too scary to fathom. We've all thought about this for years. We simply cannot let these types of people have nuclear weaponry. It's why congress gave Bush a blank check and the great majority of us didn't complain too hard. Only now it's for reasons that actually exist. It's inconceivable they develop these weapons. It's inconceivable that a major financial backer of terrorism can hand Abdul two pounds of enriched uranium to smash together on a London subway. How wouold we even moniter where the nuclear material is going? Oh my god, it's even worse than I imagined now I think about it. I welcome other points of view on this, because I just can't see any way around it, some force will have to be used eventually and that will be almost as bad as nothing at all- but not quite. We simply can't let it happen.

Imagine if you're an Israeli, and a country that wants you eliminated for religious reasons is being allowed to construct a nuclear program. How would you feel?