I would like to address several points brought up in Wednesday’s column “Learning to approach Iran with an open mind” (CT, Sept. 6). The author states that sanctions should not be used against Iran for pursuing nuclear technology.
Instead, economic incentives should “open the door to compromise.” The author must have not been aware that such a deal had been proposed by the United Nations this June, but rejected by Iran on August 22.
However, this is a blessing in disguise, given the dismal record of economic incentives halting rogue states’ pursuits of nuclear weapons. In 1994, a similar package of economic incentives (some would call it appeasement) was offered to North Korea in return for their pledge to stop nuclear research. In the end, the U.S. and its allies gave North Korea a lot of resources, and North Korea merely kept its program going in secret. Recently, they have admitted this to the world. Economic incentives were a complete and utter failure with North Korea, and as the author states, “Doing the same thing again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.”
Like all dictators, these “compromises” merely whet their appetites for more cash and reinforce their belief that if they act threateningly enough, the U.S. will pay them to behave.
He also states that Iranian people should be used to turn the Islamic Republic into an ally. That sounds nice, but it can never work. Iran is not like America, the people do not rule, and the people have no power to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
The people who need to be convinced to end the Iranian nuclear program are Ahmadinejad and the mullahs of Iran. Given how obvious it is that they value nuclear weaponry over the well-being of their own citizens, the only thing that can convince them to abandon their aggressive program is the knowledge that the costs the United States and its allies shall inflict on Iran will so greatly outweigh any benefit they could hope to garner with nuclear weapons, that to pursue them is senseless. As the author correctly stated, the Islamic Republic’s biggest supporters are the atheist nations of Russia and China, indicating that the rulers of Iran can and do discard ideology when it becomes impractical. America must make them do the same thing with atomic weapons.
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