The Audacity of Idiocy

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States will extend a "defense umbrella" over our Persian Gulf allies if Iran gets a nuclear weapon. That should make them feel better. Wait, what?

"The secretary's remarks also suggested the course the Obama administration might pursue if, as many analysts predict, an unchecked Iran succeeds in obtaining a nuclear weapons capability before President Obama's term expires -- in effect, how the United States might live with a nuclear-armed Iran. Clinton's comments evoked a vision of the U.S. countering such a threat by bolstering regional defenses and reminding Iran of the dangers of mutually assured destruction -- but not by seeking regime change in Iran or by taking military action to destroy the country's nuclear apparatus."

Theories like mutual assured destruction don't apply to Iran the same way they applied to the Soviet Union. Iran doesn't care one way or the other if they are retaliated against, they will feel that they have the upper hand once they have that weapon. That gives them the edge.

Now try to follow this logic: "We want Iran to calculate what I think is a fair assessment that if the United States extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to support the military capacity of those in the Gulf, it's unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer because they won't be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon," Clinton said.

While Clinton may believe it's unlikely that Iran will stand to gain from having a nuke, I personally don't want to let it get to the point where we have to find out. I don't think a U.S. "umbrella" is going to make Israel feel any less threatened if Iran goes nuclear. Also, as far as I recall, once a rogue country gains a nuclear capability, regardless of a regional defense umbrella or not, that is what they call a "game changer." Nukes have to be respected, even if the people wielding them don't garner such sentiment.

I figure the only thing that will stop Iran from obtaining its nuclear capability is a series of strategic military strikes by Israel. God knows our milquetoast foreign policy isn't going to eliminate the threat. With that being said, I also worry that we won't give Israel the support it will need to defend against retaliatory strikes if/once it takes care of Iran's nuclear development sites. Godspeed, boys, it looks like you'll be on your own.