As I posted in response to Gel's post, my position has been basically the same since their nuclear program came to light. The international community should use every available means to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Iran should be rewarded for cooperating and punished for failing to cooperate. Rewards could include normalization of relations and economic incentives. Punishment has included economic sanctions, which could be increased, and military action, albeit as a last resort if the Iranians were in the final stages of weaponizing uranium.
Diplomatic pressure and the threat of inspectors uncovering the program appears to have forced them to shut down the weaponization program. Continued diplomatic pressure, along with the threat of force, has also apparently prevented them from restarting the weaponization program. So props to the strategy the international community- including the United States- has followed for the last four years. Furthermore, Iran could have follow the course of Libya and declared their programs to the IAEA, ditched any weaponization projects, and cooperated fully with inspectors. Had they done so three years ago, things would be very different. The Iranians have given no indication that they are interested in following that course, which is why we have to continue to exert pressure on them, including sanctions, including the threat of force. It's not like overnight Iran went from being global pariah to liberal democracy. They still sponsor terrorism, their president still leads mobs in chants of "Death to America, death to Israel". No, I have not changed my mind. On Dec 5, 2007 5:00 PM, Dana wrote: > > Incidentally, Robert, have you changed your mind about Iran? > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get involved in the latest ColdFusion discussions, product development sharing, and articles on the Adobe Labs wiki. http://labs/adobe.com/wiki/index.php/ColdFusion_8 Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:247928 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
