What Obama and Romney Didn't Say At the Debate: 9 Things You Should Know About 
Iran's Nuclear Program
The foreign policy debate saw the presidential candidates gloating about 
how much Iranians are suffering because of US-imposed sanctions, but 
there was no mention that Iran does not have a nuclear bomb.  
   
 
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
 
On October 12, Politico posted a copy of the predetermined topics of discussion 
for the third and final 
presidential debate in Boca Raton, Florida, the focus of which will be 
foreign policy. The debate took place on Tuesday, October 23.

One of the topics was, naturally, "Red Lines - Israel and Iran."

You'd
 be forgiven for thinking this might mean that the two candidates 
discussed what sort of limitations - identified by non-negotiable 
trigger points and definable events - the United States would set on 
Israeli war crimes, colonization, human rights violations and 
warmongering, but that would just mean you're a logical, thinking person
 who doesn't pay attention to the world in which we actually live.

No,
 instead, two grown men vying to be the most powerful person on the 
planet, tripped all over themselves to prostrate themselves at the altar
 of Israel fear-mongering, gloating about how much Iranians are 
suffering because of US-imposed sanctions, cyberattacks, sidewalk 
executions, covert operations, industrial sabotage, economic hardship 
and hyperinflation and threatening to launch an unprovoked military 
attack if Iran doesn't do as its told by the United States. 
 These actions are intended, we will hear from President Obama, to stop 
Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon; or, in Romney's case, to prevent 
Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability - that is, the point at 
which Iran will have the technical, technological and scientific ability
 to theoretically begin the process of assembling a single atomic bomb, 
if the leader of the country were to ever make that decision, which at 
this point everyone agrees he hasn't done and probably won't ever do.

We
 heard Romney clam that "Iran is now four years closer to a nuclear 
weapon" and watched Obama insist that "all options are on the table" 
when it comes to confronting Iran over its national rights.  We heard 
that Iran's nuclear program poses a great - if not the greatest - threat
 to not only Israel and its neighbors in the region, but to Europe, the 
United States and the entire world.

So, even though the show is over, it might be best to keep some things in mind:
1. Iran has no nuclear weapons program.

United States intelligence community and 
its allies have long assessed that Iran is not and never has been in possession 
of nuclear weapons, is not building nuclear weapons, and its leadership has not 
made any decision to build nuclear weapons.  Iranian officials 
have consistently maintained they will never pursue such weapons on religious, 
strategic, political, moral and legal grounds.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Brigadier 
General Martin Dempsey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, 
Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Ronald Burgess, President Barack 
Obama, his National Security Council, and Vice President Joe Biden have all 
agreed Iran isn't actively building nuclear weapons.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, and 
Military Intelligence Director Aviv Kochavi have also said the same thing.

Furthermore, the International Atomic Energy 
Agency (IAEA) continually confirms - that Iran has no active nuclear weapons 
program and stated it has "no concrete proof that Iran has or has ever had a 
nuclear weapons program." (emphasis added)

2. Iran has never violated its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty.

Iran is a signatory, and charter member, to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty which affirms (not grants, merely acknowledges) the "inalienable right 
of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of 
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in 
conformity with articles I and II of this Treaty."

Under the terms of the treaty, non-nuclear weapons states such as Iran are 
fullyentitled to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and must have a 
safeguards 
agreement in place with the autonomous IAEA, the "exclusive purpose" of 
which is the "verification of the fulfillment of its obligations assumed under 
this Treaty with a view to preventing diversion of nuclear energy from peaceful 
uses to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive 
devices."

Iran has never been found to have breached its NPT obligations as such 
a violation could only occur if Iran began "to manufacture or otherwise acquire 
nuclear weapons."

With regard to its safeguards agreement with the IAEA, Iran - while in 
the past had beenfound in non-compliance for its "failure to report" otherwise 
totally legal activities due to the 
deliberate policy of obstructionism of the United States - has never 
been found to have diverted any nuclear material to weaponization.  

"Claims of an imminent Iranian nuclear bomb are without foundation," IAEA 
spokesman Georges Delcoigne stated on May 9, 1984.  In 1991, then-IAEA 
Director-General Hans Blix explained that Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear 
technology was "no cause for concern."

Twelve years later, in November 2003, the IAEA affirmed that "to date, there is 
no evidence that the previously undeclared nuclear 
material and activities referred to above were related to a nuclear 
weapons programme." And the following year, after extensive inspections 
of Iran's nuclear facilities were conducted under the auspices of the 
IAEA's intrusive Additional Protocol (implemented voluntarily by Iran for two 
years) the IAEA again concluded that "all the declared nuclear material in Iran 
has been accounted for, and 
therefore such material is not diverted to prohibited activities."

In 2007, then-IAEA Director-General Mohammad ElBaradei confirmed, "I have not 
received any information that there is a concrete active 
nuclear weapons program going on right now," adding, "Have we seen Iran 
having the nuclear material that can readily be used into a weapon? No. 
Have we seen an active weapons program? No." 

After agreeing on a "Work Plan" to "clarify the outstanding issues" between 
Iran and the IAEA, by February 2008, ElBaradei was able to report, "We have 
managed to clarify all the remaining outstanding issues, 
including the most important issue, which is the scope and nature of 
Iran's enrichment programme" and the IAEA continued "to verify the 
non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran."

"As long as we are monitoring their facilities, they cannot develop nuclear 
weapons," ElBaradei said. "And they still do not have the ingredients to make a 
bomb overnight."

In September 2009, ElBaradei told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that 
"the idea that we'll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an 
idea that isn't supported by the 
facts as we have seen them so far," continuing, "Nobody is sitting in 
Iran today developing nuclear weapons. Tehran doesn't have an ongoing 
nuclear weapons program," adding that "the threat has been hyped."

The following month, ElBaradei stated:

"The only time we found Iran in breach of its obligations not to use 
undeclared nuclear material was when they had experimented in 2003 and 
2004 at Kalaye. Those were experiments. And I have been making it very 
clear that with regard to these alleged studies, we have not seen any 
use of nuclear material, we have not received any information that Iran 
has manufactured any part of a nuclear weapon or component. That’s why I say, 
to present the Iran threat as imminent is hype."
The "alleged studies" ElBaradei referred to are alleged documents supposedly 
obtained from a mysterious stolen Iranian Laptop of Death, the authenticity of 
which has long been known to rest somewhere on 
the spectrum of dubious to fabricated, and which was provided to the IAEA by 
the United States by way of the MEK by way of the Mossad and has never been 
made fully available to the IAEA itself, the press, the public or even Iran 
itself to investigate, authenticate or assess.  In fact, reportedly, the 
laptop's "information does not contain any words such as nuclear or nuclear 
warhead."

Furthermore, a 2007 report from The Los Angeles Times revealed that, according 
to IAEA officials, "most U.S. intelligence shared with the 
U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has proved inaccurate, and none has led to 
significant discoveries inside Iran" and confirmed that its inspectors 
"have found no proof that nuclear material has been diverted for use in 
weapons." A senior diplomat at the IAEA was quoted as saying, "Since 
2002, pretty much all the intelligence that's come to us has proved to 
be wrong."

Despite the appointment of Yukiya Amano, the America's man in Vienna (and 
self-declared as "solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic 
decision"), as IAEA Director-General, the agency has continued to verify Iran's 
safeguard commitments.

3. The IAEA safeguards and inspects all nuclear facilities in Iran.  

Iran's
 nuclear sites, facilities, and centrifuges are all under 24-hour video 
surveillance by the IAEA, subject to IAEA monitoring and bimonthly 
inspections, and material seal application.  Though not required or 
authorized under Iran's Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, since March 
2007 the IAEA has conducted dozens of unannounced and snap inspections 
of Iran's facilities.

"There is no truth to media reports 
claiming that the IAEA was not able to get access" to Iran's nuclear 
facilities, IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire affirmed in 2007. "We have not been 
denied access at any time."

The IAEA has consistently confirmed - often four times a year for nearly a 
decade - that "all the declared nuclear material in Iran has been accounted 
for, and therefore such material is not diverted to prohibited activities."

Parchin is not a nuclear facility.  It is a military facility not 
safeguarded by the IAEA and therefore off-limits legally to its inspectors.  
Iran voluntarily allowed two rounds of inspections of Parchin by IAEA personnel 
in 2005.  No traces of nuclear weapons work were found.

4. Iran, by default, already has "nuclear weapons capability."

Iran, with its operational enrichment facilities and a functioning power plant, 
theoretically already has such "capability," as do at least 140 
other countries that "currently have the basic technical capacity to 
produce nuclear weapons.” Additionally,according to Green Peace, "[o]ver 40 
countries have the materials and knowhow to build 
nuclear weapons quickly, a capacity that is referred to as 'rapid 
break-out.'"
 
Nevertheless, Iran has consistently offered curbing and capping their 
enrichment program, accepting international cooperation, and have 
actually taken serious scientific and technological steps to reduce their 
medium-enriched uranium stockpile, thus decreasing the perceived threat of any 
nascent Iranian "breakout" capacity.
 
5. Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons.  It is not a member of the NPT.
 
Unlike Iran, which doesn't have a single nuclear bomb, Israel maintains a 
massive, undeclared and unmonitored arsenal of hundreds of nuclear 
weapons. Additionally, Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty and refuses to do so whenrepeatedly called upon to do so by 
the international community.  The hypocrisy isstaggering.

In May 2010, the 189 member nations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - 
including Iran - agreed to "the establishment of a Middle East zone free of 
nuclear weapons and 
all other weapons of mass destruction." In response, Israel denounced 
the accord, describing it as "deeply flawed and hypocritical," and declared, 
"As a nonsignatory state of the NPT, Israel is not obligated by the 
decisions of this Conference, which has no authority over Israel. Given 
the distorted nature of this resolution, Israel will not be able to take part 
in its implementation."

The document called upon Pakistan, India, and Israel (the only three states 
never to have 
signed to NPT, each of which has a nuclear arsenal unmonitored by the 
IAEA) to all sign the treaty and abide by its protocols "without further delay 
and without any preconditions," and demanded that North Korea 
(which withdrew from the NPT in 2003) abandon "all nuclear weapons and existing 
nuclear programs."

Nevertheless,
 both President Obama and National Security Adviser General James Jones 
condemned the resolution (which the U.S. signed) as unfairly "singl[ing]
 out Israel."  Obama added that the U.S. would "oppose actions that 
jeopardize Israel's national security."  Considering Obama's alleged 
determination to address the issue of global nuclear proliferation, this
 statement and the absence of any high-level U.S. government personnel 
at the summit speaks volumes.

Early in his presidency, in April 2009, Obama delivered a major speech in 
Prague about nuclear weapons and proliferation.  In it he declared, 
"clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and 
security of a world without nuclear weapons," shortly thereafter 
reaffirming that "the United States will take concrete steps toward a 
world without nuclear weapons."

While Obama set out parameters to
 strengthen the NPT, stating his vision that "countries with nuclear 
weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons 
will not acquire them; and all countries can access peaceful nuclear 
energy," he name-checked both North Korea and Iran, while never once mentioning 
Israel's stockpile of hundreds of deliverable nuclear warheads.

In October of that year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the 2009 
Nobel Peace Prize would be "awarded to President Barack Obama 
for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and 
cooperation between peoples," continuing that, "[t]he Committee has 
attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world 
without nuclear weapons."

After Obama convened and presided over a Nuclear Security Summit in April 2010, 
he gave a press conference in which he noted that "[w]hen the United States 
improves our own nuclear 
security and transparency, it encourages others to do the same," adding, "When 
the United States fulfills our responsibilities as a nuclear 
power committed to the NPT, we strengthen our global efforts to ensure 
that other nations fulfill their responsibilities."

Scott Wilson 
of the Washington Post asked Obama whether, in his effort "to bring U.S.
 policy in line with its treaty obligations internationally" and 
"eliminate the perception of hypocrisy that some of the world sees 
toward the United States and its allies," he would "call on Israel to 
declare its nuclear program and sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty" and 
"if not, why wouldn't other countries see that as an incentive not to 
sign on to the treaty that you say is important to strengthen?"  Obama 
replied,
Well, Scott, initially you were talking about U.S. behavior and then suddenly 
we’re talking about Israel... 
And as far as Israel goes, I'm not going to comment on their program.  What I'm 
going to point to is the fact that consistently we have urged all 
countries to become members of the NPT. 
So there’s no contradiction there.
This non-answer harkens back to the president's very first White House press 
conference in February 2009, when veteran correspondent Helen 
Thomas asked Obama a painfully simple question: "Mr. President, do you know of 
any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?"

In
 response, the new commander-in-chief responded, "With respect to 
nuclear weapons, I don't want to speculate. What I know is this: that if
 we see a nuclear arms race in a region as volatile as the Middle East, 
everyone will be in danger. And one of my goals is to prevent nuclear 
proliferation generally."

Clearly, though a world without nuclear weapons may be a goal of 
Obama,maintaining Israel's posture of "nuclear ambiguity" appears to be 
a presidential obligation.

Exactly a week before the Nobel Committee announced Obama as its Peace Prize 
laureate, it was reported on October 2, 2009 by Eli Lake of the Washington 
Times that, in May of 
that year, Obama had "reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding 
that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to 
international inspections."  Lake explained, "Under the understanding, 
the U.S. has not pressured Israel to disclose its nuclear weapons or to 
sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which could require 
Israel to give up its estimated several hundred nuclear bombs."

A Senate staffer familiar with the secret agreement told Lake:
What this means is that the president gave commitments that politically he 
had no choice but to give regarding Israel's nuclear program. However, 
it calls into question virtually every part of the president’s 
nonproliferation agenda.  The president gave Israel an NPT treaty get 
out of jail free card.
6. Sanctions are the West's other weapon of mass destruction.

During the debate, Obama praised his policy of collective punishment of 
a civilian population over a nuclear weapons program even he has 
admitted doesn't even exist while Romney called for even more destructive 
measures to hurt the Iranian people.  Sanctions target Iran's citizens with the 
hope of causing enough suffering to instigate regime change.  
That won't happen.  In the meantime, the Iranian people suffer for a crime 
their government isn't even committing.

During the vice presidential debate, Joe Biden boasted, "These are the most 
crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions, period, period."

While Mitt Romney surely scolded the president for "not supporting" the 
so-called Iranian opposition following the election in 2009 (even though 
no dissident leader or group asked for "help" from the 
U.S.; quite the contrary), we won't hear that Iranians across the political 
spectrum uniformly oppose sanctions and wholly support their country's 
indigenous nuclear energy program.

Just today, AFP reports, "Some six million patients in Iran are affected by 
Western economic 
sanctions as import of medicine is becoming increasingly difficult" 
because restrictions on Iran's banking sector "severely" curtail "the 
import of drugs and pharmaceutical devices for treatment of complex 
illnesses."

As sanctions mount and more are promised, thought should be given to 
thelethal effects of a decade of similarly draconian measures on Iraq following 
the Gulf War.

In 1995, The New York Times reported, "As many as 576,000 Iraqi children may 
have died since the end of the 
Persian Gulf war because of economic sanctions imposed by the Security 
Council."  When, the following year, Leslie Stahl interviewed Secretary of 
State Madeleine Albright on 60 Minutes about these tragic and genocidal 
effects of brutal economic U.S. sanctions against Iraq and asked, "We have 
heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's 
more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth 
it?" Nonplussed, Albright immediately replied, "I think this is a very hard 
choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it."

Despite
 the uninformed lip-service both candidates pay to caring about the 
welfare of the Iranian people, there is no doubt both Obama and Romney 
believe the current sanctions on Iran are also worth it.

"In many
 ways, the sanctions on the Iraqi people were worse than the war because
 the economy was taken back decades and the health service deteriorated 
massively," Carne Ross, former British Foreign Office diplomat and the 
UK's Iraq expert at the United Nations Security Council, has said.

But deliberately causing a humanitarian disaster that destroys the lives of an 
entire civilian population isn't an alternative to war.  It is one.

7. Attacking Iran is not only immoral, it is uncontrovertibly illegal.  

Any military campaign against Iran would result in the deaths of hundreds of 
thousands of Iranians.

As journalist Marsha Cohen pointed out earlier this year, a 2009 study produced 
for theCenter for International and 
Strategic Studies briefly addressed "the human and environmental human 
catastrophe that would result just from an attack on the Iranian nuclear power 
plant in Bushehr," and determined:

Any strike 
on the Bushehr Nuclear Reactor will cause the immediate death of 
thousands of people living in or adjacent to the site, and thousands of 
subsequent cancer deaths or even up to hundreds of thousands depending 
on the population density along the contamination plume.
A devastating new analysis on "The Human Cost of Military Strikes Against 
Iran's Nuclear Facilities" has determined "it is highly likely that the 
casualty rate at the physical sites will be close to 100 percent" and continues:
Assuming an average two-shift operation, between 3,500 and 5,500 people would 
be present at the time of the strikes, most of whom would be killed or 
injured as a result of the physical and thermal impact of the blasts. If one 
were to include casualties at other targets, one could extrapolate 
to other facilities, in which case the total number of people killed and 
injured could exceed 10,000.
David Isenberg, in a Time article on the report, writes that "attacks at 
Isfahan and Natanz would release 
existing stocks of fluorine and fluorine compounds which would turn into 
hydrofluoric acid — a highly-reactive agent that, when inhaled, would 
make people 'drown in their lungs.' Fluorine gases are more corrosive 
and toxic than the chlorine gas used in World War I. Once airborne, at 
lethal concentrations, these toxic plumes could kill virtually all life 
forms in their path."

He adds:
Aside from the 
fluorine, the uranium hexafluoride itself also poses dire consequences. 
The report estimates that if only 5% of 371 metric tons of uranium 
hexafluoride produced at the Isfahan facility becomes airborne during or after 
an attack, the toxic plumes could travel five miles with the 
Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH) level of 25 milligrams 
per cubic liter spreading over 13 square miles:
>
>With 
prevailing wind directions and speeds at 9.4 miles/hour moving towards 
the city, in about one hour, this plume could expose some of the 240,000 
residents in Isfahan municipality’s eastern districts, particularly 
districts 4 and 6. At a 20% release, the IDLH plume will travel 9 miles 
covering 41 square miles and could expose some of the 352,000 residents, mainly 
in districts 13, 4, and 6, as well as residents in the region 
north of district 4. If we assume a conservative casualty rate of 5 to 
20% among these populations, we can expect casualties in the range of 
12,000-70,000 people. [emphasis in original]
Not only would such an attack by unconscionable for moral reasons, an 
assault on Iranian nuclear facilities, military installments and 
civilian infrastructure would in no be considered legal.

All so-called "preemptive" military attacks are illegal and explicitly 
forbidden by Chapter I, Article 2.4 of the United Nations Charter. The Charter 
also makes clear that it recognizes the "inherent right of individual or 
collective 
self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United 
Nations," (Chapter VII, Article 51), which undoubtedly rules out any and all 
"preemptive," "precautionary," "anticipatory self-defense," or "preventative" 
military actions of one State against another.

Moreover, following World War II, the International Military Tribunal at 
Nuremberg described the willful initiation of a "war of aggression" as "the 
supreme 
international crime," a defining tenet of current international law.

"Preemptive
 self-defense is clearly unlawful under international law," law 
professor Mary Ellen O'Connell wrote in 2002.  In her extensive 
analysis, "The Myth of Preemptive Self-Defense," O'Connell explains, "The right 
of self-defense is limited to the right 
to use force to repel an attack in progress, to prevent future enemy 
attacks following an initial attack, or to reverse the consequences of 
an enemy attack, such as ending an occupation" and also points out that 
"the United States as a government has consistently supported the 
prohibition on such preemptive use of force."

O'Connell 
continues, "the reality is that the United States has no right to use 
force to prevent possible, as distinct from actual, armed attacks. The 
further reality is that the United States does not advance its security 
or its moral standing in the world by doing so." Throughout her paper, 
O'Connell stresses that all nations are bound by these same rules.

"There
 is no self-appointed right to attack another state because of fear that
 the state is making plans or developing weapons usable in a 
hypothetical campaign," she states, elaborating that "a state may not 
take military action against another state when an attack is only a 
hypothetical possibility, and not yet in progress—even in the case of 
weapons of mass destruction" since even "possession of such weapons 
without more does not amount to an armed attack."

Also, the simple act of attacking any nation's nuclear facilities is in itself 
unquestionably illegal.

On
 September 21, 1990, the IAEA General Conference adopted a resolution 
during its 332nd plenary meeting which addressed "measures to strengthen
 international co-operations in matters relating to nuclear safety and 
radiological protection."

The resolution specifically and unconditionally called for the "Prohibition of 
all armed attacks 
against nuclear installations devoted to peaceful purposes whether under 
construction or in operation."

The resolution refers to an 
earlier IAEA document which maintains that "any armed attack on and 
threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes 
constitutes a violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter,
 international law and the Statute of the Agency" and that warns that 
"an armed attack on a nuclear installation could result in radioactive 
releases with grave consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the
 State which has been attacked."

Furthermore, the resolution 
"[r]ecognizes that attacks or threats of attack on nuclear facilities 
devoted to peaceful purposes could jeopardize the development of nuclear
 energy; [c]onsiders that the safeguards system of the Agency is a 
reliable means of verifying the peaceful uses of nuclear energy; 
[r]ecognizes that an armed attack or a threat of armed attack on a 
safeguarded nuclear facility, in operation or under construction, would 
create a situation in which the United Nations Security Council would 
have to act immediately in accordance with the provisions of the United 
Nations Charter; [and e]ncourages all Member States to be ready to 
provide - if requested - immediate peaceful assistance in accordance 
with international law to any State whose safeguarded nuclear facilities
 have been subjected to an armed attack." 

It is important to note that while Israel is not a signatory of the NPT, it has 
however been a member of the IAEA since 1957 and therefore such a resolution is 
just as binding upon Israel as it is upon all other member states.

The
 illegality of any Israeli or American attack on Iran is clear.  It 
would not only be a war crime in the truest sense of the term as 
articulated by the Nuremberg Tribunal, but it would also constitute a 
grave crime against humanity due to the inevitable and unavoidable cost 
of human lives and suffering such an attack would cause.  That both 
Israel and the United States are naturally aware of such consequences 
would make any attack all the more despicable and its crimes deliberate.

8. This is really about maintaining unchallenged American and Israeli hegemony 
in the Middle East.

The
 scariest thing for proponents of American empire and Israeli 
impunity is the prospect of the U.S. and Israel not being able to 
invade, occupy, overthrow bomb, blockade and murder at will.  Glenn 
Greenwald recently pointed out that the real fear over the Iranian program is 
that "Iranian nuclear weapons would prevent the US from attacking Iran at will, 
and that is what is 
intolerable."

In his December 2011 call for the United States to soon launch an unprovoked 
attack on Iran, Matthew 
Kroenig wrote in Foreign Affairs that a "nuclear-armed Iran would 
immediately limit U.S. freedom of action in the Middle East. With atomic power 
behind it, Iran could threaten any U.S. political or military 
initiative in the Middle East with nuclear war, forcing Washington to 
think twice before acting in the region."

The same month, hawkish American Enterprise Institute maven Danielle 
Pletkaadmitted, "The biggest problem for the United States is not Iran getting 
a 
nuclear weapon and testing it. It’s Iran getting a nuclear weapon and 
not using it."

Yet even the mere "breakout capacity" is what 
worries Israel the most.  Writing in Asia Times this past summer, 
Richard Javad Heydarian explained that "the Iranian nuclear issue is 
fundamentally about the balance of power in 
West Asia. Israel is essentially concerned with the emergence of a 
'virtual' - possessing a 'break-out' capacity to develop a warhead on a 
short notice - nuclear-armed state in Tehran, eliminate Israel's 
regional nuclear monopoly. This would undermine Israel's four decades of 
strategic impunity to shape the regional environment to its own 
liking," adding, "Thus, it is crucial for Israel to prevent any 
Iran-West diplomatic compromise, which will give Tehran a free hand to 
enhance its regional influence and maintain a robust nuclear 
infrastructure."

9. What we won't hear.

The
 reason we were subjected to a quarter-hour of Obama and Romney talking 
about our unbreakable, sacrosanct, unique special bond and unflinching 
commitment to Israel's security, how the United States will never allow 
Iran to threaten our "number one ally in the region," 
how bumbling, bipolar used-car salesman are deployed by an evil regime 
to assassinate our best friends' ambassadors and how Iranian 
leaders threaten Israel withgenocidal destruction, is because, that way, 
we won't hear the words "Palestinian human 
rights," "Israeli war crimes," "apartheid," "occupation," "Gaza," 
"colonial settlements," "African migrants in internment camps," or 
"ethnic cleansing."

Get it?

Mission accomplished.

Nima Shirazi is a 
political commentator from New York City. His analysis of United States 
foreign policy and Middle East issues is published on his website, 
WideAsleepInAmerica.com

http://www.alternet.org/world/what-obama-and-romney-didnt-say-debate-9-things-you-should-know-about-irans-nuclear-program?paging=off


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    [email protected] 
    [email protected]

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    [email protected]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Reply via email to