IRAN NUCLEAR WATCH Special Section 8

SPECIAL SECTION: IRAN NUCLEAR WATCH, WINTER 2011

This is a Special Section on

IRAN NUCLEAR WATCH
December 2011

as the lead section of Issue 8, Winter 2011 that will follow

Editor's Introduction: Close to 3 months ago, GPN published a Preview of several sections scheduled for Issue 8, including a section IRAN NUCLEAR WATCH that continues our special attention to this subject from issue to issue.

GPN Issue 8 has been delayed by our involvement during this time in preparing a first printed volume of GPN 2010, Issues 1-4 to be published by Gorgias Press. We are now pleased to publish the full Issue 8 this month (and will be following with Issue 9 early in 2012).

But first GPN is publishing separately this Preview Special Section on IRAN NUCLEAR WATCH. In the few months that have elapsed, a great deal has happened about this terrifying subject, especially at long last a definitive statement by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reporting undeniably that Iran is preparing full-blown nuclear war weapons.

In the present Special Section we are therefore adding the latest developments to the material that was published in the Preview. In both cases, the Preview and the Special Section, we have included voices that said earlier, and some that say even now after the UN report, that we should not be concerned. In some cases the claim is made because Iran is only developing peaceful nuclear capacity as is its right. In other cases people believe deterrence, including possible nuclear retaliation, will see to it that Iran will never do a nuclear strike. In other cases there are people who believe that Israel is the ultimate source of danger in this world, and concern about deterring nuclear power should be first directed against Israel and not Iran. There are also those who believe that military deterrence of Iran would obviously have been desirable were it possible to do so without incurring a terrible price in human life, certainly in Israel, but also in respect to any number of potential Iranian lives, and therefore there is no choice but to invoke a policy of deterrence and forcefully holding Iran in check. GPN's intention is to provide a representation of the differing voices.

Our own position is, first of all, that we continue to see the development of devastating nuclear weapons by Iran as the most serious pressing problem in our dangerous world. Secondly, we believe that international sanctions are called for without any doubt, but realistically cannot be expected either to be enforced consistently or to be sufficiently effective against an Iran if, as we believe fearfully, Iran may be driven and motivated not only by rational motives of gaining power, but is also imbued with apocalyptic, messianic, and genocidal intentions.

These are strong words, and everything in a decent person's hopes for a more sane and humane world civilization naturally responds with a wish not to believe that such motivations and their consequent scenarios could be in the offing of our human race. While we definitely sound an alarm that great danger and disaster loom ahead of us all, we ourselves don't want to believe what we believe.

In any case, GPN's effort is to present responsible information and to point to the array of differing opinions.

--Israel W. Charny