Not long ago, I was considering some philosophy from a fellow think tank member. He indicated to me that the wisest of all nations is able to let others do their fighting for them. In other words, do what you have to do behind the scenes, and don’t get in a direct confrontation unless you have to. I guess that makes sense, and yet doesn’t that also breed this whole concept of proxy terrorists, and buy into the notion of Iran’s method of operating? It sure seems to indicate that, and that’s rather bothersome in this age of nuclear weapons. Okay so now that I’ve got your attention; let’s talk.
The other day, there was an interesting article the Wall Street Journal on November 11, 2011. The article was titled “US Plans Bomb Sales in Gold to Counter Iran,” by Adam Entou, Jay Solomon, and Julian E Barnes. Yes, this is one way to make a little money on the side, and allow others to do your fighting for you. After all, if Iran is busy threatening the region, why not arm the other side to defend themselves. In fact, if it is possible and you believe you can arm the other side without industrial espionage, then you can give or sell them superior weapons, and the game is over before it starts.
However, one should consider that today someone is our friend, and tomorrow they may not be. In which case, they still have our advanced weapon systems, which will probably be viable and deadly, if not extremely dangerous in combat for the next couple of decades. If you’ll recall we did supply Osama bin Laden as a freedom fighter in Afghanistan surface-to-air missiles to use against the Russians. Indeed, we did provide some weapons to Iran prior to the fall of the Shah, and then again in trade for hostages, so they could be used against Iraq.
We did sell weapons to Iraq as well, and then we ended up having a war with them. We aren’t the only ones that fall into this trap, as it seems to be a common theme when working with or around nation-states which change regimes early and often. Of course, as long as we are a trading partner with the UAE, and other nations in the Arab League, maybe we should be selling them bunker buster munitions to go after Iran; if Iran starts anymore problems. Is this a viable solution to the problem of Iran getting nuclear weapons?
I don’t believe it’s the single chess moves we can use to further isolate Iran, but it will help in diminishing their threat. Still, at the end of the day when international sanctions don’t work, negotiations don’t work, inspections from the IAEA fail to materialize, and Iran will not stop making nuclear weapons so they can give to proxy terrorists to attack our allies, and perhaps the United States someday in the future, it is time to get busy and handle the program. However, for now, this weapons sale to the UAE does make sense in this regard. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
