Bombing Iran will not solve anything

Submitted by Kurt (United States), Feb 27, 2010 at 13:39

Dear Dr Pipes:

Bombing Iran will not solve any problem at all. Unless we get to the root cause, we will not ever be able to resolve the problems caused by Islamic fundamentalism. An analogy comes to my mind. In the 1980's Argentina decided to send its troops to Falkland Islands and annexed it from Britain. Margaret Thatcher quickly sent the British forces to Falkland Islands and restored British control on the islands. There are glaring differences between the two situations but Falkland Island's annexation by Argentina can be compared to some extent to Kuwait's annexation by Saddam Hussain in 1992.

But how the world reacted to the two situations is very differently. In the Falkland Island's case, no Christians in India (or any where else for that matter) named their new born Children after either Margaret Thatcher or after the Argentinian general who planned the annexation. No religious war was started. No mayhem was caused. Compare that with what happened in the case of Kuwait. I recently read that in 1992, there was a sudden increase in India in the number of Muslim boys named Saddam (now, 18 years later, all these Saddams are entering the work force). And the rest of the mayhem caused by the Kuwait annexation and restoration is well known. Some people argue that 911 was directly or indirectly related to the 1992 war.

Certain principles that were written about how to live in a village among local tribes do not apply any more. "Don't befriend Jews or Christians" can be a sound advice 1400 years ago in a small region if a sectarian battle is going on. This advice does not have to be carried to seven continents 1400 years later. Similarly "a Muslim should not fight against another" can hold for a short time if a religious war is going on. But this advice should not be carried over to centuries later and used to suspend rules of secular ethics and fairness.

It is this and such tendencies and not the nuclear arms that isa problem. Iranian nuclear bomb should not be any more or any less dangerous than the Indian or French nuclear bombs but unfortunately they are.

The day Muslims start holding street corner vigils en mass to protest the killing of innocent restaurant patrons in Jerusalem and Mumbai and, yes, in Baghdad and Kabul, Iranian nuclear bomb will stand defused. Is their a Muslim cleric who is making such a call in his Friday sermon? Is anyone listening?

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