Americans Deserve Pre-emptive Debate on Iran Strike
By Albert R. Hunt
Sep 23, 2012 11:01 AM ET
The last two U.S. presidents have misled voters on the cost of armed conflicts. Amid another election, the drumbeats of war are sounding again. This time the subject is Iran.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: Here we go again.
There is a robust debate on the virtues and risks of trying to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities. That discussion is taking place in Israel.
In the U.S. presidential election, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney parry over who has the smartest strategy for ensuring Iran doesn’t obtain the enriched uranium to develop a nuclear weapon. Both candidates warn about the dangers of Iran becoming a nuclear power.
There is almost no discussion on the costs of a strike to take out that nuclear capacity -- be it by Israel or the U.S -- in lives, money and regional and global standing.
This follows two unsatisfactory experiences over the past 10 years. In 2003, President George W. Bush said the invasion of Iraq was justified to remove Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. “It would not be that hard,” Vice President Dick Cheney assured Americans.
It was hard and costly, and the weapons proved not to exist. More than 4,400 Americans were killed, and it cost more than $800 billion, while Iraq remains unstable and the region’s more lethal threat, Iran, is empowered.
more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-23/americans-deserve-pre-emptive-debate-on-iran-strike.html
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