Iran Nukes: Life is temporary and ineffective

Mr. Gates seems to be unaware of the dictum of John Maynard Keynes: "In the long run, we are all dead."  It may not be such a long run after all.

Gates: Military option in Iran will be temporary, ineffective

Apr. 30, 2009
JPost.com staff and AP , THE JERUSALEM POST

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said that the military option for forcing Iran to halt its nuclear program would be just temporary and ineffective and that sanctions make more sense.

Gates told the US Senate appropriators Thursday that a military attack on Iran would merely send that country's nuclear program further underground. Instead, he said, the United States and its allies must convince Teheran that its nuclear ambitions will spark an arms race that will leave the country less secure.

Gates and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US should work with its allies on tougher international sanctions. Gates also said that the US should pursue partnerships with Russia on missile defense programs in the region to further isolate Iran and to give Teheran economic and diplomatic reasons to voluntarily abandon its nuclear interests.

In a meeting with Marine Corps students in mid April Gates conceded that a strike might delay the Iranian nuclear program by as much as three years, but said that it would also unify Iran and "cement determination to have a nuclear program."

Iran's acquisition of a nuclear bomb could be prevented only if the "Iranians themselves decided it's too costly," he said.

Greer Fay Cashman contributed to this report