Op-Ed

Growing Conflict With Iran
By: Thomas Morris

Foreign policy has been driven the past seven years because of the events of September 11, 2001. After that infamous day, the Bush administration took a more aggressive approach to threats from countries in the Middle East that harbor terrorist cells or sponsored terrorist activity across the globe. Afghanistan was the first of the nations in the Middle East to feel the effects of the more aggressive foreign policy and Iraq was soon to follow. While both of these operations were taking place, Iran started to feel uneasy about having the US so close to home. As a result, they start protesting our involvement with Afghanistan and Iraq, test fired missiles showing that they can and will defend themselves and even start up nuclear reactors for what they say is for peaceful purposes.

I feel that we should use great caution when handling the current situation with Iran because it has the potential to become a huge military conflict if handled the wrong way. Not only would people feel the effects in the Middle East, but people in Europe would feel it and even we would feel it here in the United States. We are feeling the effects here at home from our involvement with Afghanistan and Iraq and neither are actual, Congress approved wars. If we were to also bring Iran into the picture, our forces would also have to conduct military operations in a country that is roughly the size of Afghanistan and Iraq combined, which as you can see in the map provided above.

Claude Salhani, editor for the Middle East Times, states in the article US Losing Ground, Sway to Iran that “the Iranians seem yet again to have taken the upper hand”. They have done so “through Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite, political/paramilitary/social ogranization that is trained and financed by Iran”. It is widely known that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and if they are still trained and financed by Iran, then the United States will have to act on this and pursue a means of getting rid of the group. President Bush made it clear in his speeches that any nation that harbors or promotes terrorist activity will be dealt with. Since training and financing falls under the promoting terrorist activity category, we should assume that the course of action should be to deal with Iran to where we eliminate the threat. However, it is not that easy.

After the birth of nuclear weapons in 1946 from the US led Manhattan Project, nuclear power has been a highly sought after commodity, both for peaceful and military purposes. As a result, 31 nations around the world now enjoy power from nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants also enable countries to be able to produce the necessary components for a nuclear bomb, if they have the technology to do so. With Iran being one of these countries, it is something that should not be ignored. It is said in the CNN.com article US Preparing the Battlefield in Iran that “The Bush administration has launched a ‘significant escalation’ of covert operations in Iran, sending US commandos to spy on the country's nuclear facilities”. I believe that we shouldn’t have to resort to spying on another country’s facilities because there are other ways about dealing with this without causing tensions to rise.

With the election of our next president coming in November, both candidates have to address the ongoing conflict with Iran. They must show the American people what they intend to do. Barack Obama believes in using diplomatic efforts and would meet with leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea during first year of presidency. He would leave military option on the table. John McCain says military action is an option, but would consult with congressional leaders before taking action. Both candidates realize that the conflict with Iran could escalate to a point where military action is needed but only Obama addresses what he would do once he was elected president. I feel that McCain needs to say what he plans to do diplomatically, if anything, with Iran prior to resorting to military engagement.

I say again that I believe that we need to handle this unique situation with great care because of its potential repercussions. Because of Iran’s proximity to our current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to be sure that nothing we do can be misinterpreted; otherwise we may end up going down a road we do not wish to travel yet. If the Bush administration is not going to do anything else about Iran, then either the Obama administration or the McCain administration will have to handle an already highly volatile situation.

Thomas Morris is a college student from Plano, TX