Worse than 1000 Atomic Bombs

We incessantly worry about Iran?s nuclear development program and the global ramifications of nuclear bombs in the hands of an Islamic fascist regime. This apprehension is primarily based on the supremacist eschatological ideology of the Iranian political leadership. The problem essentially is not the development of atomic bombs by Iran but their potential use.

There are today thousands of nuclear weapons all over the world, most of them much more destructive than those Iran might produce in the foreseeable future -- yet we have little reason to worry about them. The problem is the ideology and not the technology.

There is little doubt that Israel will be a major target for Iranian attack or blackmail once Iran acquires atomic bombs. But the global problem is much larger by far. Even if Iran was prevented from acquiring nuclear warfare capability by a preemptive Israeli strike or otherwise, the existential danger to Israel will not disappear. Israel is being threatened by Islamist ideology more than by Islamist weapons.

The same ideology might prompt the use of other destructive terrorizing technologies to achieve the same goal: Destabilizing and ultimately destroying Israel and all other non-Islamic civilizations. For instance, the coordinated poisoning of thousands of innocent citizens by toxins, or the spread of virulent epidemics in numerous urban centers, might have a far greater devastating effect on an industrial nation than the destruction of a city by a nuclear blast. Even if such terrorist acts were sporadic, they would readily become unnerving, disruptive and destabilizing. ...