This is concerning the recent column “Who in their right mind would play nuclear poker with Iran?” on the Feb. 11 Commentary page, by columnist Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson’s analysis of the problem of Iran’s potential nuclear threat may be challenged at many points. But I will address two underlying assumptions.
First is the assumption that our country’s nuclear weapons policies are basically correct. But the litany can be deeply disturbing. The U.S. dishonors its pledge in the Non-Proliferation Treaty to pursue nuclear disarmament–the Pentagon has no intention of giving up its arsenal. Further we are stimulating the nuclear competition that Hanson so vividly portrays by refusing to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, by doing research on new types of nuclear weapons, and by refusing to give a no-first-use pledge but making clear we may use nukes in certain circumstances.
Second is the assumption that humanity has no choice but to live or die with this abomination of all abominations, the power to wipe out creation. But we do have a choice. Our country could exercise its leadership to marshal a crusade of people and nations to rid the Earth of this abomination. The greater part of humanity and nations would join such a crusade to bring irresistible power on recalcitrant governments to submit to its demands. Such leadership would restore the tarnished global reputation of the U.S.
