To the Editor:
Roger Cohen offers a saner approach to Iran than does Stephen Rademaker, who exhorts the new administration to continue America’s belligerent hostility to Tehran’s nuclear program.
Mr. Rademaker, in arguing that the United States has a right to determine which nations can or cannot enrich uranium, would have us continue our failed Bush-era policies of bullying threats.
The Iranian government has good reason to fear United States aggression against its sovereignty and would be wise not only to maintain its nuclear program full tilt, but also to start building nuclear arms, since that is, in fact, the only way it can protect itself against constant American and Israeli threats.
If Israel can be permitted to have nuclear arms with full United States approval, why shouldn’t Iran protect itself in the only way that is possible against two fiercely aggressive, nuclear-armed powers?
Steve Kowit
San Diego, Feb. 2, 2009
Note from KBJ: The letter writer fails to notice a morally relevant difference between Israel and Iran. It has to do with "wiping the other off the face of the earth."
