Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

From The Washington Post:

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by a group of prominent scientists, that there’s still cause for concern – just not panic. “We have not seen concrete evidence that Tehran has an ongoing nuclear weapons program,” the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate told the Bulletin for its September/October issue. “But somehow, many people are talking about how Iran’s nuclear program is the greatest threat to the world,” added ElBaradei, whose Vienna-based agency long has played a key role itself in raising international concern about Iran’s intentions. “Yes, there’s concern about Iran’s future intentions and Iran needs to be more transparent with the IAEA and the international community … But the idea that we’ll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn’t supported by the facts as we have seen them so far.”

This is the most level headed responses to the “Iranian problem” we have heard in years. All of the fear-mongering that has been happening is only leads to a dangerous situation. That is exactly what happened during the build up to the Iraq war. The Bush Administration used phrases like “no other option” and “better safe than sorry” and that has lead us into one of the most costly and pointless wars in our history. The world community must be careful just as Mr. ElBaradei claimed "We still have outstanding questions that are relevant to the nature of Tehran's program, and we still need to verify that there aren't undeclared activities taking place inside of the country," But there is no need for this world-wide panic. Panic and fear are very effective motivators. They get you to react almost every time but you react sporadically, without thinking, and that leads to more problems. So I applaud the IAEA chief. He has shown restrain and thoughtfulness amid terror and rash action.

Apparently the IAEA has been saying this since late 2007. Here is a video of Mr. ElBaradei on CNN talking about the importance of diplomacy and the lack of evidence Iran has a bomb.