Letter to the editor

Nuclear solution overlooks terrorism

Kenneth Waltz may be a famous and well-respected political
scientist. His theories claiming that the slow spread of nuclear
weapons may lead to world peace are widely read and studied, as
noted in Daniel Atherton’s column (“Iran just wants to
play with the big boys,” April 24). However, his argument has
a major flaw in that he only addresses the problem of states with
nuclear weapons and fails to address the issue of terrorist
organizations.

Waltz claims that leaders of rogue states are also rational
leaders who care too much about surviving and maintaining power to
risk the consequences that would result from the use of nuclear
weapons. Therefore, selling or giving nuclear weapons or
information to terrorists is too risky of a move for any country to
make. However, given the inadequate security of fissile material in
many parts of the world, it is easier than a lot of us think to
acquire the necessary components for a nuclear attack.

This is especially important in the case of Iran because it is
the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorist organizations
(such as Hezbollah). A weapon of mass destruction in the hands of
radical ideologists and possibly terrorist groups with no
recognized leadership that would lose power is a very serious
threat. Deterrence and mutually assured destruction may have worked
until now, but it only takes one incident and one moment when creed
trumps rationality to change the world forever.

Should we simply assume that terrorist organizations care too
much about their organization and survival to pass up the
opportunity to use weapons of mass destruction to achieve
ideological goals? Iran’s president has made several
statements expressing his ideological vigor, and it would be
dangerous for the United States and its allies, especially given
Iran’s close ties to several terrorists groups, to
underestimate the seriousness of his threats.

For the time being, our government should do everything in its
power, short of military action, in order to prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran may be a few years off from
actually developing the weapons, but the time for the United States
and the rest of the world to act is now.

Jasmin Niku Second-year, political science