Editorial: Ban impedes enrichment of students, not uranium

The United States and three European allies submitted a draft of
a U.N. resolution Wednesday in opposition to Iran’s nuclear
program. But the proposed resolution includes a damaging provision
that would prevent Iranian students from studying nuclear physics
at foreign universities.

According to The New York Times, the provision would ban
“training and education of Iranian citizens if it could
eventually contribute to nuclear and ballistic missile
programs.”

The reasoning for this, said Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, is that in order “for the international community to be
credible, it must pass a resolution now that holds Iran accountable
for its defiance.”

What remains unclear is how stopping Iranian students from
taking classes outside their country helps hold Iran
accountable.

From the start, the language of the provision is so vague
it’s unclear how far-reaching its effects would be.

A ban on any sort of training or education that could somehow
contribute to Iranian missile programs is worthless as a guideline
to the international community.

This sort of thinking is part of what got the United States into
its current quagmire in Iraq: a government body ““ in that
case, Congress ““ drafting another ill-defined resolution
authorizing the use of force.

Moreover, the proposed ban would not significantly cripple
Iran’s ability to research nuclear physics; learning about it
is as simple as typing the words into Google.

Instead, it ends up hurting Iranian students who want to study
in other countries. Restricting study abroad for Iranians will hurt
open-minded and intelligent students far more than it will hurt
their government’s nuclear program.

But if this is how the United States and its allies think
Iran’s nuclear program can be stopped, they should pay
attention to how the situation in North Korea has played out.

The Bush administration has taken a hard-line approach with
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ““ much like it did with
Kim Jong Il ““ ever since Iran’s nuclear ambitions
culminated into a potential crisis.

Rather than engage in dialogue, the administration has instead
squabbled with Europe over sanctions, allowing the real problem to
grow.

The only thing this ban will do is to make the youth of Iran
more spiteful toward the United States by making them feel
targeted.

The real solution is not to sever the free exchange of ideas and
values, but to encourage dialogue and cooperation. If we forbid
young Iranians to learn in the United States and around the world,
it will only breed an insular Iran and bolster its enmity toward
America.

Unfortunately, it seems the United States’ preferred
method of dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions is through a
policy of enclosure ““ one that cuts Iran and its citizens off
from any avenue that could lead to developing nuclear
technology.

If that’s the case, perhaps the Bush administration should
build a fence around Iran instead of at the U.S.-Mexico border.

That would work.