Should Israel Attack Iran?

In recent days, the crisis regarding Iranian nuclear aspirations have come to a head. The U.N. deadline of August 31st has come and gone, and still Iran remains defiant. American intelligence estimates Iran will have the means to make a nuclear weapon within 5 to 8 years. Israeli intelligence says they are only months away. Iran will have the capability of not only striking American forces in Iraq and the State of Israel, but also as far West as Great Britain. So the questions remain, what should be done about Iran, and who should do it.

This very volatile situation has no easy answers. In 1981 Israel attacked Osirak, the Iraqi nuclear facility near Baghdad. At the time Israel received swift condemnation from governments around the world, including the Reagan administration. Regardless of public opinion at the time, Israel did the most intelligent thing for itself, and destroyed Saddam Hussein's abilities to build a nuclear weapon. Now, for it's own sake, Israel must do the same again. It won't be easy.

In 1981, Israeli Air Force commanders were seeing this as almost a suicide mission, if it was even possible. Besides the obvious risks of being shot down, just to fly the distance to Osirak and back without running out of fuel was a major obstacle. After the Israeli jets bombed the facility, one of the pilots said over the radio that the mission was accomplished. The commander radioed back that the mission isn't over, that you still have to get back without running out of fuel. Both pilots got back to Israel safely.

However, this case would be even more complicated. Israel would be flying an even longer distance, over hostile Syria, and over American controlled Iraq, and then into Iran. Can the mission itself be done? I believe it can. If there is any country in the world that can do it, it is Israel. America, at this point, is too tied up in Iraq, and it wouldn't be wise to cause open Iranian aggression (considering America just created another Iran with regards to Iraq). If the world thinks Iraq is in a mess now, imagine Shiite Muslims in both Iran and Iraq rising up openly against the United States.

In conclusion, Israel not only has a fundamental right to defend itself, but it also has a fundamental right to exist. Israel has a responsibility to it's citizens, regardless of what some in the world might think. Iran having a nuclear weapon is a direct threat to Israel's existence, and if one does not agree, one only has to look at the venomous rhetoric coming from Iran's leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So the question remains, should Israel attack Iran. In my opinion, not only should Israel attack Iran, Israel must attack Iran.