George Graham

The Iran “Threat” Looks Like a Bluff to Me

So Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. And that is setting off alarm bells from Jerusalem to Washington DC. But, somehow, I don’t feel any goosebumps.

I don’t have a list of all the countries with nuclear bombs but I bet it’s a pretty long one. Israel has several, I’m sure. And there are scores of missile silos all over America just waiting to be activated. Russia and China have had The Bomb for decades.

Even turbulent Pakistan has The Bomb, and if my memory can be trusted, some Pakistani scientist was selling the formula all over the place a few years ago.

And I seem to recall that when the Soviet Union imploded, somebody apparently left the door to the safe wide open and their “nuclear secrets” spilled out on the open market.

I believe there is – or used to be – a blueprint for building The Bomb on one of those internet sites.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s very scary that so many people have access to such a deadly weapon, especially in this crazy world. But no country is crazy enough to use The Bomb. Not Iran. Not Israel. Not America.

Especially not America. If America was going to use The Bomb, the Nine-Eleven terrorist attack provided the perfect excuse. Instead, the U.S. sent its young people to Afghanistan to get blown up by homemade explosives, concocted from the kind of ingredients you probably have in your refrigerator.

Using The Bomb would trigger retaliation in kind, of course, and one thing would lead to another. And it would be goodbye world.

But – as scary as it is – nuclear weapons are not the only things we have to fear.

Poison gas has been around for as long as I can remember. But you don’t hear politicians yelling about some country planning to stockpile mustard gas.

The bottom line is that there’s a lot of bad stuff lying around – from rusty nails and cow dung-smeared bamboo spikes to deadly germs and chemicals – and nuclear “devices.” Everyone has access to something lethal. Remember the blast that leveled those government buildings in Oklahoma and killed all those innocent children? It was created by bags of fertilizer.

I am not saying the crazy Ayatollah and his despicable puppet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad aren’t dangerous. They are.

It’s a good idea to keep an eye on them.

But not because they’re planning to drop The Bomb on Israel. They wouldn’t dare. I think they’re bluffing.

About the author

gwgraeme

I am a Jamaican-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada and the United States. I live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Sandra, our three cats and two dogs. I like to play golf and enjoy our garden, even though it's a lot of work. Since retiring from newspaper reporting I've written a few books. I also write a monthly column for Jamaicans.com