There is a high chance that Iran poses a threat to America, our allies in the Middle East and our allies in Europe. Just Tuesday they announced that they have been able to enrich uranium despite the United Nations banning them from doing so.

On Thursday they said they plan to increase enrichment far beyond current production. As the Associated Press reported, Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it will install 3,000 centrifuges in 2006.

This is very worrisome. Much of the rest of the world does not want Iran to continue with production because they are afraid Iran is seeking to produce weapons.

Our own government is just as, if not more, afraid of Iran’s intentions.

However, what is almost equally as worrisome is that the Bush Administration is planning for potential war with Iran. And some of the potential war plans includes a possible first strike with nuclear weapons.

Seymour Hersh reported for The New Yorker that this possible option is still on the table.

As explained in Hersh’s article, when war planning begins, all options are put on the table and then little by little whittled away until only the viable and reasonable are left to pick from. However, the nuclear option has not been erased from the list of possible options.

Iran has begun building underground facilities. These constructs are 70 feet underground and encased in concrete. Facilities like these are generally built to ensure government continuance in case of nuclear bombing or for secret manufacturing of nuclear weapons.

The Russians had similar bunkers during the cold war and America also has such facilities in Pennsylvania.

In a case when the United States might want to attack Iran and take out all possible nuclear facilities and production plants, a nuclear strike would be the only way to guarantee that such underground bunkers would be destroyed.

But who in their right mind would think of initiating a first strike nuclear attack?

Isn’t the reason that we are afraid of Iran making nuclear weapons the fact that they might try one such attack?

Even if we were able to totally disable any retaliation from Iran, the kind of impact that would have in the Middle East is unthinkable.

Other Islamic nations would not hesitate to attack Israel or Iraq. It would almost certainly lead to an all-out world war.

America has used nuclear bombs on Japan, and there was no retaliation. But that was a completely different situation. Whether students agree on whether it was right or wrong to do, it was at the end of a long war with millions of casualties. If there are any just reasons for using nuclear weapons, then they may have existed then, but not now.

The whole reason why we don’t want Iran to have nukes is because they would not be responsible with them. They might use them. It seems oddly ironic and idiotic for us to be considering this option for so long.

Now, honestly, will President Bush implement such a plan? No, he wouldn’t. He’s not that stupid. But why even leave the option available? It is clear from Seymour Hersh’s article that top military officials are very upset with Bush for doing this and may well resign if it’s not taken away soon.

But this is typical of the Bush administration: They don’t trust the military enough to listen to their suggestions.

This week, General George Joulwan commented on this friction when he appeared on CNN’s Situation Room. The General said that Rumsfeld continually belittles military representatives at meetings until they stop trying to get their voices heard.

It might behoove this administration to actually listen to what the military has to say on military matters. Perhaps had they listened to military advice before the invasion of Iraq, things might not have gone as badly as they are going now.

Whether students are for or against the war in Iraq is irrelevant now. All students really need to think about is, “Do we want the same mess in Iran as we have in Iraq?” If you think things are fine in Iraq then don’t ask for change. But if students would like to avoid such a mess, implore your government to listen to the military when planning potential military strikes.

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