Editor,
The Iranian Regime has been killing Americans for the last 47 years. Estimates are that more than 2,000 directly or indirectly have been murdered with many thousands maimed for life by IEDs provided by Iran.
At government sponsored gatherings, they openly chant death to America. Their weapons programs include the development of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic delivery systems. Civilian nuclear power plants utilize uranium that has been enriched to a maximum of 4%. When you enrich to 60% at scale you have only one purpose. A single nuclear warhead detonated at altitude over the U.S. would create an Electromatic Pulse, EMP that would wipe out the electrical grid for years. No electricity means the shelves at the store are empty in two days and stay that way, it means no water or sewage treatment and the death of over 250 million Americans in the first year.
The large transformers the grid needs to function that would be destroyed are not even made in the U.S., with lead times to replace them of more than two years.
Every day that goes by makes this more difficult to deal with as the Iranians produce more missiles and drones to protect these programs.
When a government sponsors chants of death to America, it is time to take them at their word. Not dealing with this threat now is irresponsible. For those who might respond that I am a war monger, I think our long ground wars in Afghanistan, the second invasion of Iraq and our removal of Gaddafi were idiotic and a massive waste of lives and resources.
This situation is different; we are dealing with a regime run by religious fanatics that might happily push the button believing in a heavenly reward. The fact that they murdered, without any regret, over 30,000 of their own citizens who were protesting demonstrates that they are more than capable of doing just this.
So how will this all play out. The enemy always gets a vote. Terrorist shootings, bombings and attacks against infrastructure in the U.S. such as the power grid cannot be ruled out. Only time will reveal the extent of pain for the U.S. A nuclear holocaust would have destroyed the country so bear that in mind if things get difficult.
So, if you support ending this effort and pulling American Forces. out consider that Pandoras Box has been opened. Not finishing what we started and either destroying or removing the over 400+ KG of uranium enriched to near weapons grade means that they will eventually build nuclear warheads and get revenge against what they consider to be the Big Satan. I suspect someone will write a response to my letter to the editor stating this is all Trump’s fault … Well at this point that is irrelevant and we need to finish what we have started. The Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran had expiration dates that lifted all restrictions on its nuclear program, making it a flawed agreement.
Joe Kaffl
Hillsboro
