Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Iran Precedent

I'd forgotten, but Victor Hanson reminds us that Iran was the first country to attempt a preemptive strike against an enemy's nuclear program:

In 1980, Iran sent planes into Iraq to attack the Osirak facility, for fear that Saddam might develop a bomb during the Iraq-Iran War. That mostly failed mission damaged but did not destroy the facility, which was demolished a year later by the Israeli air force. For all the present Iranian talk of sovereignty, it was Iran that established the precedent that unhinged enemies cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

I've probably mentioned this before (ah, a quick check shows I did mention Iran's effort at least once), but forgot about it. Not that we need an Iranian precedent to strike. But cries of outrage if Israel strikes Iran should explain why Iran could be on the giving end of preemption without global rending of garments and gnashing of teeth but not on the receiving end.