According to Patrick Buchanan, the right’s answer to Al Sharpton, Iran’s recent saber rattling and anti-Israel diatribes are little more than tough talk. Buchanan also notes that Iran may have legitimate grievances with the United States…

As Buchanan notes, “there is no reason to believe Iran wants war with us. If she did want war with America, she could have had it any time in the last 27 years… if he [Ahmadinejad] wants a war with Israel, he could have it tomorrow by launching rockets… He has done neither.” As Buchanan further notes, a war with the US would spell disaster for Iran and would prove detrimental to the US as well.

So should we simply throw up our hands forget about Iran and go on about our business? If Iran is not interested in war and has no interest in starting one, then why all the tough talk? The answer is simple: Iran has major problems. For all its vast natural resources, the country is plagued by stagnant growth and high unemployment. The country has a large and restless youth population. The government is ever fearful of destabilizing factors which could shatter the unity of the Iran Revolution…what is an Iranian hardliner to do? Pull a Mussolini, of course! The Iranian leadership has used the issue of nuclear research as a rallying crying to unite the vast Persian populace and distract that population from the many problems plaguing their country.

While many Iranians may disagree on the course of their revolution in the 21st century, they are united by a nationalistic fervor, that their nuclear program provides. Ahmadinejad and his cronies have successfully portrayed this conflict with the West as an “us vs. them” scenario and thus the Iranian masses are obliged to support Ahmadinejad and the authoritarian state.

Buchanan is correct in arguing that Iran does not want war, of that there can be no doubt. However foolish Ahmadinejad may be, he is not inclined to commit suicide, which war with the West would certainly entail. Does that mean the Iranian president is no less serious when he calls for the destruction of Israel? Perhaps and then again perhaps not. Israel’s existence, though the Iranians, and other radical Islamists, will never admit is necessary. As long as the Jewish state prospers, it serves as a rallying point from which tyrannical Muslim leaders can pull a Mussolini and distract their subjects from the realities of home life. Without Israel as an enemy (of their own creation) these leaders might actually have to address the legitimate concerns of their constituents, concerns like unemployment, health care, education, and a lack of representative government etc…

There can be no doubt, then that Ahmadinejad and other Islamists would secretly lament if Israel was indeed wiped off the map. Regardless of this one should not jump to the erroneous conclusion that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons, though there is that possibility. Iran, however, has supported terrorists and terror organizations, and continues to do so and has supplied these organizations with weapons and financing. And while Iran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes, the inexorable logic of recent events demonstrates the foolishness of such a claim, Iran no more has a need for peaceful nuclear energy than it does to host next year’s Southern Baptist Convention. One must naturally conclude that Iran is developing a bomb and if it does, it will most certainly share that technology, as its officials have hinted. Can Iran be stopped by non-military means? Most assuredly, but it will take a measure of resolve and boldness which has been uncharacteristic of the negotiations thus far.
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/patbuchanan/2006/05/12/197113.html