re: #145 LudwigVanQuixote

Actually, I will just say it. Forgive the yelling.

ENOUGH ALREADY! HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE DO WE NEED THAT THE PSYCHOTIC MULLAHS IN IRAN REPRESENT A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO THE US AND HER ALLIES!

BOMB THE SHIT OUT OF THEIR NUCLEAR CAPACITY AND GET IT OVER WITH!

Where are they getting their uranium from? Their high-precision machining equipment? Their precision electronic triggers? I don’t think they have domestic capabilities for all of this - at least not yet. They’re buying it from someone. That source might present a a less dramatic pressure point than an action that would be a formal declaration of war.

Bombing the shit out of their nuclear capacity has one other enormous drawback - we don’t have any clear idea of where it is located. Enrichment facilities are easy to disperse and to hide. So are machining facilities. Reactors are huge, obvious targets - but they aren’t required for bomb manufacture; you don’t need the trans-uranium elements reactors provide in order to make an atomic bomb. All you need is a source of raw uranium, and the aforementioned enrichment facilities. In other words, this isn’t a problem that’s soluble through bombing.