Reading Assignments

All sorts of good things worth a look have popped-up in the press and blogosphere this week.

The always interesting Professor Edward N. Luttwak has a splendid piece in Commentary this month: Three Reasons Not to Bomb Iran – Yet. Dr. Luttwak reminds us (1) that nukes are really hard to build; (2) that the mullahs are much despised and possibly on their last legs and that long term trends are against their regime, and in favor of the rise of a civilized government; and (3) that these mullahs are REALLY crazy and can’t be allowed to have a weapon, but that bombing them hurts the positive trends we want to encourage.

While thinking on Iran, have a look at Amir Taheri’s article “The Frightening Truth of Why Iran Wants a Bomb,” which ran in Sunday’s Daily Telegraph (London) and the same author's similar article in the New York Post yesterday. Mr. Taheri, an Iranian, was, in better days, an executive editor of Kayhan, the largest newspaper in Iran. Mr. Taheri does a good job of explaining what the mullahs are really after, and discussing their plans to stall the world and the US until they have their bomb. These articles are all worthwhile, but if you don't have time to plow though them (the Luttwak article is fourteen pages), a good distillation of Dr. Luttwak's piece and Mr. Taheri's New York Post article can be found over at Col. Austin Bay's blog, here.

On other subjects, Chester, over at Adventures of Chester, weighs-in here on the recent statements by retired military figures on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. This is a great piece, and is admirably complemented (and is cited by), Wretchard’s post at Belmont Club, here, and by a post on Col. Bay's blog, here.