Sabotage Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Janaury 12, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

                Unable to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program, a covert war goes on targeting Iran’s computers and nuclear scientists.  Targeted killing of 32-year-old Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, two unknown assailants on a motorcycle slapped and detonated a magnetic bomb on Roshan’s Peugeot 405 automobile, killing the scientist,.his driver and wounding another unidentified passenger.   Over the past two years, three other nuclear scientists died in similar incidents, leading Tehran to believe the targeted killings were the work of Mossad, the Israeli secret service with U.S. collaboration.  Secretary of State Hilliary Rodham Clinton explicitly disavowed any knowledge or involvement in the Roshan’s murder.  Since Ahmandinejad promised to “wipe Israel off the map” Oct. 26, 2005 in remarks to the “World Without Zionism” conference in Tehran, the covert war goes on

            Israeli and U.S. officials denied any knowledge of Roshan’s targeted assassination.  Given the sneaky manner in which the assassination took place, it led Iranian officials to point to the CIA or Mossad.   Former President George W. Bush, his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and his Defense Scretary Donald M. Rumsfeld all tried to put pressure on Tehran to stop its nuclear enrichment program.  Bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush had no success getting Iran to stop enriching uranium.  Estimated by the CIA as getting close to an A-bomb, Israel officials have grave reservations about Iran getting a nuclear weapon.  Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has called Iran, since Ahmadinejad’s remarks, an “existential threat.”  No one knows exactly what Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would do with the bomb but Israeli officials don’t want to find out.

            Questions about who would target Iranian nuclear scientists point without proof to Israel’s Mossad.  “The only way to finish with enemy’s futile action is retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s scientist,” said the Iranian newspaper Resalat.  Whether one agrees or disagrees with Iran’s right to enrich uranium, targeting scientists associated with nuclear activities is much like murdering doctors in abortion clinics.  Killing highly trained professionals for practicing their crafts goes beyond any tenet of civilized societies.  Since Ahmandinejad’s remarks in 2005 and participation in Holocaust deniers’ conferences, he’s been on Israel’s hit list.  “It is legal under international law to retaliate for the killing of a nuclear scientist,” said the newspaper Resalet.  Whoever’s responsible for targeted killings, they need to rethink the advisability of murdering scientists, no matter what the rationale.

            When states sponsor terrorism, there are strong objections from the civilized world, typically branding groups “terrorists” or states “rogue regimes.”  U.S. and Israeli officials need a better rationale than some murky theory about a possible atomic bomb or possibility of using it.  Many U.S. and foreign nuclear officials don’t like Iran’s feverish pursuit of enriched uranium, perhaps weapons’ grade fissile material, but they also know that deterrence works.   Since the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima [Aug 6, 1945] and Nagasaki [Aug. 9, 1945], no other nuclear-armed country has used a bomb.  When Pakistan acquired the bomb in 1999, it’s kept its archenemy India at bay.  While Iran denies officially it’s intent of pursuing A-bombs, U.S. and foreign nuclear experts believe otherwise.  If the world community believes it’s too dangerous for the world to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, then collective action is needed.

            Targeting highly educated and trained nuclear scientists runs afoul with everything held sacred by civilized societies.  You can’t deplore terrorism when it comes to your enemy then practice its for so-called noble purposes.  If Israel or any other country wishes to halt Iran’s nuclear program, then there’s diplomatic and military means at their disposal.  Targeted assassinations aren’t much different from Mafia-style hits, booby-trapping cars, sniping or planting bombs.  Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahim fingered the U.S. and Israel for the latest attack.  While Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton “categorically” denied U.S. involvement, she didn’t rule out Israeli participation.  Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz hinted that 2012 would be Iran’s day of reckoning because “things that happen to them (the Iranians) in an unnatural way.”

            It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who’s behind the latest killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist.  U.S. and Israeli officials must recalculate the current covert war against Iran’s nuclear program.  Whether it’s infecting Iranian computers with the Stuxnet worm or targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists, the U.S. and Israel must rethink its current approach to Iran’s nuclear activities.  “I’m definitely not shedding a tear,” said Israeli military spokesman Brigadier Gen. Yoav Mordechai, practically admitting the Israeli plot in Roshan’s murder.  As it stands now, Iran has every right to consider targeted assassinations an act of war.  U.S. and Israeli officials need to recalibrate a policy of targeted killings, making the “civilized” world every bit as savage as the terrorist-enemy.  Deciding upfront on more sanctions or even military action is preferable to killing scientists.

  John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.       

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