It should, sadly, come as no shock to learn that the United States, along with Israel, is behind the destructive Stuxnet computer worm targeting Iran that has, according to a newly released report, “apparently shut down a fifth of that country’s nuclear centrifuges.”
Imagine if the tables were turned and Iran had developed a computer virus that had successfully taken out one-fifth of the United States’ nuclear power generation capacity. How do you think “peace president” Obama would react? What would the neo-cons say? Would not even those hesitant to support the use of force agree that something must be done?
In addition to being an illegal act of aggression against Iran, which I am sure observers of US foreign policy will find shocking (not), this action also blatantly violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which both the United States and Iran (but not Israel) are signatories. At the least, it is a violation of Article IV of the treaty, which affirms that each signatory state has “the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.” US action denying Iran that right is clearly a violation of the treaty.
Interesting that the timing of this report being made public “coincides with a two-day tour of Iran’s nuclear facilities by a group of international envoys. Iranian officials say the tour is designed to show the country’s nuclear program is peaceful.”
12:42 pm on January 16, 2011
