Letter to Senator Specter

Dear Senator Specter,
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is unfortunately correct when he reasons that a nation with nuclear weapons is safer from foreign military intervention than one without weapons. He needs only to examine our economic approach to North Korea as compared to our choice of war with Iraq. While it may be true that war with Iraq was conducted as a last resort, it is reasonable for someone not familiar with our internal workings to draw the alternative conclusion that the United States perceived a war with Iraq as preferable to drawn-out and less enforceable economic pressure. Given our recent shift in policy toward pre-emptive war and our branding of three particular nations as constituting an "axis of evil", would it be just for any leader of one of those nations to choose any path but that which seemed most likely to ensure the safety of their people from western agression?

We are a proud society with a history of several hundred years of self-determination. Is it possible that our success has blinded us to the pride and history of other nations? Is it possible that our policy of denying nuclear weapons as reasonable tools for the deterent power other sovreign nations seek is hypocritical given our singular history as the only country to deploy such awful weapons?

It is conceivable that we may yet coerce or force Iran to forego nuclear ambitions. It is also possible that our arrogant and even hypocritical posture in the world is the very cause of our national insecurity. We could choose to lead by promoting an international program of weapons maintenance and command and control safeguards. We could lead other nations to a greater sense of security and thereby difuse tensions that naturally build as we trade resources. I strongly encourage the Senate and you, our best representative in that august body, to deny the Administration the path of violence. Let us find a way to lead the people of the world toward self-determination by way of tolerant example. Let us find a voice of prudence and wisdom so that our time of leadership is remembered as a time of peace and prosperity.

One day we will not be the hyper-power. How our children and grandchildren are treated in those days to come is completely dependent on how well we serve and lead the nations of the world now in our time of power.

Thank you for your time and continued service,
Joe Sweeney