Currently the United States along with several other countries are in serious negotiations with Iran. The goal of their meeting is to agree on a treaty to resolve the issue of the Country of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. Using any and all diplomatic alternatives to starting a war should be the sane objective of a civilized society and the world community.

Today, March 3, 2015, Benjamin Netanyahu will give a speech before a joint session of Congress warning once again how civilized society must not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Since the early 1980’s he has been the proverbial wolf crying danger, danger. Every few years he has made the claim that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in 3-5 years. This trip to Washington is designed to once again cry wolf but this speech’s primary focus is to undermine and end the diplomatic efforts, designed to bring about a treaty to reduce the risk of war and Iran’s attempt to weaponize it’s nuclear program. It is understandable that Israel be concerned with their safety and security.

It is only proper that the world community led by President Obama and other countries attempt to answer the threat of war by bringing about a peaceful resolution of the danger. It would be irresponsible for the major countries of the world to not attempt to peaceably resolve the danger. War should never be the first choice and the only option. Starting a war must be the last option on the table to be used only when absolutely necessary.

In Israel, the country is divided on the issue of going to war against Iran. There are some from the intelligence community in Israel who perceive Netanyahu’s actions as being reckless.

There is an election in Israel, during March with the Prime Minister in danger of being defeated. This whole disagreement with America could be a political ploy on Netanyahu’s part to frighten his own people into believing that only he can provide safety to the Israeli people by being re-elected.

To be frank, Prime Minister Netanyahu would love it if America would do it’s dirty work and attack Iran with the goal of eliminating Iran’s nuclear capability. Both the United States and Israel have the same goal and that is to make sure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.

But not so fast, Prime Minister Netanyahu must stop trying to end the efforts to avert a major war in the Middle East. We, as part of the world community, must give peace a chance. A war with Iran would not be so simple, in point of fact, very few wars are simple affairs. They are much easier to start than to end.

Let us review a few simple facts to remind the public of the insanity of some who are quite willing to rush to war with Iran. Iran is the second largest country in terms of population in the Middle East with 78 million people. They have a total military force of some 900,000 people. Iran has a long history and an ancient culture. Iran is not some backward nation that we can shock and awe into submission. They would be fighting to protect their homes against an invasion.

With their hardened nuclear sites, the removal of their nuclear program would require a ground war of an estimated American force of 500, 000 men and woman. Air strikes would not be enough to remove the danger. Our men and women in uniform would have to be put in harms way to accomplish the task.

This is why it would be reckless to not try to settle the problem with a treaty. It is to the Iranian people’s interest and to the interest of the American people that war be prevented. It has always been true that it takes an old man or a group of old men to start a war and it is the young who fight and die. And let us not forget the long term affects of war on everyone involved. Any war is costly in the blood and sacrifice of everyone and it costs a lot of money and resources to fight a war. Wars are to be prevented and not encouraged unless there is no other alternative.

A war with Iran has the potential to plummet the region into a broader war and bring about a crisis that the world is not prepared to deal with. There is a very great likelihood that Iran would sink some ships in the Straits of Hormuz to block the oil that most of the world’s economies depend on. A worldwide depression is a possible consequence of a war with Iran. How would the oil dependent industrialized world survive without the oil from the Middle East? It is just insane to advocate a war with Iran without giving peace a chance.