Gates is against cancer therapy because the cancer might grow back.

Sec. Gates: Bomb Iran, They'll Still Get a NukeBy Dan Weil 5/1
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says taking out Iran's nuclear facilities with a military strike won't work and recommends tougher sanctions instead.The military option would simply push Iran's effort to develop nuclear weapons into secrecy, making it more difficult for the U.S. to know what's going on there, he told the Senate Appropriations Committee.In the end, a strike would merely postpone Iran's plan to build nukes, not eliminate it. ****Er, Bob. Don't you mean you might not eliminate it ONCE and for all? You could always do it (strike) again. It even gets easier the second time around. The second time the Israelis hit an Arab nuclear reactor, in Syria, the world didn't say Boo.****The best strategy for keeping such weapons out of Iran's hands is for the U.S. and its allies to convince the country that it's better off without them, Gates says. Sanctions can help there, he maintains. And along those lines, Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Senators that the U.S. and its allies should strengthen the sanctions against Iran. ****But the allies won't! ****Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., says the U.S. should tighten loose regulations that allow American companies to do business with Iran.As for Gates, he says the argument that should be presented to Iran is that its production of nukes would "start a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, and they will be less secure at the end than they are now." ****Gates only plays checkers but the Persians invented chess. They know that being in an arms race, in which they're ahead, gives them the ability to strike first, and they would have no compunctions about doing that. WE don't believe that they would be more secure ( from us! ) without nukes; so how can we convince THEM that they would be? They already believe that the Israelis have nukes. Coercion of the Iranians is the only convincing argument. ****

The Defense Secretary also says the U.S. and Russia should cooperate in establishing missile defense programs in the Mideast to repel Iran.****Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Wishful thinking has no place in the Defense Department. Putin likes the U.S. less than he likes Iran and has less reason to fear us.***** Russia has objected to U.S. plans to station anti-missile facilities in Eastern Europe.The White House recently denied a report that Washington could scrap its demand that Iran cease enriching uranium at the start of talks on its nuclear program. ****Do Obama/Clinton have any credibility in such denials?****
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