Commission Tells Barack Obama to Bomb Iran, North Korea

The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism issued recommendations Wednesday to the incoming Obama Administration. The bi-partisan commission, co-chaired by the former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Bob Graham (D-FL) and former Senator Jim Talent (R-MO), was appointed by Congress in 2007 in response to a 9/11Commission warning that the greatest danger to the United States in the years ahead is an attack with a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon by a terrorist organization. The commission said in its report, "World at Risk," that the Obama Administration must make it a "top priority" to stop the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea, and President-elect Obama must be prepared to use "military force" to do so.

The commission was mindful of Obama's campaign pledge to engage in direct diplomacy with the rogue regimes in Tehran and Pyongyang, and was clear in it's recommendation that Obama must recognize the ultimate futility if such negotiations without the threat of military action.

"If, as appears likely, the incoming administration seeks to end these programs through direct diplomatic engagement with the Iranian and North Korean governments, it must do so from a position of strength, emphasizing both the benefits to them of abandoning their nuclear weapons programs, and the enormous cost of failing to do so.

Such engagement must be backed by the credible threat of direct action in the event that diplomacy fails."

On the campaign trail, Obama said that he would be willing to sit down face-to-face, without preconditions with the leaders of Iran and North Korea to help bridge the gap between the U.S. and their countries. He later amended his position to say that "preparations" would be required before any high-level talks would take place. But the commission's warning is a good one for Obama to heed. All the talks in the world will not deter a determined foe from pursing its own interests. Negotiations are well and good, but if President Obama wants to actually change Iran and North Korea's behavior, he had better know when to stop talking.