Trust us:
In God We Trust:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/index.htm
http://www.history.com/videos/reagan-dont-negotiate-with-terrorists#reagan-dont-negotiate-with-terrorists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Contra_affair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran–Iraq_war
People are afraid you might use weapons (unlike any other nation on earth?) if you obtain them:
http://www.fogonazos.es/2007/02/hiroshima-pictures-they-didnt-want-us_05.html
Do we live in the land of Denial and Delusion or the land of Reality?
Could a 5th grader figure out why Iran might want what we have and how we're pushing them towards wanting them all that much more?
No right to bear arms? No right to defend themselves against those who do have nukes threatening those who don't?
If Iran obtains what France, England, Russia, India, China, Pakistan, North Korea and the only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons on people, civilians no less, who's fault is it likely to be? Want non-proliferation? Get rid of your own nuclear weapons.
We feared Germany obtaining atomic capability first so they could bring other nations to their knees, so what did we do? Instead of doing all in our power THEN to destroy nuclear capability, we took it developed it and USED it. Now we expect someone else is NOT going to follow our lead or want the same thing we're so proud of, the right to keep and bear arms so we can "defend" ourselves?
Yes, we can all be blindly loyal and patriotic and say oh, we had to do it to save lives, but come back to objective reality folks and look at the state Pearl Harbor and 9-11-01 put this nation in and both of those events combined plus all the dead from two subsequent wars amounted to how many dead in comparison to a number of dead just minutes after dropping bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
We made our own bed and now we're lying in it unfortunately because of our "leadership" with such weapons.
Instead of throwing the "ring" into the mouth of the volcano, we slipped the ring onto our finger and thought we'd use a great evil for "good". As a consequence, we've been facing what we have been facing regarding other nations wantling the same weapons, the same "defense" capability and the same negotiating capability that we have and we're scared stiff someone is going to act like we did.
We might start by not drinking anymore of our own Kool Aid, look in a real mirror (not a magic one) get sober, clean up our own acts and make sure people know we are constantly aware of our past (and not act as if it never happened) or surely we're one day going to pay a whole lot more than we have so far and unfortuntely there will be no one to blame, but ourselves.
No, we can't go back and undo what was done, but acting as if it never happened does not help, but hurt negotiations. People don't want hypocritical lectures, but they will listen to someone who has regrets about what they did and why they now want to prevent it from occurring in the future and anyone else repeating the same mistake.
Unfortunately we come across as a bit of 'we did it and are proud of it, but you can't do it and if you did, you'd be the scum of the earth.' We aren't fooling anyone, except perhaps ourselves.
We led the way to their use, only we can lead the way out by expressing regret for doing so and suggesting we're looking for a way to diminish or end the fear of nuclear weapon use and would like all to join in on that solution.
My interest is in NOT starting wars, but preventing them. I don't believe you prevent wars or people that would be motivated to use terrorist tactics against you, by pissing them off. Just as attacks on us piss us off and strengthen our resolve, our attacks against others will do the same. Rather than having to end wars, not contributing to starting them in the first place seems to demonstrate intelligence over emotion and some need to demonstrate physical strength. If we are to claim to only use force to defend ourselves then we could also demonstrate that in the strictest sense, rather than push the envelope in the other direction, knowing how we would feel in any other nation thought it was their "right" to strike us first and justify it as "pre-emptive defense" or suggest a "defense" that required killing tens of thousands of civilians, to "save lives".