Seymour Hersh, the investigative journalist who broke the Abu Ghraib scandal, told a terrifying tale in the New Yorker in April of 2006. He reported in the April 17th issue that President Bush has real plans to use bunker busting tactical nuclear weapons on the Iranian underground uranium centrifuge sites. Apparently, he had no trouble verifying his information, citing named and unnamed, active and retired sources. He cited a military planner, a high-ranking diplomat, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, a former senior intelligence official, a former high-level Defense Department official and many other sources. That, combined with Mr. Hersh’s impeccable reputation makes his story as credible as it is frightening.

The bunker busting bombs do not work like underground nuclear tests. They create mushroom clouds, long-term radioactive contamination and surface blasts that can kill thousands. The pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons by the United States would change people’s attitude toward warfare forever. In Hiroshima the world did not really understand the true nature of nuclear weapons. Gradually, most of humanity came to the opinion that no nation should use them in a first strike. That perception would be totally destroyed if Bush has his way. The moral barriers would have been removed, and nations would feel justified to follow the American example and use nuclear weapons when they feel the necessity. The world nuclear arms race would dramatically accelerate and we would all have to learn to live with really serious fear.

Bush’s plans are not the usual contingency exercises. Serious steps toward implementation have already been taken. Aside from the nuclear sites, targets include airfields, missile sites, submarine ports, chemical plants and more. According to one estimate, the number of targets could exceed 400. All but the underground nuclear facilities would be attacked with conventional bombs. The well-fortified underground facilities, however, appear to be built on the same plan that the Russians use to protect their government in the event of an attack, and cannot be destroyed by conventional bombs.

Mr. Hersh’s Pentagon advisor source says that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and most Bush advisors are against the use of nuclear weapons in Iran. There is great controversy within the Pentagon on the issue because, according to the Pentagon advisor, the civilian neocons who want to use the nukes are a “juggernaut that has to be stopped”. It’s probable that the leak of information to Mr. Hersh is a part of that disagreement. The light of publicity is usually a good way to halt the progress of lunatic ideas.

The usual propaganda push has started. An Iraq-like spin is in full gear. The Bush Administration is already pounding in the idea that Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons and must be stopped. They point out that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denies the holocaust and threatens Israel with attack. Condoleezza Rice calls him our most serious global challenge. Rummy calls him the leading supporter of global terrorism. So far, and for good reason, this sales spiel is getting little traction with our European allies. Unfortunately, Bush does not need our allies for the bombing assault that he is planning.

The fact is that almost nobody would want to see Iran get nuclear weapons. Bush could get wide support if he joined the rest of the United Nations, and went through the process of moral suasion and economic pressure before the military option was necessary. Although the estimates vary widely, Iran is at least three years away from being able to make nuclear bombs. When there are no longer any alternatives to a military attack, Bush would have the vast majority of nations on his side. But that is not what crazy George wants to do.

Bush wants to attack soon, perhaps before the mid-term elections. He also wants regime change, and perhaps, he wants the oil too. With his legacy falling apart in Iraq, he imagines that he has one last chance to rally the people behind him, and keep his pals in congress. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rove do not seem to be able to see that this will backfire.

Do not feel secure in the thought that it would be reckless and insane for Bush to use nuclear weapons in Iran before the election. Bush would nuke Iran, and not ask anybody’s permission. When Congress gave the President permission to strike Iraq, they believed that, as Bush had promised, he would exhaust all diplomatic efforts first. Most also believed that Hussein actually had WMDs.

And by the way, why can’t all countries be allowed to have nuclear power, in a supervised way? Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, it is the product of the clean burning of coal or hydrocarbons. Nuclear energy is the only way to generate large amounts of additional power without creating CO2, which we now know causes global warming.

A nuclear attack on Iran would unite the world against us. The Shiites in Iraq and Iran will join together to attack American troops. We could see more real acts of terror in this country. Our enemies might disrupt our flow of oil and we could go into recession. And finally, foreigners could sell our bonds and cause economic collapse.