What alarms me the most is the presence — for some time now — of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's partner, a man considered more dangerous and more intelligent than bin Laden. I doubt there is anyone alive who would be more delighted at any chance to obtain nuclear material for use in the United States.

The fact that Iran has nuclear material of any sort is cause for major concern. The fact that Iran has the brains of al Qaida there is cause for even more major concern.

But, taken together, the two are intolerable.

Whether Zawahiri left or not (this report states he left together with the notorious psychopathic torturer Imad Mughniyah) does not really matter. Rather, the evidence establishes friendly relations between al Qaida and the Iranian government.

There are too many ways to move nuclear material in this world. The Iranian mullahs, if they are smart (which I think they are) could well be contemplating a sort of indirect nuclear blackmail program to save their regime. The United States government (at least, according to this reasoning) would do almost anything to prevent a terrorist nuclear attack, including make a deal to keep the mullahs in power. And if the deal included handing over al Qaida leaders (with purloined material), the Iranian "moderates" could come out smelling like a rose.

And the Iranian people would continue to live under tyranny.

(I hate to be so cynical, but it wouldn't be the first time the United States fell for Iran's good-cop/bad-cop routine....)

What would Agrippa do? He'd go Roman on 'em, of course. He wouldn't wait around for nukes....

Of course, the Romans didn't have to worry about things like International Law.

They were International Law.

NOTE: The above post can also be read at my blog.