podpolia

I would have to say that at first glance, this is not good. One Islamic government in the near east with nuclear technology is bad enough — seven, spread from Morocco to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, would be… well, bad.
Luckily, most of these countries are on decent terms with the United States right now, and I think we should try to keep it that way. The US has been considering helping Egypt with a nuclear power program, and I believe that under certain conditions, this could be spread to a region-wide movement if certain conditions are met. Namely:
– It must be for peaceful purposes,
– It must be openly verifiable by the international community as being power-production only, and
– It must utilize some type of nuclear power generation that is difficult to use to develop atomic weapons.
With the United States involved at the ground floor in helping these countries to develop the technology, we could keep an eye on how it is being used directly, possibly as a condition of assistance. Not only would this allow IAEA oversight, but the US could keep an eye on things as well.
In fact, if the United States were to start working with these (mostly desert) countries on peaceful nuclear development for desalination and similar purposes, it could benefit American image greatly in the region. That way, the US could keep pressure on Iran for running a nuclear program and hiding parts of it from the IAEA, while showing that it was interested in helping Islamic countries, and had no objection to peaceful atomic power. Making the Arabian peninsula into an arable place, at least along the shoreline, would be a major achievement as well as an indication that America was trying to make life better all over the world.
Unfortunately, the immediate reaction to the desire of these Arab states to want nuclear technology is going to be extremely negative, and with some justification. If the situation is worked correctly, however, it could provide a major PR coup for the United States, while allowing it to keep pressure on Iran.

It looks like the verdict in Saddam Hussein’s trial is still going to come out on Sunday. Not only is this good news for the Republican election prospects, but it’s close enough to election day that retaliatory attacks won’t get much airplay before the election. There had been some doubt about whether the verdict would be ready, but it seems that the Iraqi court will be done when they expected to be.