The Other October Surprise

No, I'm not talking about the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden.

I'm talking about the increasingly tense situation regarding the Iranian nuclear program. Rob and I have been discussing it in the comments of a post I made below. He links to this post Winds of Change that deals with this very subject. Commenter Mark Buehner sums up the consequences of a nuclear armed Iran:

It cannot be overstated how devasting a nuclear armed Iran would be to our security and foriegn policy.
There is a scary meme developing (particularly in Europe) that Iran's nuclear program is simply a deterrant to the US, and hence no real problem. We're going to start hearing that is growing murmurs. It must be addressed.
Iranian mullahs have publicly advocated using nuclear weapons on Israel and accepting the responsding strike. Big Satan, Little Satan folks. Even if by some miracle, Iran doesnt use or distribute its nukes, the leverage that such a deterrant would create in the region is chilling. These maniacs are blatantly taking on an angry US in Iraq without nukes, what will they do with that trump card?
This is critical.

Then there's this:

Iran has issued an extraordinary list of demands to Britain and other European countries, telling them to provide advanced nuclear technology, conventional weapons and a security guarantee against nuclear attack by Israel.

Wow. The level of utter defiance leaves me speechless.