We have at least five wars going on. Finally, President Obama has turned to diplomacy, working on a plan in which the United States would remove sanctions against Iran in return for inspection of Iran’s nuclear program.

In order to understand the issue, we need to look at nuclear weaponry. I will use the example of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb, because it is the simplest device of this kind.

It all begins with Einstein’s famous equation, E=MC2. What this means is that there is a gigantic amount of energy in matter.

Next question, how to release that energy? Scientists discovered that if you hit beryllium atoms with alpha particles from radioactive material, those atoms give off neutrons, and those neutrons, when they hit Uranium 235, cause two neutrons to leave the U235 atoms. However, there is so much space between atoms that the neutrons given off will not hit anything.

But, if you pack in the U235 atoms tightly enough, called “critical mass,” the neutrons will hit the nuclei of other U235 atoms, and those will send off another two neutrons and a “chain reaction” will occur, releasing incredible amounts of energy in a very brief amount of time.

Now, the peaceful use of atoms, say for electrical power does not require the refined Uranium needed for a bomb. The uranium for producing electrical power has to be re-processed to create more of the U235 variety, or at least, that is my understanding.

So, again, the deal on the table, with details yet to be worked out, is that we drop the sanctions against Iran, and, in return, the United States would place inspectors to make sure that the Iranian nuclear program would be limited to peaceful applications.

Then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the United States and spoke before Congress. He said that the U.S. was being duped, and that in fact our experts and our expertise would not be adequate to prevent weaponization of the Iranian nuclear program, and that the United States was being foolish to think that Iran would conform to such an agreement.

Then some 357 congressmen, Democrats and Republicans among them, wrote a letter to President Obama saying that unless they were convinced the inspectors could guaranty that Iran was not on the path to a nuclear weapon, they would refuse to lift the sanctions against Iran, thus killing the deal.

And, 47 Republican Senators sent a letter to the president of Iran, warning that the next president (after Obama) did not have to abide by the terms of the agreement.

Netanyahu had more to say after he cast doubt on our ability to monitor Iran’s nuclear program. He went on to say that he categorically refused to agree to a “two state” solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict, a solution that the U.S. has championed without success, for many years. This was a slap in the face to the United States.

So, the U.S. threatened to not veto the next United Nations resolution calling for a two-state solution to the Palestine problem. However, we continue to arm Israel to the teeth, as they serve as our proxy army in the Middle East.

So, finally, an attempt at diplomacy and it is being resisted. The basis of this resistance is the notion that President Obama would enter into a deal which would jeopardize the safety of our country.

In fact, his history, when he feels our security is threatened, is to shoot first and ask questions later.

Nelson Strasser lives in Lakeport, Calif.