NUCLEAR annihilation and military destruction are part of our recent past. The two World Wars of the 20th century come to mind. History, unfortunately, has a way of repeating itself unless reason and sound policies avert incipient crises. Today, the threat of drawing “a red line on Iran” could become the beginning of disastrous consequences for our country and the world. Of course, the military hawks want confrontation, but jingoism and tough war talk are no substitutes for a rational and pragmatic foreign policy.

Seriously. Israeli PM Netanyahu is leading this tough-line stance that would require U.S. military intervention. Israel must find other solutions for getting on with their own problems, which essentially is finding ways of getting along with the Palestinians, and their Muslim neighbors.

Iran, as a signatory to the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has a legitimate right to enrich uranium. Notwithstanding the present international economic sanctions against the present government in Iran for their stated intention of building a nuclear bomb, the U.S. and Iran must continue seeking agreements and arrangements regarding the peaceful uses of nuclear power and assurances of cooperation.

Additionally, at this critical time, it is wise to consider the strategy of past foreign policy/military positions and decisions that backfired or were counter-productive in the quest for just and peaceful solutions to international crises. Let’s think it through before another war is upon us.

A slogan in the 1960 presidential debate, “Better Red than Dead,” when John F. Kennedy debated Richard Nixon and turned away from the military defense of Quemoy & Matsu – two insignificant islands off the coast of China’s Formosa Strait – and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis are examples of alternatives to the creed of “bombs away” and “let’s make it right, with our might!” President Kennedy and his 1960 campaign decisions and his personal diplomatic efforts might hold lessons for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on crisis diplomacy and military restraint.

Fundamental to our policies with the Iranians, and also with the Arabs, and the Islamic world in general, is the basic issue that JFK taught us: Build bridges to those folks (at the time, the Soviets) through the channels of human interest in avoiding world war. Kennedy warned Americans “not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.” Kennedy demonstrated the value of restraint, good judgment, and courage in avoiding war.

A famous quote: "History has witnessed the failure of many endeavors to impose peace by war, cooperation by coercion, unanimity by slaughtering dissidents.”

Let us not fall into the trap of falsely demonizing any nation or its people. It is time to move forward by thinking about our values for freedom and democracy; and concentrate on creating and working for our own needs for economic growth and prosperity.