We live in a terribly frightening world. This can be so easy to forget as we go about our hectic lives, occupied by school, work, family and friends. Life seems so peaceful and ordinary in places like Oberlin, Ohio. This is not surprising: Life is peaceful and ordinary here. But it need not remain that way.

Americans must never forget that the moment we allow the mirage of normality to eclipse our vigilance against those who threaten the United States, this country and its people will suffer murder and destruction on the greatest scale. This is precisely what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, and it is precisely what could happen again. We can help to prevent this, however, if we make the right choice in dealing with a rotten rogue state in the heart of the Middle East.

At issue is Iran and the regime of the Anti-Israel, Anti-America, Anti-Western extremist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As Europe and the UN wait around for this fanatical fascist to play by the rules, and as the Security Council issues hopelessly pathetic pleas for cooperation, we are rapidly approaching the point of no return. Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and if the United States does not stand up to the bullies in Tehran and prevent them from doing so, we will have hell to pay.

I shudder at the thought of a nuclear Iran; I think most Americans do – and with good reason. The regime’s intentions are anything but benign: Ahmadinejad is not content to just live and let live, as some of my fellow students often suggest. On the contrary, he wants the state of Israel “wiped off the map,” and just a week ago, on Oct. 20, this hateful demagogue warned that Israel’s allies face the “boiling wrath” of Muslims in the Middle East. Ahmadinejad said his statement was an ultimatum for the West: “You should not complain that we did not give a warning,” he declared. The free world cannot afford to ignore such threats. (All quotes courtesy of the Associated Press.)

Yet even for those who (incorrectly) dismiss Ahmadinejad’s comments as empty provocations, there remains the still more foreboding threat of proliferation. It’s no secret that the Iranian regime provides material support to terrorists. Remember Hezbollah’s Iran-sponsored attacks on Israel this summer, and the bloody war they sparked? If the regime is not willing to launch a nuclear warhead itself, it is entirely plausible that it could simply hand one off to a terrorist group prepared to carry out that dirty work.

In spite of all this, many of my fellow Oberlin students (and, I suspect, some faculty members) are more sanguine. They ask, “If the U.S. gets to have nuclear weapons, why can’t Iran?” Some – remarkably – even buy the excuse that this is all about electricity: “Who are we to say that Iran can’t use nuclear energy sources like we do?” How tiresome it is to hear such weak arguments repeated so frequently. If there is anything more persuasive to be said in support of an idle, complacent United States at this juncture, I have heard no such argument.

We must face the facts on Iran: This is a country run by extremists who believe that their dark vision can be thrust upon the rest of the world by force. Ahmadinejad calls Israel a disgrace to the Middle East and constantly encourages jihadists to kill innocent Jews. His hatred of Americans is no less invective. Most importantly, the regime has already used violence to act on these despicable aims, and there is no reason to doubt that it will use violence again.

We cannot stand by and allow such a state to obtain nuclear weapons. As we approach the point of no return, millions of American lives hang in the balance. Let us hope that the United States has the wherewithal to stand firmly against the prospect of a nuclear Iran, for the alternative would be simply intolerable.