Why The Iranian Deal Is
Bad
By
Leonard Zwelling
There are two extreme views of the deal announced by the
Western powers, Russia, China and Iran.
The first is the one held by President Obama. He believes
that this deal is better than no deal because it will allow sufficient
verification of Iranian cheating should the ayatollahs try to use the 6000 or
so centrifuges they maintain (or others they are hiding) to create nuclear
weapons. The argument of this group is that without the deal, the region would have
started on a nuclear arms race with Sunni Saudi Arabia wanting a weapon to
balance any bomb developed by their Shia Iranian Persian neighbors. The
President is going to argue that Congress should approve this deal. Even if the
House and Senate vote to disapprove the deal, Mr. Obama will veto any attempt by the Republican majorities
in both houses to stop the deal, and it is unlikely that the GOP can muster
sufficient support to override the veto.
This is likely a done deal.
The second extreme position is the one espoused by Prime
Minister Netanyahu of Israel that essentially it is a terrible mistake to make a
deal with a country that wants to eradicate his country, the only democratic
ally America has in the region. You must admit, he has a point.
Group one says the perfect should not be demanded and
accepts the “goodness” of this deal in lieu of perfection or no deal at all.
Israel’s allies and much of the GOP disagree.
So do I.
We Jews are very sensitive to deals that promise “peace in
our time.” This comes under “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame
on me.” Neville Chamberlain also thought he could deal with an insane despot in
Nazi Germany only to have Hitler be true to his professed colors and invade
everything in sight including Paris. There is no doubt in my mind, that the
Iranians will continue to be the major national exporter of global terror and
the lifting of sanctions that will allow them to acquire conventional weapons
will be followed shortly by a true existential threat to Israel and eventually
to the U.S. (As was recently pointed out, the I in ICBM stands for
intercontinental, meaning the Iran-U.S. trajectory for Iranian weaponry would place
Broadway within the Iranian sights.)
If Mr. Obama really believes he can cut a deal with the
leaders of a theocratic state that would allow its own people to suffer at the
hands of the Western sanctions, he is a bigger fool than even I thought he was.
His argument will undoubtedly be that we made the best of a bad situation. I
don’t think so. Squeeze harder with sanctions and if the Russians and Chinese
won’t cooperate because they want to sell the Iranians conventional arms,
squeeze them, too. Sorry Target. If no
trade with China means bare shelves, so be it.
If, as we claim, we are the most powerful nation in the
world, we should not have to compromise on anything with regard to Iranian
sanctions or the Iranian ability to get access to more weapons only to
terrorize the region and the world. If we had squeezed Saddam with sanctions
instead of invading, Iraq would still be in his hands and not draining blood
and treasure from America let alone giving birth in part to ISIS.
Barry, get over yourself. Iran is the bad guys. Their enemy,
Israel, is the good guys. Do you need the Iranians to wear black turbans and
the Israelis white yarmulkes to keep this straight? I guess so.
There is one and only one capitalistic democracy in the
Middle East and you, Mr. President, just agreed to a deal with a group of
killers that want to eradicate your best friend in the region. Not a good idea!
Let’s hope the GOP can turn this back in Congress even if it
eventually goes into effect. It will give the Republicans an important differentiating
point on which to run next fall and will really put Hillary in a bind with regard
to her party, her President and the lefties of the Democratic persuasion. Her
take on this deal will be interesting to watch evolve.
This deal is both fascinating and depressing. If you really
believe this is the best America can do, then you think even less of the
President than I do—and that’s hard.
