Businesses worldwide want to get into Iran, home to some 80 million people, oil and gas reserves and a sizable middle class craving U.S. brands. The administration has done all it can to avoid that debate, including scapegoating and intimidating those most troubled by the prospects of a nuclear Iran.
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Bottom line: Iran possessing a nuclear weapon would be a game-changing event that cannot and will not be allowed. Not a building was left standing, except the one at Hiroshima directly under the bomb that remains as a stark monument today. The ayatollah constantly believed that we are untrustworthy, that you can’t negotiate with us, that we will screw them. (“Hey pot! Who you callin’ black?”) Right now, Iran has zero nuclear weapons. “So they must think this is a good agreement for them ultimately to accomplish that goal, and that’s worrisome”. If it passes and survives a presidential veto, a resolution rejecting it would cripple the agreement by eliminating Obama’s ability to waive many sanctions. But rejecting it and leaving only U.S. sanctions in place without the essential support of the global community will move us closer to military confrontation.
Second, as a result of the agreement, Iran’s position as a supporter of terrorism and a destabilizing force in the region may well be enhanced. Nationally, Democrats have varied widely in their reaction to the proposal, while Republicans have mostly opposed the deal.
In his television commercial, Christie also accuses the administration of “lying about how the deal’s going to work” by suggesting that inspectors would have access “anytime, anywhere” to sites where Iran might try to conduct nuclear activities banned by the treaty.
Iran will not reprocess spent fuel into weapons grade plutonium and will send spent fuel out of the country.
The Washington Post reported Monday that “the Iran deal is hemorrhaging support”. Instead, they have recommended a step-by-step approach, eventually leading to a ban on the possession and production of nuclear weapons. But we owe it to the ever-receding memory of Hiroshima to do all that we can to reduce to the risk of nuclear warfare wherever and whenever possible. Iran denies that charge.
Nukes could never stop smaller wars and proxy conflicts – and look increasingly impotent against modern non-state threats such as jihadist groups or cyber-attacks – but “they are still a necessary tool”, said Mark Fitzpatrick, a nuclear security expert at the London-based worldwide Institute for Strategic Studies.
She added that she’s also supported foreign and defense funding for Israel and that will push “for a new Israel defense aid package”. I will fight in Congress for a new Israel defense aid package, because we must continue to fund the new technologies of tomorrow that will keep families safe from conventional missile and terrorist attacks.
“There are legitimate and serious concerns about this deal”, she continued. Hostages remain in Iranian custody. The United States and its allies refused to believe Iran’s claims to innocence without verification. Without a deal, our options will be limited to insufficient unilateral sanctions, an invasion with yet another massive and costly land war in the Middle East, or a bombing campaign that offers nothing more than short-term gain under the best-case scenario.
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The agreement prevents Iran from enriching uranium and reprocessing plutonium needed to develop nuclear weapons. Congress must weigh all the alternative scenarios to determine what is achievable, what is preferable and what action most likely will lead to the outcome we all want.
