The nuclear deal with Iran is a tricky one, no doubt.
England's Prime Minister David Cameron stated that it must be qualified as a success because it takes the prospect of a nuclear Iran off the tables for 15 years. We wouldn't go that far because the deal was an inevitability so it was the making best of a bad situation, especially given how New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman explained the lead up. Mr. Friedman said that since the Iraq war was a failure for the United States, it took the military option in the region off the table in negotiations, and the Iranians recognized that. That assessment basically outlines the balance of leverage that the different sides have.
You
have to weigh each sides hand against one another and for the United States
that means potentially getting one big upside in exchange for a lot
(and we mean a lot) of potential smaller downsides. The big upside, of
course, is that United States gets an Iran without nukes, but it could
also mean that the Iranians have a lot more money, through the lifting
of sanctions and through commerce, to play their proxy military terror games with.
We
understand that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to
denounce the deal as loudly as possible, but the agreement was
necessary. The fact remains that Russian and China want to do commerce
with Iran and they were going to start with or without a deal in place.
At that point, Iran will be free to proceed toward their goal of being a
nuclear power. Iran is an existential threat to Israel, but we'd like
that to be more in the conventional sense than in a nuclear one.
However, this is what really gets to us, where Republicans have a point, and that is this deal legitimizes Iran as a rational regional power without them having to change their behavior in the larger sense outside of the nuclear issue. You have to concede to Senator Tom Cotton's (R-AR) use of the term 'enabling,' clearly. And the fall down that was allowing the end of the conventional arms embargo ensures that it's full speed ahead with weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah. More Kalashnikovs point in the direction of the United States and Israel is never a good idea.
Another big point that makes us uncomfortable is the 10-year period of
stringent monitoring; it should have been 20 years. This way, it's a
true generational shift in the leadership of Iran and with that would
come a change in attitude, possibly, as they would at that time be more
integrated into the world economy. It really speaks to the mentality of
the two countries: For the United States, ten years is a long time,
especially in politics, but a country like Iran has a much longer view
of history and ten years is nothing.
The Iranians made this deal about more than just nuclear weapons and the United States, Britain and France, at least, should have insisted on the same. Not having nuclear weapons for 10 years doesn't all of sudden make you a legitimate, rational actor in the region, with undo influence. It's not just about nuclear proliferation, it's more than that. Fmr. governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) commented that we didn't even insist on a 'show of faith' with the releases of the 4 Americans in Iranian prisons, certainly a black eye for the Administration. The unfettered mindset that it is only about nuclear weapons, is the flaw in Secretary Kerry's thinking.
All right... We got that out... and now that we've said that piece, here's another: you sign off on it, and hold Iran to their word. To skeptics that say Iran will most certainly cheat, we would argue to go into it with that assumption, and when cheating is verified then the deal is off anyway. Congress should not vote it down and insist on a better deal because they're not going to get it, no chance. Republicans are going to have to buck their reputation of having ceremonious votes that will accomplish nothing.
(You can only hope that American intelligence agencies will use what ever means and then some to spy on Iran, to stay a few steps ahead of them. More international commerce for Iran means more Iranians traveling abroad hence more intelligence targets.)
And speaking of 'accomplishing nothing,' there's presidential candidate Donald Trump, who just yesterday criticized Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in the senator's home state saying, "He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured? I like people who weren't captured." To paraphrase Danielle Pletka of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, he's an idiot mouthing off who trying to land a TV show. We've never agreed with Senator McCain's overly hawkish positions, but he's definitely a American hero. If he's not, then who is?
And if you think that Donald Trump is destroying the Republican party brand, which he is, don't blame the press because we all know that celebrity news sells and you can't ignore that. Blame goes to the Republican party who gave him crowning status in all those years he didn't declare himself as a candidate. Neither the character nor the temperament as Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) put it.
Panel: Tom Friedman, The New York Times; Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute; Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Bill Richardson, fmr. Governor of New Mexico and US Ambassador to the UN.
A couple more things...
In the immigration debate between Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Raul Labrador (R-UT), Mr. Labrador said that we need to limit our legal immigration, which would draw a raised eyebrow, for sure. But then he went on to explain that our outdated system can not handle the volume. Another term for federal computer systems is 'infrastructure,' something that Republicans do not want to raise one dime for through taxes to pay for.
And we can not come to accept that lone-wolf Islamic terrors acts are the new norm in this country as Michael Leiter described. We're not there yet, but we're close - it's just that it is so randomly spread out that the American people don't sense the entire forest, and its constancy.
Lastly, as Chuck Todd admitted at the end, today's program covered a lot of ground, no joke. Overall, Meet The Press is starting to get back up to spec., but it's not quite there yet. Lots of good information today, lots to choose from if you happen to write a blog about the show, but they shouldn't be afraid of some longer form segments utilizing the panel as questioners.
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