Considered one of the U.S. Senate’s most liberal members, 64-year-old Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) caved in to relentless pressure by the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, rejecting the July 14 P5+1 Iran nuke agreement, ending punitive economic sanctions in exchange for slowing its uranium enrichment program. Negotiated over a grueling two-year period by Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, the agreement placed Iran’s clandestine nuke program back under the watch of the U.N.’s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]. Rejecting the agreement, Schumer knows that the Iran nuke deal was between the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, not just
Washington. Schumer also knows that a U.S. rejection would not stop the other five nations from ending U.N. sanctions.
Speaking at American University, Obama warned that failing to approve the deal would increase the chance of a war with Iran. Bristling at the thought, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Obama to cut the rhetoric and let Congress evaluate the merits of the agreement. Schumer’s defection, considered a possible replacement to eventually lead the Democratic Senate caucus, hurts the White House’s credibility. “To me, the very real risk that Iran will not moderate and will, instead, use the agreement to pursue its nefarious goals is too great,” said Schumer. “Therefore, I will vote to disapprove this agreement.” Schumer buys, lock, stock and barrel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rhetoric, told to a joint session of Congress March 3, that Iran is an “existential threat” to Israel. Netanyahu insists that Iran cannot be trusted to live up to the agreement.
Netanyahu’s skepticism harks back to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Oct. 26, 2005 threat to “wipe Israel off the map.” When Ahmadinejad followed up his threat hosting a Holocaust deniers’ conference Dec. 14, 2006 in Tehran, Netanyabu went apoplectic, for good reason but letting the indignity get under his skin. Whatever Netanyahu thinks of Iran or the agreement, it’s been backed by the P5+1, assuring, if nothing else, that Iran’s under more international supervision than without the agreement. Schumer talks of “nefarious” activity, referring to Iran’s clandestine military nuke activity that he doesn’t see changing with the agreement. What Schumer forgets, reminded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in last nights first GOP debate, is that the U.S. got its intelligence wrong in 2002 before the March 20, 2003 Iraq War. Jeb admitted, if he knew then, what he knows now, he would not go into Iraq.
Jeb’s reluctant admission to Fox News Megyn Kelly about “faulty” U.S. intelligence sounds all too familiar about U.S. and Israeli concerns that Iran secretly works on an A-bomb. U.S. and Israeli officials have no proof, other than various unconfirmed reports, the same type of speculation that led former President George W. Bush to go to war in Iraq. Schumer rejects the Iran nuke deal based on what he calls “nefarious” activities, something eerily similar to Bush administration officials insisting Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed WMD. Saddam refused to allow the IAEA into Iraq before Bush launched Cruz missiles at Baghdad March 20, 2003. Before the U.S. went to war, IAEA Chief Inspector Dr. Hans Blix begged the Bush White House for more time to prove Saddam had nothing. Saddam refused to tip his hand to his enemies that he actually had no WMD.
Proving time and again, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also likes to blow smoke over Iran’s great military prowess. His military sophistication was so great that Iraq battled Iran for eight years to a virtual standoff, with all of Saddam’s arsenal of biologic, chemical and nuclear weapons. Schumer cites the Nuke deal’s flaws, like a 24-day waiting period for IAEA inspectors as reason enough to oppose the deal. Schumer’s House colleague, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also agreed with Schumer, announced he would also oppose the nuke deal. “It is the largest state sponsor of terror in the world and continues to hold American citizens behind bars on bogus charges,” said Engel, knowing that Saudi Arabia, not Iran, is by far the largest state sponsor of terrorism, despite denied by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud’s government.
Schumer and Engel’s decision to oppose the P5+1 Iran nuke deal has more to do with accepting Netanyahu and AIPAC’s misguided conclusion that Iran seeks to destroy the Jewish State. However belligerent the rhetoric out of Tehran, the Azeri Turk Mullahs, like Khamenei, have far too much to lose to risk everything hitting Tel Aviv with a nuke. Whether or not the U.S. signs the P5+1 agreement, Iran will continue to pursue its nuke activities. Ending sanctions and putting more cash in the mullahs’ pockets won’t change anything related to its overt or covert nuke program. With our without the sanctions, Iran finds ways to survive. Whether or not Shiite Iran supports the Beirut-based Hezbollah militia or, for that matter, Ramallah’s PLO or Gaza’s Hamas, Schumer knows that Saudi-based Sunni Wahhabi groups sponsor the lion’s share Mideast terrorism—not Iran.
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