Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu's paid and volunteer hysterics, who claim the end will be near if the Iran Deal passes, have been temporarily driven to the sidelines by the media's fascination with all things Trump.
Not to worry. They're coming back. Expect the richly-financed Iran Deal opponents to go into Armageddon Overdrive as we get closer to Labor Day. Consider the source of what you hear and keep in mind the following:
1. The United States gives up nothing in the Iran Deal. I've heard no-nothings say silly things, like, “We're going to give Iran a signing bonus.” Iran gets about $55 Billion of its own dollars back. It appears weird to me, that Israel, which has received about $250 Billion, inflation adjusted, US Taxpayer Dollars as a gift, would be in such a pout about a country getting its own money back.
2. The charge from the anti-deal hysterics is that Iran is a chronic bad actor, therefore we should keep our foot on their neck permanently.
If truth be told, Iran is not the only country in the Mid East to have misbehaved over the years. Indeed, Ronald Reagan was so disgusted with the barbarity of Israel's assault on the civilian areas of Beirut in 1982 that he wrote in his Diary that he told Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin that Israel was “creating a Holocaust” in Beirut, and that the image of Israel's war “was a seven month old child with its arms blown off”.
Also, a little research will uncover that the United States provided targeting information to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War to assist Iraq in its use of chemical weapons against Iran. So, maybe the folks that are out on the streets in Tehran chanting anti-US stuff now and then are just reacting to the disfiguring burns they received during the Iran-Iraq War. Who knows?
3. The charge is made that Iran was responsible for the October 1983 attack on the Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut that killed 244 American servicemen. In October 1983, Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, with over five years left in his Presidency and full control of the American intelligence establishment. If there was anyone anywhere who knew where the ultimate responsibility for the Marine Corps Barracks lay, it was Ronald Reagan.
Reagan chose not to retaliate against Iran because he was unable to find that Iran was responsible. If one of the Netanyahu hysterics wants to make the case that Ronald Reagan was derelict in his duty as President by not retaliating against Iran for the Marine Corps Barracks attack, let him make his case loudly and clearly.
The case has not been made so far.
4. Under the Deal, Iran is allowed to keep spinning centrifuges. True. They get to keep 5,000 of their formerly spinning 19,000. Note, however, that they are limited to first-generation centrifuges, the 1971 Pinto of the Centrifuge World. Meanwhile, the US, Israel, and other nuclear powers are tooling around in 2015 Maserati-level centrifuges. In other words, there's no contest.
5. The charge is made that we get less than anytime anywhere access for inspections. We do get anywhere anytime access to known nuclear sites. You can be sure that we have done all in our power to know all of the known nuclear sites. Now, as to what goes on in the rest of the country, I refer you to the images below:
Pictured from left: CIA, NSA, NGA
The people inside these buildings and their colleagues scattered everywhere can follow anyone and listen to their cell phone conversation, pick their pocket, and send them a text message on where they can go to get their wallet back.
We're not going to be in the dark anywhere at any time in Iran. Period. Don't worry about it.
Conclusion
The easy vote for a Member of Congress is to vote against the Iran Deal. Any member can always claim that, of course they want a deal for peace. They just want one a little better than the one they have in front of them … no matter what they have in front of them. For that reason, the Deal will probably go down in both Houses.
Remember, there's a reason Gallup has Congress's approval rating at 14%.
The key vote will come on a vote to override the President's veto sometime in late September. That vote is the key “Peace Vote”. The Netanyahu hysterics have money, intensity, and an extremely passive and timid media on their side. Liberals and progressives have to make their voices heard.
Remember, it's your country just as much as it is Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu's.
I will post again on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 (or before, if the news flow dictates) and, for the time being, I will try to post on the first Wednesday of each month.
Comments are welcome at tomc[at]wednesdayswars[dot]com. Comments will be addressed in subsequent posts.