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Title: Trump Violates the Iran Nuclear Deal — Ignoring U.S. and Israeli Generals Who Support It
Source: The Intercept
URL Source: https://theintercept.com/2018/05/08 ... iran-nuclear-deal-john-bolton/
Published: May 8, 2018
Author: Mehdi Hasan
Post Date: 2018-05-10 12:34:50 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 2877
Comments: 22

So he’s finally done it. Having spent the past three years denouncing the Iran nuclear deal as “horrible,” “disastrous,” and “insane,” Donald Trump arrived in the Diplomatic Room of the White House on Tuesday afternoon to formally announce that “the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal” and would “begin reinstituting U.S. nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime.”

“This will make America much safer,” the president declaimed, jabbing his fingers at the assembled reporters.

Guess who’s celebrating the president’s decision to violate a nuclear nonproliferation agreement signed by the United States less than three years ago? His new national security adviser, John Bolton, a former paid speaker for an Iranian ex-terror group who has long been obsessed with “regime change” in Tehran; the crown prince — and de facto ruler — of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, who claims Iran’s supreme leader “makes Hitler look good”; and the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, who constantly compares the Islamic Republic to the so-called Islamic State.

Don’t be fooled: This disastrous and unilateral decision by Trump won’t improve U.S. security. Or Israeli security, for that matter. Even card-carrying hawks who hate the Islamic Republic think Trump is mad to pull out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, as the nuclear deal is officially known.

Because guess who won’t be celebrating? The entire U.S. military establishment: Defense Secretary James Mattis, who says he has read the text of the nuclear agreement three times and considers it to be “pretty robust”; Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, who says, “Iran is adhering to its JCPOA obligations” and a U.S. decision to quit the deal “would have an impact on others’ willingness to sign agreements”; the head of U.S. Strategic Command, Gen. John Hyten, who says, “Iran is in compliance with JCPOA” and argues “it’s our job to live up to the terms of that agreement”; and the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Joseph Votel, who says the nuclear deal is “in our interest” because it “addresses one of the principle threats that we deal with from Iran.”

Those are just the generals who are still in uniform. In March, a statement signed by 100 U.S. national security veterans from across the political spectrum said the nuclear agreement “enhances U.S. and regional security” and “ditching it would serve no national security purpose.” Fifty of the 100 signatories were retired U.S. military officers, including leading Republicans such as retired Gen. Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser to George H.W. Bush, and retired Gen. Michael Hayden, who served as director of both the NSA and the CIA under George W. Bush.

Then there’s retired Gen. Colin Powell, national security adviser to Ronald Reagan and secretary of state under George W. Bush, who has called the JCPOA “a pretty good deal.” And Trump’s own former national security adviser, soon-to-be-retired Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was “working closely with two key senators to prevent Trump from destroying the Iran deal” prior to being fired and replaced with Bolton in March.

Guess who else isn’t celebrating? The Israeli security establishment. Netanyahu may claim to possess thousands of “secret nuclear files” that show the JCPOA was “built on lies,” but Israel’s generals and spymasters disagree, including: the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who says the deal “with all its faults is working”; the chair of the Israeli Space Agency and award-winning military scientist, Isaac Ben-Israel, who says “the agreement is not bad at all, it’s even good for Israel” because “it averts an atom bomb for 15 years”; the former director of the spy agency Mossad, Efraim Halevy, who says the JCPOA provides a “credible answer to the Iranian military threat, at least for a decade, if not longer”; the former chief of domestic security agency Shin Bet, Carmi Gillon, who says the nuclear agreement has helped “make the region, and the world, a safer place”; the former head of Israeli military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, who says “tearing up the deal would create a dangerous void”; and former Israeli prime minister — and the country’s most decorated soldier — Ehud Barak, who says withdrawing from the deal would be a “mistake.”

So let’s be clear: On the one side, we have a dizzying array of serving and retired generals and spy chiefs from both the United States and Israel, none of whom are friends or fans of Iran, yet all of whom agree that the Islamic Republic is complying with the stringent terms of the JCPOA, and that the United States should stay in the deal because it bolsters U.S., regional, and global security.

And on the other side? A former property developer and reality TV star; a chicken hawk who wants to bomb everyone; a 32-year-old Gulf prince who can’t win a war against rebels from the poorest Arab country; and an allegedly corrupt politician who has been claiming Iran is “three to five years” away from a nuclear weapons capability since … 1992.

This isn’t about security or protecting American — or Israeli — cities from Iranian missiles. Trump & Co. aren’t trying to avoid war with Iran. They want war with Iran

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 22.

#2. To: Deckard (#0)

Those are just the generals who are still in uniform.

That's right. That's all they are, just generals, mere generals. They are not foreign policy experts. They are not economic experts. They're experts at warfighting. They're not experts at war prevention. Patton was a general. His "solution" to diplomatic tension was to suggest an invasion of the Soviet Union. Could we have won? If we went full Dr. Strangelove, sure. Same thing if we followed General MacArthur's war plan for Korea, which included dropping about 25 atomic bombs on China.

Yep, American generals sure know how to win war, or claim to. We haven't actually outright WON a war since 1945, but then, we haven't DECLARED any since then, so it's tough to calculate.

Why generals would have anything more cogent than anybody else to say about the foreign policy of influencing Iran is a wide open question.

My own experience with military people is that they know their trade well, and they know precisely fuck-all about diplomacy, economics, law or anything outside of their area of expertise.

So, MERE generals have MERE opinions about Iran is not grounds for much of a complaint. They have opinions. So do you. So do I. The fact they are generals gives them no greater expertise on foreign relations than you or I have.

Vicomte13  posted on  2018-05-10   13:25:52 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: Vicomte13 (#2)

That's right. That's all they are, just generals, mere generals. They are not foreign policy experts. They are not economic experts. They're experts at warfighting. They're not experts at war prevention. Patton was a general. His "solution" to diplomatic tension was to suggest an invasion of the Soviet Union. Could we have won? If we went full Dr. Strangelove, sure. Same thing if we followed General MacArthur's war plan for Korea, which included dropping about 25 atomic bombs on China.

Isn't this just another situation where Europe plays Good Cop and America plays Bad Cop? We've seen it before with Saddam in Iraq and with others. Add in some willingness to look the other way when some targeted dictator (Iraq, Iran, etc.) buys dual-use tech from ever-eager Brit/EU suppliers in return for lucrative oil contracts from major EU corporations.

In that light, the various Iran hawks and doves in Israel/EU/US are just playing their expected assigned roles. Oil deals, Russian military hardware contracts, the threat of a domestic WMD/nuclear program by the target, it's all a too-familiar pattern at this point.

Cue the Greek chorus of Jew generals singing a crowd favorite in the EU and in the Beltway...

Hey, maybe these generals could tour the EU like has-been American media stars do, badmouthing their own country for fun and profit.

Tooconservative  posted on  2018-05-11   2:10:24 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Tooconservative (#5)

Jew generals

Are you an anti-Semite?

The only Jewish flag officer I can think of is Admiral Rickover, and he was a genius who gave us the nuclear Navy.

Do you mean Israeli generals?

Protestants go non-linear when it comes to Jews, and it makes you sound like nuts.

Vicomte13  posted on  2018-05-11   6:54:10 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Vicomte13 (#7)

Protestants go non-linear when it comes to Jews, and it makes you sound like nuts.

After Roman Catholics like yourself conducted organized campaigns, approved by your church, to torture/murder/dispossess every Jew in Europe for many centuries, you do not get to lecture anyone on antisemitism. Ever.

Tooconservative  posted on  2018-05-11   7:29:02 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#19. To: Tooconservative (#8)

After Roman Catholics like yourself conducted organized campaigns, approved by your church, to torture/murder/dispossess every Jew in Europe for many centuries, you do not get to lecture anyone on antisemitism. Ever.

Yeah, I do. We've already changed the country from what it was. The Irish, then the Germans, then the Italians and Poles and Hungarians. As the country filled up with Catholics, we got labor laws, we got 40 hour workweeks and mandatory pensions, we got Social Security and Welfare and Medicaid and Medicare. We ended segregation.

And the Latinos keep flowing in. We'll eventually have good universal education and universal health care, we'll get rid of the death penalty, and we'll limit abortion.

And then we'll stop, because that's the right set point for things.

Cotton Mather was right: it was always about religion. And it always will be.

Yep, the Catholic Church sure did some terrible things in the past. And we face up, 'fess up, and change.

You guys never face up or 'fess up, and so you die out and are replaced, by us, from foreign lands.

In the end, our ideas win. And that's good, because they're better.

Vicomte13  posted on  2018-05-11   13:24:37 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#20. To: Vicomte13 (#19)

And the Latinos keep flowing in. We'll eventually have good universal education and universal health care, we'll get rid of the death penalty, and we'll limit abortion.

The Latino wave is receding. In the end, Asian migration will slowly pull ahead.

Tooconservative  posted on  2018-05-11   13:35:14 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#22. To: Tooconservative (#20)

The Latino wave is receding. In the end, Asian migration will slowly pull ahead.

Before that, Texas will be a Latino state that favors universal health care and better public education.

Vicomte13  posted on  2018-05-11   13:51:20 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


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