Is Congress Blocking A Nuclear Deal With Iran?

COL Ted Mc — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 13:54:35 -0500

From the New York Times Sunday Review

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/opinion/sunday/saving-the-nuclear-deal-with-iran.html?_r=0

Saving the Nuclear Deal With Iran

Twice recently, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has acted boldly in support of his biggest political gamble, pursuit of a nuclear agreement with the major powers. In a speech last Sunday on Iran’s troubled economy, he argued that Iran will never enjoy sustained growth if it is isolated from the rest of the world. Three weeks earlier, he made clear that he would confront Iran’s hard-liners in his efforts to clinch a deal in which Iran would agree never to produce a nuclear weapon in return for the lifting of crippling international sanctions.

But Mr. Rouhani is not the only leader trying to keep a potential agreement from being savaged by domestic opponents. President Obama has a similar problem in Congress, where Senators Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, are expected to introduce legislation that could torpedo any deal by imposing new sanctions on Iran, including tighter controls on its battered oil industry.

Negotiators for Iran and the major powers — the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany — resume their talks next week in Geneva. While they have made significant progress, they remain at odds over how large a nuclear program — geared for energy production and medical uses — Iran will be permitted to have.

Mr. Rouhani has shown his seriousness by openly challenging the Iranian hard-liners who are hostile to a deal and by appealing for support from intellectuals, academics, businesspeople and others who are open, even eager, for one. To rally political support, he has also hinted that he might bypass established power centers and submit the issue to a popular referendum. “Our ideals are not bound to centrifuges,” Mr. Rouhani said in reference to the nuclear program.

Mr. Rouhani’s path to compromise is not easy. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s chief negotiator, won an informal vote of confidence in Parliament on Tuesday after hard-liners forced him to answer questions on the nuclear talks. But Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who will have the last word on any agreement, voiced new doubts on Wednesday about whether “the enemy” — America — could be trusted to really lift sanctions.

[EDITORIAL COMMENT:- Well? Can the US government be trusted to honour any deal reached? Or will some politician's overweening need to get re-elected scupper the whole thing? Please supply two answers - answer 1 to be based on what you think the US government would do if it actually supports the things it claims to represent and answer 2 to be based on the historical record. Please compare and contrast your answers. Spelling and lack of peanut butter stains on your exam sheets WILL be taken into consideration for your final mark.]

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Response by Capt Richard I P. made Jan 11 at 2015 2:25 PM

Capt Richard I P. — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 14:25:09 -0500

COL Ted Mc, Sir, 1. No state is a monolith. Ours in particular is set up to represent competing interests, making us difficult do deal with in negotiation (especially when negotiations involve CBRN capabilities and a different world-view). 2. The US hasn't done much word-keeping with Iran (or vice versa) since, maybe the Shah? I do hope it works out though, messy peaces are more orderly than organized wars.

Response by COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM made Jan 12 at 2015 2:10 PM

COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 14:10:04 -0500

- Typical biased article that I have come to expect from the NYT.
- The article essentially argues that the Iranian President is going out on a limb against the hard liners within his country and that the US Senate may/will block POTUS in his attempts due to short sighted domestic concerns.
- The US Constitution lays out the US approach to treaties. Simply stated, POTUS has lead in foreign policy but Congress has both the power of the purse and the Senate must approve all treaties negotiated by POTUS. POTUS, as a constitutional law teacher, should know this and know that he needs to engage Congress (the Senate) as much if not more than the Iranians. Media reports tend to make me think this is not happening. Sarcastic (but essentially accurate) comments indicate POTUS will talk with US enemies but will not talk with US allies or Americans.
- POTUS is not a poker player. Evidence from the last six years is that POTUS would get his clock cleaned in poker. International negotiations are a lot like poker: Don't show your cards prematurely, you play your opponent and not your cards, bluffing is a legitimate strategy and can work, know when to walk away. Several instances over the past six years in other areas that indicate an Iranian nuclear treaty would not help any other than the Iranians.
- Resembles most all of the treaties that the US and USSR made over the years. We did not trust each other so mechanisms were built into the treaty to independently verify compliance. Nowhere in an other the Iranian nuclear treaty negotiations reporting have I read anything about any sort of compliance mechanism.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 11 at 2015 6:21 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 06:21:30 -0400

The president needs to play with the rest of Congress not the lackeys like King and certainly not this executive branch who has used every trick in the book to get their agendas rammed through. It is disgraceful and the fake Colonels who act out of character. But what the hell, B.S.is alive and well.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 11 at 2015 6:27 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 06:27:27 -0400

Geeze, Ted. Who do you really work for? The executive branch? Again, your viewpoints are inconsistent with your age and politics. Ben!!!

Response by LCpl Donald Faucett made Oct 11 at 2017 8:57 PM

LCpl Donald Faucett — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 20:57:23 -0400

Ummmhu