printSo accustomed have we become to a ruling class that gives away what is not its to give—that we don’t even examine the wonderfully Trumpian angle of the deals we allow the traitors to sign on our behalf: What’s in it for the US? In this case, how does the Iran deal benefit and protect Americans; the people to whom the US government is beholden?
American prisoners still languish in Iranian jails. The despicable Barack Obama has not bothered to secure their safe return. And as Donald Trump puts it,
Iran will receive notice before any inspections take place. Iran can block inspection of certain facilities. Iran will soon be able to continue expanding its conventional arms and guided missile programs without facing snapback sanctions. Iran can keep American prisoners, including one former U.S. Marine and, very sadly, a Christian minister. Iran can continue to operate about 6,000 centrifuges. Other countries will be free to invest in Iran.
Note the words “very sadly.” Affronts to Americans Trump takes very personally.
Below is a CNN interivew with Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz, whose perspective is, as always, decidedly Israel-centric. I have highlighted Dershowitz’s admission of Obama’s sleight of hand in passing the deal.
[09:42:43] SMERCONISH: The day after the proposed nuclear arms deal with Iran was announced, famed attorney and Harvard Law professor emeritus, Alan Dershowitz, woke up, so incensed that he wrote a book condemning it which he finished in 11 days, I guess, on the twelfth day you rested, right?
It’s titled, “The Case Against the Iran Deal”. And check out the die that are on that cover, one with a nuclear symbol and one with a peace sign.
Professor Alan Dershowitz joins me now.
Congratulations on the book.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ, AUTHOR, “THE CASE AGAINST THE IRAN DEAL”: Thank you.
SMERCONISH: … Let’s switch to Iran. Is it all over now, except for the voting?
DERSHOWITZ: Oh, no, no, no. I think why I subtitled my book, “How Can We Now Stop Iran from Getting the Bomb?” — I anticipated this vote, because the president manipulated it undemocratically, so that all he needed was one third plus one house, or the Senate. Majority of Americans were opposed to the deal, majority of the Senate, majority of the House. Now, we have to figure out how to stop Iran from getting the bomb.
The problem with the deal it only postpones it for 10, 12, 13 years. I have a proposal, and my proposal is we take seriously what Iran commits to in the preface to the deal, where they say Iran reiterates that it will never ever under any circumstances seek to develop nuclear weapons. Congress sort of passed a law now making that American policy.
SMERCONISH: Making it that we will take military action.
DERSHOWITZ: That’s right.
SMERCONISH: To the extent there’s a sign. We will act, we will strike.
DERSHOWITZ: We need deterrence. We need to have that sword of Damocles hanging.
I wish the president had started a negotiation by saying, look, Iran, you’re never going to be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. We will stop. So, why do you have to suffer from these sanctions, let’s negotiation now, under the specter of American military power. But we eliminated the military option, realistically, we allowed them to bargain with us as equals, which no superpower should ever do, and they are the guys who invented chess and we were playing checkers against them.
SMERCONISH: Your good friend is Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
[09:45:01] DERSHOWITZ: That’s right.
SMERCONISH: Any prospect of a first strike by him?
DERSHOWITZ: I hope not, but if Israel is ever confronted with the situation, the alternative of a nuclear armed Iran or a military strike, they will take a military strike. This makes that more likely. It also makes it much riskier for Israel. I think it makes war more likely, I think it makes the inevitable development of nuclear weapons by Iran more likely.
That’s why even the senators who are voting with the president, many of them don’t like this deal. We need to give them legislation now that will toughen the deal without changing its words. But tell the Iranians for sure, we will not tolerate their developing nuclear weapons.
SMERCONISH: I’ve never seen anything like this. Bob Casey, senior senator from my home state, 17-page explanation as to why he’s voting this way, and I guess he felt compelled to explain himself. Let me ask you this question. In retrospect now, a mistake for Bibi to have attended that joint session of Congress at Boehner’s invitation.
DERSHOWITZ: Absolutely not.
SMERCONISH: Did he not overplay his hand?
DERSHOWITZ: I don’t think so. The prime minster of Israel must defend the people of Israel. He must say what he thinks is in the best interest of his country. He was invited by the head of the legislative branch of the United States government. The president should have invited him in, there should have been much more correlation between the legislative and executive branch. I mean, you cannot blame the prime minister of Israel for not doing what Czechoslovakia did in 1938, just laying there and letting their country be dismantled.
Israel has the absolute right to defend itself and its people against the threat of nuclear weapons. Remember, Rafsanjani said, if we ever get nuclear weapons, we will destroy Israel because it’s a one-bomb state. And even if they retaliate, Islam will survive, but the Jewish state will disappear. As Elie Wiesel once said, we always take the threats of your enemies more seriously than the promises of your friends.
SMERCONISH: I have a friend in Philadelphia, smart trial attorney, Shane Specter (ph), I’ll give him a shoutout. He said, you know, this is really an acknowledgement that when an advanced country seeks a nuclear weapon, you can’t prohibit them from getting it. If they want it, they’re going to be able to get it.
DERSHOWITZ: Dead wrong.
SMERCONISH: Wait a minute. And what this is really about is bringing Iran into the family of nations, the world community to try to put manners on them.
DERSHOWITZ: That’s not going to work. They’re going to get more money to repress dissent. You can stop them. Israel stopped Iraq. It stopped Syria. The United States stopped Libya.
You can stop an advanced country from getting nuclear weapons if you maintain a firm military option coupled with tough sanctions. But if you negotiate with them as equals, they will beat you every time. And that’s what happened.
SMERCONISH: Could there be a realignment among American Jews toward the Republican Party based on this issue, away from the Democrats?
DERSHOWITZ: Israel must always remain a bipartisan issue. I’m remaining a Democrat. I’m going to try to push the Democrats hard to maintain their support for Israel. I don’t think this will be in the end be as divisive as it appears to be now. SMERCONISH: The case against Iran, the Iranian deal, how we can stop
Iran from getting nukes.
Alan Dershowitz, thanks.
[SNIP]