The opposition expressed by
Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer and Congress Member Eliot Engel to the
nuclear accord with Iran evokes
memories of the 2002 debate over the Joint Resolution authorizing George W. Bush
to commence war in Iraq.
The war that was authorized by that vote led to 5,000 military deaths, tens of
thousands of wounded veterans and the death of more than a hundred thousand Iraqi
civilians. It has cost an estimated three trillion dollars and counting.
Schumer's opposition to the
Iranian accord is uniquely challenging. He is the designated successor to Harry
Reid as leader of Senate Democrats when Reid retires at the end of his current
term.
Among the Democratic
Senators who voted for the 2002 war resolution were Hillary Clinton, John Kerry,
John Edwards and Schumer. Engel was one of 81 Democrats in the House of
Representatives who supported the war authorization while 126 Democrats,
including Nancy Pelosi, opposed it.
In the 2004 Presidential
Election, the Democratic ticket consisted of war "liberals" Kerry and
Edwards. By that time, the antiwar movement had grown geometrically. Barak
Obama, an Illinois
state legislator who had opposed the war, electrified the 2004 Democratic
Convention and went on to win election to the United States Senate. In 2008, his
early opposition to the war played a major role in mobilizing his support and in the defeat
of his pro-war opponent Hillary Clinton.
The vote for or against the
Iranian accord is ultimately another vote for or against war. The same forces
that cowed Kerry, Clinton, Edwards, Schumer and Engel into supporting the Iraq war
authorization are now at work opposing the Iranian accord. That accord was the
result of years of painstaking negotiations. John Kerry was its principal
negotiator; Hillary Clinton has announced her tentative support but Chuck Schumer
and Eliot Engel have announced their opposition.
The opposition is based upon
fantasies spun by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who also supported the Iraq
war. The defeat of the Iranian accord may very well be more devastating, than
the Iraq
vote. Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction were a myth swallowed whole. Iran's program
to build a nuclear bomb is not. Other than war, the consensual Iranian accord is
the only path open to stopping Iran
obtaining nuclear weapons short of war.
The international sanctions
regime was carefully crafted under the United States' leadership. Included were Germany and the five
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council among them Russia and
China. If the the accord is defeated those sanctions, other than the United Sates, will collapse. So will United
States pretense to international leadership in the Middle East.
Lined-up in support of the
Iranian nuclear deal are an impressive array of three dozen retired Generals
and Admirals[1]
and 29 scientists including several Nobel Prize winners.[2]
The opposition includes in
addition to Tea Party "know nothings" the Republican leadership of
the House and Senate who are committed to making Obama fail whatever the cost
to the nation. Powerful pro-Israeli and Netanyahu lobbying groups give the
appearance of a unified Jewish community but that is hardly the case. According
to a national poll of self-identified Jews conducted by LA Jewish Journal in July, more Jews supported the Iranian accords
than opposed it.[3]
On August 17th, 340 US Rabbis
issued a statement supporting the Iranian accords that was published in the National Catholic Reporter.[4]
Among other things they noted that "[w]e've seen many of the leaders of
Israel's military and intelligence community declare that this deal is the best
path for Israel moving forward.
In 2001, I was Chair of a
Sierra Club task force that reported on the relationship of terrorism to the
environmental movement in the wake of 9/11. I also was allied with those in the
Club who sought to have the Club oppose the 2002 war resolution. When Nancy
Pelosi opposed the resolution, the San Francisco Chapter sought to honor her
for her decision but was forbidden to do so by the national Club leadership.
Ultimately, the Club leadership belatedly opposed the war ‑ but it was too
late. Kerry and Clinton had already supported it and in 2004, I believe that
Kerry and Edwards paid a price for their early war support. Certainly in 2008, Clinton did.
Schumer and Engel will win
only if they lose.
Should the opposition to the
Iranian accord fail, whether by senate filibuster or failure to override a threatened
Obama veto, it is likely that neither Schumer nor Engel will suffer for their
opposition. Already, some Senate supporters of the accord state for the record
their support for Schumer apart from his opposition to the Iranian accord. But
what if Schumer and Engel stumble to a win for their position? What if their
opposition does drag enough Democratic legislators with them to defeat the
Iranian accord?
If the Iranian accord is
defeated inevitable chaos will ensue in the already chaotic Middle
East. The international sanctions regime that brought Iran to the
negotiating table will evaporate. The door to Russian and Chinese hegemony in the Middle
East will be opened wide.
Israel's only remedy will be to attack Iran. That
seems to be Netanyahu's aim, but the blood will be on the hands of Engel and
Schumer. Neither of them have any record of military service nor scientific
training. That may seem a harsh judgment but that is what is at stake. Eventually,
that blood may very well be American as well as Muslim and Israeli.
Listen! Can you hear them?
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are riding; they are just beyond the horizon,
but they are fast approaching. Their horses are white, black, pale and red.They embody pestilence, famine, death and war.
The Red Horse symbolizes War. Too many people,
often for their own selfish reasons, are eager to follow the rider of the red horse.
In another context recall Moby Dick and
the crazed decision of crew of the Pequod
to follow Captain Ahab to their extinction. Only the narrator Ishmael survived.
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/retired-generals-and-admirals-back-iran-nuclear-deal/2015/08/11/bd26f6ae-4045-11e5-bfe3
[2] http://time.com/3990001/29-scientists-obama-iran-nuclear-deal/
[3] http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/new_poll_u.s._jews_support_iran_deal_despite_misgivings
[4] http://ncronline.org/print/news/politics/340-us-rabbis-we-support-historic-nuclear-accord
