OPINION:
Never again?
In the 70 years since the Holocaust, the phrase “never again” was never followed by a question mark. It had always been a declarative statement. Never again would the world sit by while systematic mass murder was carried out. And yet, given the deal the Obama administration has struck with the Islamic Republic of Iran to clear its path to nuclear weapons, it seems we have forgotten what it means to say — and live — “never again.”
How else can we interpret a deal that legitimizes as a threshold nuclear power the world’s most fearsome state sponsor of terror, the key exporter of the Islamic revolution, one of the most efficient traffickers of deadly weapons, an unapologetic denier of the Holocaust bent on Israel’s destruction, the passionate believer of “death to America” and “death to Israel,” and the killer of thousands of Americans?
How else can we interpret a deal which gives that regime the ultimate weapon?
During a 2008 Democratic primary debate with Hillary Rodham Clinton standing next to him, then-Sen. Barack Obama said, “All of us are committed to Iran not having nuclear weapons.” It turns out neither one of them was ever committed to that. Shocking, I know.
Of the countless dangerous and destructive things this president has done, this deal is the worst of all. Mr. Obama’s primary job is to protect and defend the American people from all enemies foreign and domestic, and yet he has now given a green light to Iran’s march toward nuclear weapons. That’s why it’s now up to us to fight this potential death sentence for the West and Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East.
Of course, Mr. Obama’s Iran spinners are pitching the deal as “good enough” and using the trope that it was this deal or World War III. The defense is uninspired and whiny. The apologists are trying to change the subject to how talking to enemies is better than not talking (a la President Bush), and how the next step is to encourage Iranian moderates.
It is trite, and they don’t really believe it. They just want to create an argument so they can use the well-known rhetoric of peacemaking. This is one of the reasons the administration went to the United Nations Security Council to approve the deal before Congress even had it in hand: Create a strawman argument, apply public pressure, and establish inevitability. It’s been Mr. Obama’s modus operandi from Day One.
He has often said that he can essentially do whatever he wants because he’s got a “pen and a phone.” Well, we’ve got pens and phones too. And we will put them to work to defeat this deal.
Sen. Chuck Schumer: I’m looking at you. I know you’d walk over your grandmother to be the next Democratic leader in the Senate, and if you oppose Mr. Obama’s Iran deal, he will put an end to that. But here’s your chance to lead. We know Mr. Obama may allow you to vote against it — as long as he knows he has enough other votes in support. How cynical of him, and how cowardly of you. This is your chance to earn the leadership you so desperately desire.
For years, Mr. Obama and then-Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton went out of their way to reassure us that containment of a nuclear Iran was not the administration’s policy. The dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program was the policy, they said.
That statement is no longer operative — if it ever was. If this deal is approved, containment is it. And trying to contain an apocalyptic, expansionist Islamic theocracy isn’t exactly the same thing as trying to contain a secular communist regime. The Soviets may have presided over an evil system, but they were fully rational. The Iranians need a nuke to accelerate the global domination of Islam under their Shia flag. Contain that? I don’t think so.
In this deal, we have the most dangerous consequence yet of this administration’s lies. You cannot trust a thing they say. And when it comes to the greatest state sponsor of terror having the ultimate weapon, that particular lie could cost this country — and Israel — our very existence.
Since Mr. Obama did an end run around Congress and went first to the United Nations to approve the deal, Congress should ignore both him and the U.N. and reject the deal.
This country has been far too patient with Mr. Obama, far too accommodating, far too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. On the Iran nuclear deal, however, continuing to do so may cost us everything.
Call Sen. Schumer. Call your senators. Tell them you oppose this deal, and that you expect — no, you demand — that they reject it, too.
Stop the deal. Stop Iran before it’s too late, because as we’ve long told ourselves: never again.
Now is the time to bring those words to life.
• Monica Crowley is online opinion editor at The Washington Times.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.