By Charles Krauthammer
Thursday, July 02, 2015
The devil is not in the details. It’s in the entire
conception of the Iran deal, animated by President Obama’s fantastical belief
that he, uniquely, could achieve detente with a fanatical Islamist regime whose
foundational purpose is to cleanse the Middle East of the poisonous corruption
of American power and influence.
In pursuit of his desire to make the Islamic Republic
into an accepted, normalized “successful regional power,” Obama decided to take
over the nuclear negotiations. At the time, Tehran was reeling — the rial
plunging, inflation skyrocketing, the economy contracting — under a regime of
international sanctions painstakingly constructed over a decade.
Then, instead of welcoming Congress’s attempt to tighten
sanctions to increase the pressure on the mullahs, Obama began the negotiations
by loosening sanctions, injecting billions into the Iranian economy (which
began growing again in 2014), and conceding in advance an Iranian right to
enrich uranium.
It’s been downhill ever since. Desperate for a legacy
deal, Obama has played the supplicant, abandoning every red line his
administration had declared essential to any acceptable deal.
Inspections
They were to be anywhere, anytime, unimpeded. Now? Total
cave. Unfettered access has become “managed access.” Nuclear inspectors will
have to negotiate and receive Iranian approval for inspections. Which allows
them denial and/or crucial delay for concealing any clandestine activities.
To give a flavor of the degree of our capitulation, the
administration played Iran’s lawyer on this one, explaining that, after all,
“the United States of America wouldn’t allow anybody to get into every military
site, so that’s not appropriate.” Apart from the absurdity of morally equating
America with the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, if we were going
to parrot the Iranian position, why wait 19 months to do so — after repeatedly
insisting on free access as essential to any inspection regime?
Coming clean on past nuclear activity
The current interim agreement that governed the last 19
months of negotiation required Iran to do exactly that. Tehran has offered
nothing. The administration had insisted that this accounting was essential
because how can you verify future illegal advances in Iran’s nuclear program if
you have no baseline?
After continually demanding access to their scientists,
plans, and weaponization facilities, Secretary of State John Kerry two weeks
ago airily dismissed the need, saying he is focused on the future, “not
fixated” on the past. And that we have “absolute knowledge” of the Iranian
program anyway — a whopper that his staffers had to spend days walking back.
Not to worry, we are told. The accounting will be done
after the final deal is signed. Which is ridiculous. If the Iranians haven’t
budged on disclosing previous work under the current sanctions regime, by what
logic will they comply after sanctions are lifted?
Sanctions relief
These were to be gradual and staged as the International
Atomic Energy Agency certified Iranian compliance over time. Now we’re going to
be releasing up to $150 billion as an upfront signing bonus. That’s 25 times
the annual budget of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Enough to fuel a
generation of intensified Iranian aggression from Yemen to Lebanon to Bahrain.
Yet three months ago, Obama expressed nonchalance about
immediate sanctions relief. It’s not the issue, he said. The real issue is
“snap-back” sanctions to be reimposed if Iran is found in violation.
Good grief. Iran won’t be found in violation. The
inspection regime is laughable and the bureaucratic procedures endless.
Moreover, does anyone imagine that Russia and China will reimpose sanctions? Or
that the myriad European businesses preparing to join the Iranian gold rush the
day the deal is signed will simply turn around and go home?
Non-nuclear-related sanctions
The administration insisted that the nuclear talks would
not affect separate sanctions imposed because of Iranian aggression and
terrorism. That was then. The administration is now leaking that everything
will be lifted.
Taken together, the catalogue of capitulations is
breathtaking: spot inspections, disclosure of previous nuclear activity,
gradual sanctions relief, retention of non-nuclear sanctions.
What’s left? A surrender document of the kind offered by
defeated nations suing for peace. Consider: The strongest military and economic
power on earth, backed by the five other major powers, armed with what had been
a crushing sanctions regime, is about to sign the worst international agreement
in American diplomatic history.
How did it come to this? With every concession, Obama and
Kerry made clear they were desperate for a deal.
And they will get it. Obama will get his “legacy.” Kerry
will get his Nobel. And Iran will get the bomb.
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