The Iran *Deal*

When one makes a deal, there usually is some give and take on the issue.  I might like a little more here, you might wish to take a little more there, and we'll end up somewhere near the middle, theoretically.

After today's announced *deal* with Iran, it's quite clear that President Obama never took even a basic level negotiating class.  Hell, he didn't bother even watching some YouTube videos of people who actually know how to negotiate.  In short, these are the official gains that Iran  garnered, while getting to remain a breeding zone for future terrorists:

• We'll never know what previous violations of international agreement Iran committed with regard to their nuclear program.  Why?  Apparently Obama and other world leaders didn't want to offend the terrorists who are in charge of Iran's government.  Or maybe they just believed it to be bad manners to ask about such insignificant matters.
• Legitimization of Iran's nuclear program, in that this new *deal* provides them a pathway to become a nuclear power within the next decade, with our blessing.  Whether or not the Iranians care to wait that long remains to be seen, but it must be disconcerting to our *closest* ally in the region, Israel, that Obama (and other 'leaders') essentially signed off on Iran's stated goal of destroying the Israeli state.
• Iran gains access to tens of Billions of dollars in international sanctions relief without doing a damn thing.  You know, kind of like a parting gift to game show losers, except Iran absolutely was the biggest winner today.  All the pretty language in the *deal* that claims anything like Iran having to keep the promises it made in the agreement mean absolutely nothing, because the signees of the agreement are the ones who will be checking up on Iran (and yes, Iran is part of that cartel), and there is no earthly reason for them to admit to making a wicked googily.  None whatsoever.
• Iran will have the ability to Heisman international inspectors, with little to no repercussions.  This is unconscionably horrific *negotiating*.  We are now going to trust the people who for the last 35 plus years have been one of the largest, if not the largest centers of state-sponsored terrorism.  Apparently that's not a big deal in today's world, and is so 20th century.
• In case anyone has forgotten, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is eligible to run for President of Iran again in 2017.  This is the man who denies the Holocaust ever occurred, and has talked openly about ending the Jewish state.  Next time he's in charge, he'll have nuclear weapons.  Thanks a lot, Obama.
• Arms embargoes and missile embargoes (why there's a separate timeline, I don't know) are so constricting.  The solution to that problem is to eliminate them for Iran.  So within 5 years' time, the arms embargo against Iran will be gone, and in 8 years, so to will the missile embargo.
• All normal trade, including banking and investment, are back in play.  Capitalists may not delight in this as much as they might have if they didn't have to worry about their new trade partner dropping a nuclear weapon on their back door, but hey, it'll be one Hell of a party, I'm sure.

This was not a deal, ladies and gentlemen, this was a good ol' fashioned @ss-whooping, and I'm sure this is just the starting point.  As the deal is further dissected, we'll find even more *goodies* buried in there.
Having given away everything, including the front door keys to the White House, you'd expect that Obama might have asked for a small token of appreciation in return, no?  Like perhaps the return of the 4 American citizens (Robert Levinson - 2007, Amir Hekmati - 2011, Saeed Abedini - 2012, and Jason Rezaian) that Tehran has held hostage?  No dice on that front, sorry.  In fact, Obama thinks you are a moron, perhaps a traitor, if you dare proffer a question asking why the hostages were not released.  Below is the transcript of CBS reporter Major Garrett and Obama's exchange:

Major Garrett: As you well know, there are four Americans in Iran - three held on trumped up charges according to your administration, one, whereabouts unknown. Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content, with all of the fanfare around this [nuclear] deal to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation, unaccounted for, in relation to these four Americans?

And last week, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said under no circumstances should there be any relief for Iran in terms of ballistic missiles or conventional weapons. It was perceived that that was a last-minute capitulation in these negotiations, making the Pentagon feel you've left the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff hung out to dry. Could you comment?

Play Video

President Obama talks nuclear deal, hostages

President Obama: I've got to give you credit, Major, for how you craft those questions. The notion that I am content, as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails - Major, that's nonsense. And you should know better. I've met with the families of some of those folks. Nobody's content, and our diplomats and our teams are working diligently to try to get them out.

Now, if the question is why we did not tie the negotiations to their release, think about the logic that that creates. Suddenly, Iran realizes, you know what, maybe we can get additional concessions out of the Americans (emphasis added) by holding these individuals - makes it much more difficult for us to walk away if Iran somehow thinks that a nuclear deal is dependent in some fashion on the nuclear deal. And by the way, if we had walked away from the nuclear deal, we'd still be pushing just as hard to get these folks out. That's why those issues are not connected, but we are working every single day to try to get them out and won't stop until they're out and rejoined with their families.

With respect to the Chairman's testimony, to some degree I already answered this with Carol. We are not taking the pressure off Iran with respect to arms and with respect to ballistic missiles. As I just explained, not only do we keep in place for five years the arms embargo this particular new UN resolution, not only do we maintain the eight years on the ballistic missiles under this particular UN resolution, but we have a host of other multilateral and unilateral authorities that allow us to take action where we see Iran engaged in those activities - whether it's six years from now or 10 years from now.
So, we have not lost those legal authorities, and in fact part of my pitch to the GCC countries, as well as to Prime Minister Netanyahu, is we should do a better job making sure that Iran's not engaged in sending arms to organizations like Hezbollah, and as I just indicated, that means improving our intelligence capacity and our interdiction capacity with our partners.

 What the heck other concessions could Obama have possibly thought that the Iranians were going to ask for?  Was he worried that he might draw dog sitting duties when Iranian leaders took a vacation?  That is patently the stupidest statement ever uttered by an American President in my lifetime, without question.

I've written previously that on his best day, Obama might be Neville Chamberlain.  In light of this *deal*, I must make a full apology to Chamberlain's corpse and any of his progeny that are still alive.  I could not be more sorry for having drug Neville's name through the mud by comparing Obama to him.  Obama, on his best day, is a terrorist sympathizer who believes that America is the most evil force going.  Further, it is his apparent goal to eliminate the air of American superiority, and indeed, the reality of it as well.

Now that we're kowtowing to terrorist regimes, is there any further we can fall as a nation?