This will make America much safer,” the president declaimed, jabbing his fingers at the assembled reporter.
Guess who’s celebrating the president’s decision to violate a nuclear nonproliferation agreement signed by the United States less than three years ago? His new national security adviser, John Bolton, a
former paid speaker for an
Iranian ex-terror group who has long been obsessed with “
regime change” in Tehran; the crown prince — and de facto ruler — of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, who
claims Iran’s supreme leader “makes Hitler look good”; and the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, who
constantly compares the Islamic Republic to the so-called Islamic State.
Because guess who won’t be celebrating?
The entire U.S. military establishment: Defense Secretary James Mattis, who
says he has read the text of the nuclear agreement three times and considers it to be “pretty robust”; Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, who
says, “Iran is adhering to its JCPOA obligations” and a U.S. decision to quit the deal “would have an impact on others’ willingness to sign agreements”; the head of U.S. Strategic Command, Gen. John Hyten, who
says, “Iran is in compliance with JCPOA” and
argues “it’s our job to live up to the terms of that agreement”; and the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Joseph Votel, who
says the nuclear deal is “in our interest” because it “addresses one of the principle threats that we deal with from Iran.”
Those are just the generals who are still in uniform.
In March, a
statement signed by 100 U.S. national security veterans from across the political spectrum said the nuclear agreement “enhances U.S. and regional security” and “ditching it would serve no national security purpose.” Fifty of the 100 signatories were retired U.S. military officers, including leading Republicans such as retired Gen. Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser to George H.W. Bush, and retired Gen. Michael Hayden, who served as director of both the NSA and the CIA under George W. Bush.
Then there’s retired Gen. Colin Powell, national security adviser to Ronald Reagan and secretary of state under George W. Bush, who
has called the JCPOA “a pretty good deal.”
And Trump’s own former national security adviser,
soon-to-be-retired Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was “
working closely with two key senators to prevent Trump from destroying the Iran deal” prior to being fired and replaced with Bolton in March.
G
uess who else isn’t celebrating? The Israeli security establishment.
Netanyahu may
claim to possess thousands of “secret nuclear files” that show the JCPOA was “built on lies,” but Israel’s generals and spymasters disagree, including: the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who
says the deal “with all its faults is working”; the chair of the Israeli Space Agency and award-winning military scientist, Isaac Ben-Israel, who
says “the agreement is not bad at all, it’s even good for Israel” because “it averts an atom bomb for 15 years”; the former director of the spy agency Mossad, Efraim Halevy, who
says the JCPOA provides a “credible answer to the Iranian military threat, at least for a decade, if not longer”; the former chief of domestic security agency Shin Bet, Carmi Gillon, who
says the nuclear agreement has helped “make the region, and the world, a safer place”; the former head of Israeli military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, who
says “tearing up the deal would create a dangerous void”; and former Israeli prime minister — and the country’s most decorated soldier — Ehud Barak, who
says withdrawing from the deal would be a “mistake.”
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Originally Posted by Vanoi
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