When you are out of your depth, don’t understand a problem or need answers, it is always good to ask the experts.
And while a bipartisan majority of members in both houses of Congress have said they will vote against President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran when a vote is scheduled, enough members who support the president’s plan have promised to defeat any effort to override of his veto of legislation to stop the deal from moving forward.
Now comes news from Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), who is retiring from Congress next year, announced this morning that she will support the president’s deeply flawed Iran nuclear deal.
Mikulski’s decision makes her the 34th senator to support the deal, giving President Obama enough support in the Senate to sustain a veto of a Republican bill opposing it, should that bill pass in a vote later this month. In a statement, Mikulski said:
“No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime.” “I have concluded that (the president’s) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb. For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal.”
Still, the number of retired generals and admirals signing on to a letter to Congress rejecting the Iran nuclear deal stands at 214 as of last Thursday – all former high-level U.S. military officers who say the “agreement will enable Iran to become far more dangerous” and “introduce new threats to American interests.”
The letter was initially sent to House and Senate leaders from both parties last week with 190 signatures. The signatories include former Navy Vice Admiral John Poindexter, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, who held various defense advisory positions during President Bill Clinton’s administration and serves as a Fox News contributor on military and strategic issues, also signed the letter. According to the letter:
“The agreement as constructed does not ‘cut off every pathway’ for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.” “To the contrary, it actually provides Iran with a legitimate path to doing that simply by abiding by the deal.”
The former military officials also point out that the deal is “unverifiable” and that the agreement included a “secret side deal” between Iran and International Atomic Energy Agency that would prevent U.N. weapons inspectors “from reliably detecting Iranian cheating.”
Support for the flawed Iran deal has been coming in from a litany of familiar “peace at any price” liberals including more than 120 wealthy Democratic donors. Proponents include Hollywood producer Norman Lear and former Clinton-Gore campaign chair Mickey Kantor who organized a similar letter campaign sent to Democratic leaders August.
Observers note that Democrats are taking military and national security advice from filmmakers, TV producers and entertainment celebrities while actual military experts with experience in the field of keeping America safe have made their views known to all members of Congress.
Congress is expected to vote in the weeks ahead to block the president’s Iran nuclear deal and stop Obama’s plan to authorize the end of broad sanctions for Iran’s radical mullahs – something the president can do by simply ignoring existing law as he has done with impunity on various issues in the past.
It is worth noting that this week’s letter was signed by retired generals and admirals who served in both Democrat and Republican administrations over the past 40 years.
