*The invasion of Iraq upset the balance of power in the ME & South Asia. The one thing Saddam Hussein could do well was keep the disparate groups in Iraq under control. Once he was removed from power, Iran saw a power vacuum and began to meddle in Iraqi politics, which only made Iraq more unstable. NM:There are substantive complaints about this deal to be made but they require some actual perspective on how we arrived at this situation, where Iran is constantly on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. It is the direct result of the Bush administration’s horrendous decisions after 9/11, as Israeli journalist Ari Shavit explained in The New York Times: Mr. Bush’s responsibility for the disaster now unfolding is twofold: He failed to target Iran a decade ago, and created a climate that made it very difficult to target Iran today. The Bush administration didn’t initiate a political-economic siege on Iran when it was weak, and Mr. Bush weakened America by exhausting its economic power and military might in a futile war. By the time American resolve was needed to fend off a genuine global threat, the necessary determination was no longer there. It had been wasted on the wrong cause. If the goal of the Iraq War was to make Iran stronger, it was an astounding success. nytimes/2013/11/21/opinion/how-bush-let-iran-go-nuclear.html?_r=0 Engagement is the only reasonable option. President Obama’s outreach to Iran in 2009 helped spark the Green Movement in opposition to the bellicosity of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Again, four years later, the Iranian public chose a more moderate path with the election of Hassan Rouhani. Ayatollah Khamenei has endorsed the president’s outreach due to the economic pressure of the sanctions. Now we are finding out that President Obama was reaching out to the Iranian government even before the election of Rouhani. This deal — and the promise of a lasting deal — is the result of a philosophy of engagement he endorsed during his first campaign for president as a contrast to Bush’s policies, which weakened America and emboldened Iran. Republicans refuse to acknowledge that it’s even possible that this process could work. For them and Netanyahu, it’s just a bad deal. Or worse, it’s a distraction!
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 04:30:38 +0000