July 23, 2015

Give the peaceful Solution a chance

Source: Burlington freepress

Some have reflexively denounced the agreement before even reading it. Many are the same people who reflexively supported going to war in Iraq. I voted against that war, after reading the intelligence files and finding no credible evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. That colossal mistake killed or maimed thousands and by now has cost more than $2 trillion, with the meter still running.

It’s not easy to stick with the long slog of tough negotiations when others are clamoring for military solutions. I know from conversations with the president and with Secretary Kerry and Secretary Moniz how difficult this was and that we were prepared to walk away rather than settle for a bad deal. But they stuck with it.

During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, some of President Kennedy’s top advisors pushed for a military attack. A war between the two nuclear superpowers would have risked the annihilation of both countries, and probably the rest of the world. We can be grateful that President Kennedy stuck with diplomacy and peacefully ended the crisis without taking us into war.

A workable agreement would not just buy more time; it can also buy new opportunities. In Iran, the impetus for reforming its hostile and destabilizing foreign policy comes from the Iranian people. Ordinary Iranians overwhelmingly do not want empire; they want economic reform and to re-engage with the world. For decades the Iranian middle class has been smothered — first, by a revolution that abandoned their dreams, and then by a regime that imposed the consequences of its own bad behavior on their own people. With this agreement, the Iranian middle class can continue to be a factor in future negotiations.


Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/opinion/2015/07/20/opinion-give-peaceful-iran-solution-chance/30425615/

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This is news in that it is the first endorsement of the Iran deal by the most senior Democratic Senator. Rather than any news account of Leahy's endorsement - this is the endorsement itself.