Beyond all comprehension.
Beyond what is remotely tolerable.
Integrity? This, of course, we cannot not speak of at all.
In the end, we can only speak of avarice and self-serving short-sightedness and just plain old fashioned evil.
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I hadn’t planned to post today, as Legal Grounds work is calling to me. But I saw that I had no choice.
It is likely that most, if not all, of my readers, get the big picture, regarding the P5+1 negotiations with Iran: It is clear that Obama has caved again and again in his eagerness to strike a deal – thereby edging towards a dangerous situation for Israel, the US, and the world..
To fully comprehend the horror of what will be coming down the road if Obama has his way, we need to examine some of the details of the negotiations. They may seem complex –for there are many interlocking factors. But of course the details make all of the difference.
Please, my friends, walk through this with me.
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End-time negotiations between P5+1 and Iran resumed in Vienna early in June. The deadline is supposed to be June 30, and the US said it will go only a few days beyond this.
Yesterday, Bloomberg View broke with a story by Josh Rogin and Eli Lake that revealed that “Iranian forces and US share a base in Iraq” (emphasis added):
“The U.S. military and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are getting closer and closer in Iraq, even sharing a base, while Iran uses those militias to expand its influence in Iraq and fight alongside the Bashar al-Assad regime in neighboring Syria.
“Two senior administration officials confirmed to us that U.S. soldiers and Shiite militia groups are both using the Taqqadum military base in Anbar, the same Iraqi base where President Obama is sending an additional 450 U.S. military personnel to help train the local forces fighting against the Islamic State. Some of the Iran-backed Shiite militias at the base have killed American soldiers in the past…
“Some inside the Obama administration fear that sharing the base puts U.S. soldiers at risk. The U.S. intelligence community has reported back to Washington that representatives of some of the more extreme militias have been spying on U.S. operations at Taqqadum, one senior administration official told us. That could be calamitous if the fragile relationship between the U.S. military and the Shiite militias comes apart and Iran-backed forces decide to again target U.S. troops…
“The U.S. gives weapons directly only to the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Security Forces, but the lines between them and the militias are blurry. U.S. weapons often fall into the hands of militias like Iraqi Hezbollah. Sometimes the military cooperation is even more explicit. Commanders of some of the hard-line militias sit in on U.S. military briefings on operations that were meant for the government-controlled Iraqi Security Forces, a senior administration official said.
“This collaboration with terrorist groups that have killed Americans was seen as unavoidable as the U.S. marshaled Iraqis against the Islamic State, but could prove counterproductive to U.S. interests in the long term, this official said.
“The U.S. government has sought and received formal assurances from the government of Iraq that the Shiite militias on the base would not interfere with American military personnel. But there’s widespread skepticism that the politicians in Baghdad exert any real control over the hard-line militias…
“’There’s no real command and control from the central government,’ one senior administration official said. ‘Even if these guys don’t attack us … Iran is ushering in a new Hezbollah era in Iraq, and we will have aided and abetted it’…
“With the deadline approaching for a nuclear deal that would place up to $150 billion in the hands of Iran, the U.S. is now openly acknowledging in its annual report on international terrorism that Iran is supporting a foreign legion, comprising Afghans, Iraqis and Lebanese fighters, to defend Iranian interests throughout the Middle East.
“But the U.S. response to this is inconsistent. In Iraq, America is fighting alongside Iranian-backed militias. In Syria, U.S.-supported forces are fighting against these same militias. The tragedy of this policy is that the Islamic State has been able to hold and expand its territory in Iraq and Syria, while Iran has been able to tighten its grip on Baghdad.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-22/iran-s-forces-and-u-s-share-a-base-in-iraq
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OK, so we see from the article above how short-sighted, perverse, and – for lack of a better term – just plain stupid Obama’s plan to take on ISIS is. But we also begin to see how this ties into the negotiations. Actually, there are several factors.
“Iran is supporting a foreign legion, comprising Afghans, Iraqis and Lebanese fighters, to defend Iranian interests throughout the Middle East.”
What we are talking about here, folks, is Iranian hegemony in the Middle East. Iran has persistently refused to tie restrictions on that hegemony to the nuclear negotiations, and the US has bowed on this. There have been warnings about this again, and again, by many political analysts, but most persistently by Israel’s prime minister. But rest assured, Arab Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia are equally concerned about this.
Obama’s plans are fostering Iranian control over portions of the Middle East. In particular is this so with regard to US readiness to lift sanctions immediately after an agreement is signed. This will provide Iran with considerably more largesse with which to support its hegemony.
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I circle back here for a moment to my mention of Saudi Arabia. Yesterday, Omri Ceren of The Israel Project wrote about Saudi concerns as they relate to Iranian hegemony:
“Everything – everything – relies on Saudi Arabia not nuclearizing in the aftermath of an agreement later this month. If the Saudis take a pass, then maybe a deal can hold for a time. If they purchase a weapon from Pakistan or build a bomb over the medium term, then no force in the world short of a military campaign could prevent the IRGC [Revolutionary Guard] from matching their capabilities. No one pretends that the Iranians will sit on the sidelines while the Saudis go nuclear. That scenario then becomes the worst of all worlds: the administration will have seeded a polynuclear Middle East, detonated Washington’s alliances with its traditional allies, and shredded the sanctions regime – and it won’t even have a denuclearized Iran to show for it.
“The Saudis have been very clear about their decision calculus: they’ll go nuclear not when Iran goes nuclear, but when Riyadh concludes that it’s inevitable that the Iranians will go nuclear. They’re not going to wait.”
And do not imagine for a second that fear of Iranian hegemony would be discounted by the Saudis as they calculate the necessity of going nuclear.
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All of this is sufficiently alarming in its own right. But here we have the kicker.
It seems there are a series of “secret annexes” that are being negotiated with Iran. This was first discussed at least two months ago:
“Negotiators working on a nuclear accord with Iran are discussing a secret annex that would contain detailed commitments by both sides, according to diplomats from three countries involved.”
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NM5XXH6VDKHS01-3R56CHB5PL4G02FMKHLSKDHEDU
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Knowledgeable sources have suggested that the Iranians were demanding that an annex be negotiated that secured commitments from P5+1 that they would not work to take down the Iranian regime. And, as part of this demand, it has been suggested that this commitment would be interpreted broadly, so that P5+1 would be expected to refrain from interfering with Iranian hegemony as well.
It is regrettable in the extreme that the stuffed shirts sitting in Washington either do not comprehend or, more likely, just do not care what is going on here with regard to the breadth of Iranian intentions.
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Now we have a breaking story by AP on the matter of annexes. This is how Omni Ceren describes it:
“The Associated Press got ahold of one of the five secret annexes being worked on ahead of a final deal between the P5+1 global powers and Iran. This one – titled ‘Civil Nuclear Cooperation’ – details a range of nuclear technology that various members of the P5+1 will be obligated to provide Iran, including ‘high-tech reactors and other state-of-the-art equipment.’ The draft that the AP saw wasn’t finalized, and so some of the concessions are subject to change.
“As the annex is written now, however, this is no longer a deal to stop the Iranian nuclear program. It’s a deal to let the Iranians perfect their nuclear program with international assistance and under international protection.”
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Jennifer Rubin, writing in the Washington Post on this subject today, says:
“A source at a pro-Israel group tells me, ‘This revelation is just more evidence that the emerging deal will not prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon but rather will facilitate it. Iran will gain a bonanza as it will receive billions in sanctions relief to fill its terrorist coffers while gaining expertise in perfecting its centrifuges in reactors to reduce break out time.’”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/06/24/two-more-iran-alarm-bells/
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Are you sick to your stomach yet? Is steam coming out of your ears?
This is simply not a situation that can be permitted to persist. It falls to every right-thinking individual to stand up and be counted here. The need to stop this deal is of overwhelming importance.
It is possible that at the last moment the deal will be blocked by Britain and France, which, according to Agence France Presse yesterday, are saying that a final deal must include “a comprehensive verification scheme.”
But this cannot be relied upon.
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A rally calling for Iran to be prevented from getting nuclear weapons will be held in Denver next Sunday at 2 p.m. on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol.
This is marvelous, but hardly enough. There must be a thousand such rallies held immediately. People need to raise their voices loudly enough so that they cannot be ignored.
Starting this very moment there must be messages sent out and letters to the editor written, as well as talkbacks on the Internet. Messages should go on websites and Facebook pages.
In all cases, the messages should speak of the incredible dangers inherent in the negotiations with Iran as they are evolving, and the need for everyone to speak up against them.
Please! contact your Senators and Congresspersons, for this is the key.
For your Congresspersons:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
For your Senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Let them know that you are horrified by what is currently transpiring in the negotiations. Let them understand what their constituencies demand. Not only must the agreement be voted down – when Obama vetoes that vote, there must be sufficient votes to override the veto.
(If you have elected representatives who are already solidly on board for blocking the deal, praise them and ask them to stand strong.)
In all the messages you send out, on websites and all the rest, implore them to: Contact Congress without delay.
Please, share this as broadly as you can.
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
If it is reproduced and emphasis is added, the fact that it has been added must be noted.
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