Tuesday, March 10, 2015

David Ignatius, "GOP senators’ letter to Iran is dangerous and irresponsible": Echoing Obama

In response to the open letter to Iran from 47 Republican senators, David Ignatius, in a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "GOP senators’ letter to Iran is dangerous and irresponsible," writes:

"To this assertion of the impermanence of an agreement, Khamenei and other hard-liners might well respond with an Iranian version of 'Amen.' Indeed, they could use the Senate GOP letter as a rationale for abandoning aspects of the deal they find too constraining. That would force the United States to consider military action. The casus belli, bizarrely, might begin with an argument made by Senate Republicans."

"Khamenei and other hard-liners"? What Ignatius doesn't understand is that there is only one person calling the shots in Iran and that's Khamenei. Everyone else in Iran is subservient to him.

Iranian "moderates"? Who are they? Iranian President Hassan Rouhani? As reported in December 2014 in a Jerusalem Post article entitled "Execution rate accelerates in Iran under Rouhani" by Hagai Lap:

"The rise in the number of trials and death sentences during the rule of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, runs counter to the expectations of improved human rights in Iran following the rule of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The number of death trials have risen by 16% in comparison with last year of Ahmadinejad's presidency, which is the highest in 15 years."

And let's not forget Rouhani's pre-election interview in which he boasted how, in the past, he had lulled the West into complacency while radically expanding Iran's nuclear weapons development program.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is a "moderate"? Last week he said the Netanyahu regime "should be annihilated."

Of course, Ignatius is only echoing what Obama told reporters yesterday: "I think it’s somewhat ironic to see some members of Congress wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran," but why should this surprise us?


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