Obama + Kerry = Neville Chamberlain

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2015/08/06/obama-kerry-neville-chamberlain/

In September 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain traveled to Munich to meet with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. There, Chamberlain and other European nations signed the Munich Pact, forcing Czechoslovakia, which was not invited to the talks, to cede the Sudetenland to Germany.

The Munich Pact was Britain’s and France’s attempt to avoid war.  Chamberlain believed that Europe could appease Hitler by offering the Sudetenland as a sacrificial lamb. Upon returning to London, Chamberlain claimed that the Munich Pact had achieved “peace for our time.”  Winston Churchill responded to Chamberlain, saying, “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.”  World War II commenced less than a year later.

Like Chamberlain in Munich, today President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry appease Iran for the sake of avoiding war.  But they do so at our peril, and at the peril of our allies in the region.

Unlike Britain and France, who in 1938 were negotiating from a position of weakness, the U.S. is today in a position of strength. Iran depends on the export of oil to support its economy, and the price of oil has fallen over 50% in the last year.  U.S. organized international sanctions against Iran have created significant pressure on the Iranian economy. And yet, for reasons that are utterly unfathomable, the Obama administration has chosen to relieve the pressure by releasing as much as $150 billion to Iran and providing Iran with a pathway to nuclear armament that denies the U.S. any effective means of verifying Iran’s compliance with the agreement.

Iran is the world’s largest supporter of terrorism.  In 1979, Iran took 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage for 444 days. In 1983, 241 American marines and servicemen died in the Beirut bombing, which was orchestrated by Iran and its wholly owned Lebanese subsidiary, Hezbollah. Between 2003 and 2011, Iran was responsible for the killing and maiming of hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Today, Iran essentially controls events in Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut. It routinely refers to the U.S. as the “Great Satan.” It poses an existential threat to Israel, the region’s only successful democracy and our strongest ally in the region.  Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei recently tweeted in English, “Israel must be annihilated.”  No wonder Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress earlier this year that “the greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons.”

With this deal, the U.S. puts the world’s security at risk by effectively offering Israel to Iran as a sacrificial lamb — just as Chamberlain offered Germany the Sudetenland in 1938.

But, unlike Chamberlain, who was forced to choose between “war and dishonor,” the U.S. faces no such choice.  America simply needs to continue the sanctions, persevere with diplomatic pressure, and keep the military option on the table.

The American people understand this, which is why in poll after poll they oppose the deal. Americans understand that this agreement is the most important U.S treaty in decades, and yet President Obama has the audacity to claim that it is not a treaty in order to avoid the constitutional requirement that the Senate ratify the agreement by a 2/3 majority.  Let’s hope Congress has the votes to reject the deal, which can only be characterized as blatant appeasement.

Other NewBostonPost editorials:

The Donald Trump sideshow

Pro-choice / Anti-science

Fatherlessness: The root cause of income inequality

A new voice for the rest of us