[Vision2020] Obama Responds to Trump's Iran Pull-Out

Wed May 9 11:35:53 PDT 2018

I watched the open testimony given by Ms. Hespelt this morning.  She is well
trained and adroit in avoiding questions she is unable/unwilling to answer.
She did cling to the "moral compass" she claims her parents provided her
with (inadequate in my opinion) as proof of her righteous behavior.  It is
clear that while earning her college degree in journalism - language  she
missed a basic history class that would have acquainted her with the
Nuremberg trials.  Every offense that those wretched men committed or
tolerated was certainly "legal" in Germany where they were willing
cooperators/collaborators in the horror of the Third Reich.  Gina Haspel's
self-proclaimed  moral compass is of no interest to me - she tortured and
guided others to do so while stationed at a black site in Thailand in 2002.
To this day she is controlling the information received by the Senate
committee apparently providing every "good" thing she has done in-three
years at the CIA and very little of acts that are repulsive and deserving of
prosecution in any society that has even a modicum of care for human rights.
It is always easy to be fair to those we agree with, but the test of
morality is how we treat those who we find repulsive.  She is, in my
opinion, a war criminal who is unfit to hold public office.

Rose Huskey

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com <vision2020-bounces at moscow.com> On
Behalf Of Sunil Ramalingam
Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2018 11:23 AM
To: Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com>
Cc: vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Obama Responds to Trump's Iran Pull-Out

This is the unhealthy break with tradition and precedent? Not the things
that Trump has been saying for the last year and a half or longer? What he's
been doing? 

That's like complaining about the color of the lifeboats on the Titanic, and
remaining silent about the more important problem that there aren't enough
lifeboats . 

  _____  

From: keim152 at gmail.com <mailto:keim152 at gmail.com>  <keim152 at gmail.com
<mailto:keim152 at gmail.com> > on behalf of Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com
<mailto:keim153 at gmail.com> >
Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2018 11:00:19 AM
To: Sunil Ramalingam
Cc: Dan Carscallen; vision2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Obama Responds to Trump's Iran Pull-Out 

Yes, we are both talking style over substance.  Given the current state of
politics in our nation, style seems to trump substance in importance.

We are also talking precedent being broken in a perhaps unhealthy way.

(pun unintentional but perhaps fitting)

On Wed, May 9, 2018 at 10:48 AM, Sunil Ramalingam
<sunilramalingam at hotmail.com <mailto:sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> > wrote:

You're both talking style over substance. I'll give you an Obama choice I
find beyond unseemly. His decision not to prosecute torturers in the Bush
Administration has allowed the nomination of a war criminal for the position
of head of the CIA. That's not unseemly, that's repulsive and disgusting. 

  _____  

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com <mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com>
<vision2020-bounces at moscow.com <mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com> > on
behalf of Dan Carscallen <areaman at moscow.com <mailto:areaman at moscow.com> >
Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2018 10:34:42 AM
To: vision2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Obama Responds to Trump's Iran Pull-Out 

I'm with Darrell on this.   

Doesn't matter to me who is currently in the office, the previous guy
commenting on his activities is a little unseemly.

I don't recall anyone ever doing that.  Then again Grover Cleveland might
have, since he did serve non-concurrent terms.  Of course that was just a
little before my time.

DC

On May 9, 2018, at 10:22, Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com
<mailto:keim153 at gmail.com> > wrote:

Without commenting on the issue at hand, I have an observation.  

Can anyone recall a past president so publicly rebuking/countering his
successor on a major policy change?

On Wed, May 9, 2018 at 9:12 AM, Nicholas Gier <ngier006 at gmail.com
<mailto:ngier006 at gmail.com> > wrote:

Former President Barack Obama released a statement after Trump withdrew the
US from the Iran nuclear deal that amounted to a point by point debunking of
Trump's falsehoods about the agreement.

The statement provided to PoliticusUSA by Obama's office is lengthy but
important:

There are few issues more important to the security of the United States
than the potential spread of nuclear weapons, or the potential for even more
destructive war in the Middle East. That's why the United States negotiated
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the first place.

The reality is clear. The JCPOA is working - that is a view shared by our
European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S. Secretary of
Defense. The JCPOA is in America's interest - it has significantly rolled
back Iran's nuclear program. And the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can
accomplish - its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the
United States should be working to put in place with North Korea. Indeed, at
a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed,
walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes - with
Iran - the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans. 

That is why today's announcement is so misguided. Walking away from the
JCPOA turns our back on America's closest allies, and an agreement that our
country's leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals
negotiated. In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and
priorities from one Administration to the next. But the consistent flouting
of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America's
credibility, and puts us at odds with the world's major powers.

Debates in our country should be informed by facts, especially debates that
have proven to be divisive. So it's important to review several facts about
the JCPOA.

First, the JCPOA was not just an agreement between my Administration and the
Iranian government. After years of building an international coalition that
could impose crippling sanctions on Iran, we reached the JCPOA together with
the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China, and
Iran. It is a multilateral arms control deal, unanimously endorsed by a
United Nations Security Council Resolution. 

Second, the JCPOA has worked in rolling back Iran's nuclear program. For
decades, Iran had steadily advanced its nuclear program, approaching the
point where they could rapidly produce enough fissile material to build a
bomb. The JCPOA put a lid on that breakout capacity. Since the JCPOA was
implemented, Iran has destroyed the core of a reactor that could have
produced weapons-grade plutonium; removed two-thirds of its centrifuges
(over 13,000) and placed them under international monitoring; and eliminated
97 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium - the raw materials
necessary for a bomb. So by any measure, the JCPOA has imposed strict
limitations on Iran's nuclear program and achieved real results. 

Third, the JCPOA does not rely on trust - it is rooted in the most
far-reaching inspections and verification regime ever negotiated in an arms
control deal. Iran's nuclear facilities are strictly monitored.
International monitors also have access to Iran's entire nuclear supply
chain, so that we can catch them if they cheat. Without the JCPOA, this
monitoring and inspections regime would go away. 

Fourth, Iran is complying with the JCPOA. That was not simply the view of my
Administration. The United States intelligence community has continued to
find that Iran is meeting its responsibilities under the deal, and has
reported as much to Congress. So have our closest allies, and the
international agency responsible for verifying Iranian compliance - the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

Fifth, the JCPOA does not expire. The prohibition on Iran ever obtaining a
nuclear weapon is permanent. Some of the most important and intrusive
inspections codified by the JCPOA are permanent. Even as some of the
provisions in the JCPOA do become less strict with time, this won't happen
until ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years into the deal, so there is
little reason to put those restrictions at risk today.

Finally, the JCPOA was never intended to solve all of our problems with
Iran. We were clear-eyed that Iran engages in destabilizing behavior -
including support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel and its
neighbors. But that's precisely why it was so important that we prevent Iran
from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Every aspect of Iranian behavior that is
troubling is far more dangerous if their nuclear program is unconstrained.
Our ability to confront Iran's destabilizing behavior - and to sustain a
unity of purpose with our allies - is strengthened with the JCPOA, and
weakened without it. 

Because of these facts, I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk
without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake. Without the
JCPOA, the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice
between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East. We all know
the dangers of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. It could embolden an already
dangerous regime; threaten our friends with destruction; pose unacceptable
dangers to America's own security; and trigger an arms race in the world's
most dangerous region. If the constraints on Iran's nuclear program under
the JCPOA are lost, we could be hastening the day when we are faced with the
choice between living with that threat, or going to war to prevent it. 

In a dangerous world, America must be able to rely in part on strong,
principled diplomacy to secure our country. We have been safer in the years
since we achieved the JCPOA, thanks in part to the work of our diplomats,
many members of Congress, and our allies. Going forward, I hope that
Americans continue to speak out in support of the kind of strong,
principled, fact-based, and unifying leadership that can best secure our
country and uphold our responsibilities around the globe. 

Obama made a critical point

Much of Trump's argument for killing the Iran deal was based on the false
premise that the deal was a failure if it didn't address all of the problems
with Iran's behavior, but the nuclear deal was never meant to do that. By
design, it dealt with Iran's nuclear program. Republicans have used this
rhetorical device on the issue of health care, for example, as well. It is a
false argument that seeks to turn something successful into a failure.

It is rare for a former president to come out with such a strong statement
against an action taken by a current president. All evidence and even
members of Trump's own administration say that the deal was working. 

For more discussion about this story join our
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-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in. 

-Greek proverb

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from
another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in lack of
understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance
from another. Sapere Aude! 'Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!-that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant

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