EMET Applauds U.S. Senator Tom Cotton for his Patriotic Opposition to the Bad Nuclear Deal with Islamist Iran

EMET Applauds U.S. Senator Tom Cotton for his Patriotic Opposition to the
Bad Nuclear Deal with Islamist Iran

(Washington, DC, March 10, 2015) Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) applauded U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) for his [1]open letter to Iran, in which he was joined by 46 of his Senate colleagues, and his strong statements explaining the danger to the U.S. of negotiating a bad nuclear deal with the Islamist Iranian regime.

On March 9, 2015, Senator Cotton and 46 of his Senate colleagues released an open letter to the radical leader(s) of Iran, who are led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.  This open letter simply sets forth the applicable U.S. constitutional principles to the potential nuclear agreement that the Obama Administration is currently negotiating with Iran.  The letter points out that unless President Obama seeks to obtain Senate consent to the agreement, which President Obama has stated he will not do, the agreement is merely a U.S. “executive agreement,” and not an official U.S. “treaty.”  As such, it only lasts for as long as the sitting President of the U.S. continues to honor it.  This means that in 2017, when President Obama leaves office, his successor may choose not to enforce it.

Since this letter was released, many uninformed members of the mainstream media, and the Obama Administration, have resorted to hysterical smears and ad hominem attacks on Senator Cotton and the other 46 Senator signatories.
Senator Cotton has stood firm in the face of these attacks, patiently explaining the dangers of making a bad deal that allows the Iranian regime to continue to develop nuclear weapons that would destabilize the world.

The Iranian regime has, since 1979, committed numerous acts of war against the U.S. that have resulted in thousands of U.S. casualties.  Islamist Iran has supported terrorists that have killed hundreds of Americans in the 1983
bombings in Beirut and in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers; it has supplied IEDs to Iraqi rebels during the 2000’s that have [2]killed U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it planned a 2011 bombing of a Washington, DC restaurant to kill the Saudi Ambassador.

Also, since 2009, the Islamist Iranian regime has moved aggressively to dominate the Middle East, and continues to be – according to the U.S. State Department – the leading state sponsor of terrorism world-wide.  Recently,
Iranian-backed rebels seized the capital of Yemen, and Iranian-backed radical Shia Muslim groups have tightened their control over much of Iraq. Iran continues to support the terror group Hezbollah, which dominates
Lebanon, and the Assad regime in Syria, which has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of its own people.  Iran continues to support Palestinian terror groups, including [3]Hamas in Gaza, and the [4]Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, which in November of 2014 attacked a Jerusalem synagogue and killed three Americans and two others.  Islamist Iran has [5]become the primary supplier of weapons to the genocidal regime of Sudan.
In Latin America, Iran has [6]engaged in money laundering, drug and arms trafficking, counterfeiting, promoting jihad, and plotting terrorist attacks.  Iran [7]may have even had a hand in the 2015 death of an Argentinian prosecutor, Alberto Nisman.

To stop the increasingly emboldened Islamist leaders in Iran, Senator Cotton recommends that the U.S. use its leverage to force a better nuclear deal with Iran that does not allow the Iranians to develop nuclear power,
which, according to six UN resolutions, the Iranians have no legal right to do, and besides which, don’t even need for energy purposes.  The Senator also points out that the U.S. needs a credible military force to threaten
the Islamist Iranian regime to ensure that they cease and desist developing nuclear weapons.  EMET has consistently, and strongly, supported both of these ideas since the very beginning of the Iranian nuclear negotiations.

“These ad hominem attacks on Senator Cotton and his 46 allies,” said founder and President of EMET Sarah Stern, “should be ignored, and the people making them should be ashamed. Senator Cotton’s letter merely
pointed out the recognized truth – that any bad deal signed by President Obama without Congressional support, which would reward Islamist Iranian aggression and terrorism, may only have effect as long as this President
remains in office.  In 2017, when there is a new U.S. President, that President will have every right to disavow this understanding.  In fact, I strongly recommend that the next President do that, for the safety of Americans, and the safety of our allies everywhere.”

She continued, “For President Obama to now pretend that he does not understand our constitution is patently ridiculous. Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution speaks of the relationship between the Executive
Branch and the Legislative Branch as being one of ‘advise and consent.’ The President has provoked this sort of action because he has kept all of the details of the negotiations under close wraps and has selected not to show
any of the terms of the impending deal with Tehran to the U.S. Congress. As Judge Louis Brandeis once said, ‘Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.’ If this is such a great deal, why does the President refuse to reveal any of the details until it is a fait accompli?”

Stern added, “President Obama, himself, has chosen to nullify an executive agreement that President Bush’s Administration described as ‘iron-clad’ between President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
made prior to the Gaza withdrawal on April 14, 2004. This agreement said that ‘In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the
outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion.’  So why should President Obama and his allies seem to believe that the United States could nullify prior agreements made by the Executive Branch to foreign powers, while denying other successive Presidents the same alternative?”

About The Endowment for Middle East Truth

Founded in 2005, EMET’s mission is to educate policymakers in Washington and the general public about the importance of Israel to the United States in their common struggle against radical Islam. For more information,
please visit, https://emetonline.org. Follow EMET on [8]Twitter and [9]Facebook.