IACA-MO: U.S. Iran Policy Not Blocking Tehran's Path to the Bomb, Senate Panel says

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A number of leading Senators and national security experts criticized U.S. policy on Iran as dangerously accommodating and having failed to stop Tehran's nuclear weapons program and its support for terrorism in the region.

The briefing, held at the historic Senate Kennedy Caucus Room, featured, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), former Senator Joseph Lieberman, Ambassador John Bolton, General Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and former White House Homeland Security adviser Frances Townsend.

Referring to last month's extension of the nuclear negotiations with Iran, Senator Blunt said it is "incredibly bad judgment to continue to extend the talks going on with Iran as they continue to do exactly the things we would not want them to be doing."

Senator Lieberman said the Iranian regime "has concluded that we [the U.S.] want a deal more than they do," warning, "If the U.S. agrees to a bad deal with Iran, it will not only change history in the Middle East in a bad way, but it will shake up our allies, in the Middle East, and far beyond…."

Ambassador Bolton touched on the regime's long record of systematic attempts to acquire nuclear weapons through cheating and deception, saying, "The ayatollahs are on a clear path to their 30 year objective of getting deliverable nuclear weapons. The talks that have been going on have achieved nothing to slow that down."

Bolton warned, "Verification does not make a bad deal a good deal. Verification is simply insurance when you think you've reached an acceptable agreement to protect against the risk of violation."

Underscoring the nuclear revelations by the main Iranian opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), Amb. Bolton said, "I'm not aware of any material respect where information that the MEK has put out over the past more than 10 years has ever been incorrect."

General Keane referred to Washington's policy on a nuclear deal with Tehran, saying, "I have been convinced, given my association for almost five years with this administration ... their unstated policy as it pertains to Iran is to contain Iran's nuclear weapons.  In other words, they will tolerate Iran having a nuclear weapon. "

With respect to reports hinting at Washington's willingness to solicit Tehran's cooperation against ISIS, the general said, "I find that morally reprehensible that we could ever, ever sit down across the table with them and begin to coordinate an effort towards a common objective, which is the defeat of ISIS."

In Iraq, we pulled out and provided no help where we absolutely needed help, Gen. Keane said, adding, "We did that right on the heels of the broken promise dealing with the residents of Camp Liberty….  We would not have had ISIS if we didn't break the promises we made in Iraq." 

Senator Blunt pointed to "the critically important issue of what happens with people at Camp Liberty" and called on the U.S. government to keep its commitments to the residents.

Speaking to the Iranian opposition and the 10-point plan for the future of Iran as articulated by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, Senator Lieberman said, "You are frontline troops in the fight against radical Islam. You represent the alternative. You're part of the hope for the future."

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SOURCE Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri

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