Nuclear Non-Proliferation

The New York Times reports today that 100 former American ambassadors wrote to President Obama, calling the deal a “landmark agreement” and urging Congress to support it. Former U.S. Diplomats Praise Iran Deal:

More than 100 former American ambassadors wrote to President Obama on Thursday praising the nuclear deal reached with Iran this week as a “landmark agreement” that could be effective in halting Tehran’s development of a nuclear weapon, and urging Congress to support it. American Ambassadors Letter (.pdf).

“If properly implemented, this comprehensive and rigorously negotiated agreement can be an effective instrument in arresting Iran’s nuclear program and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the volatile and vitally important region of the Middle East,” said the letter, whose signers include diplomats named by presidents of both parties.

They wrote that they recognized the deal “is not a perfect or risk-free settlement of this problem.”

“However,” they added, “we believe that without it, the risks to the security of the United States and our friends and allies would be far greater.”

The accord, they continued, “deserves congressional support and the opportunity to show it can work.”

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Signers of the letter, spearheaded by the Iran Project, a New York-based organization that is dedicated to “a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff,” include prominent retired diplomats appointed by Mr. Obama and his Republican and Democratic predecessors.

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When it comes to climate science, Tea-Publicans always begin with “I’m not a scientist ….” Why Republicans Keep Telling Everyone They’re Not a Scientist:

For now, “I’m not a scientist” is what one party adviser calls “a temporary Band-Aid” — a way to avoid being called a climate change denier but also to sidestep a dilemma. The reality of campaigning is that a politician who acknowledges that burning coal and oil contributes to global warming must offer a solution, which most policy experts say should be taxing or regulating carbon pollution and increasing government spending on alternative energy. But those ideas are anathema to influential conservative donors like the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch and the advocacy group they support, Americans for Prosperity.

John McCain’s puppet boy, Little Lindsey Graham, took a shot at Republican climate change deniers on Tuesday night, throwing the “I’m not a scientist” line back at those in his own party who he said stubbornly refuse to believe scientists. Graham Throws ‘Not A Scientist’ Line Back At GOP Climate Change Deniers:

“Late Night” host Seth Meyers asked Graham, who has previously urged his GOP colleagues to break from the party on environmental issues, if he’s “surprised” to find so many climate change deniers in the party’s ranks.

“Well I’m not a scientist,” Graham responded. “but here’s the problem I’ve got with some people in my party: When you ask the scientists what’s going on, why don’t you believe them? If I went to 10 doctors and nine said, ‘Hey, you’re gonna die,’ and one says ‘You’re fine,’ why would I believe the one guy?”

Remember, Little Lindsey Graham said this on “Late Night” with Seth Meyers Tuesday night after he had just spent the entire day on Tuesday criticizing the P5+1 world powers nuclear agreement with Iran without having even reviewed the details of the agreement. Graham: Iran Deal ‘Akin to Declaring War’ on Israel:

“My initial impression is that this deal is far worse than I ever dreamed it could be and will be a nightmare for the region, our national security and eventually the world at large,” Graham told me in an interview early Tuesday morning, just after Iran, China, France, Russia, Britain, the U.S. and Germany confirmed they had reached terms for a historic deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

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The big news today is that the P5+1 world powers and Iran have reached an historic nuclear agreement. The New York Times headline: IRAN AND 6 WORLD POWERS REACH DEAL TO CURB ITS NUCLEAR PLANS; the Washington Post headline, Historic Iran nuclear deal reached.

Here is a link to the The Full Text of The Nuclear Agreement (Scribd). The White House’s overview is online here.

PHOTO: World leaders pose for a group picture at the United Nations building in Vienna (ABC News)

In the days, weeks and months leading up to this historic agreement, there has been knee-jerk opposition to any deal, or even  any negotiations, from the usual suspects: Neocon war mongers in the military-industrial-congressional-media complex that President Eisenhower warned us about, Neocons who opposed President Reagan’s nuclear arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, and who opposed every arms agreement by every president during the nuclear era.

Charles Pierce at Esquire makes a smart point, The Nuclear Deal With Iran, Explained:

Ever since the end of World War II, and the rise of what Garry Wills calls the “Bomb Power” in our politics, any arms-control treaty faced the same opposition on the same grounds from most of the same people. (If you compare Reagan to Chamberlain, you truly have wandered far from the rest of the pack.) Our groaning and bloated arsenal has become such an essential part of our national identity that a) we can’t imagine defining America without it, and b) we can’t imagine that any other country doesn’t feel the same way. The idea that our 4800-odd nuclear weapons — and god alone knows how many chemical and biological weapons we may have — might scare our enemies somehow is construed as weakness because our enemies are always all-powerful and always one small step away from destroying us and taking over the world because an Exceptional Nation requires Exceptional Enemies, and because our arsenal exists largely to protect our lamb-like innocence in a world of wolves.

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