Even before Bibi Netanyahu spoke, Barack Obama was hammering him:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH’-hoo) didn’t offer any “viable alternatives” to the nuclear negotiations with Iran during his speech to Congress.
Obama says he read a transcript of Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday. He says “there was nothing new” in the speech.
Obama says Netanyahu made almost the same speech when he warned against the interim deal reached with Iran. Obama says that deal has resulted in a freeze and rolling back of Iran’s nuclear program.
Obama says Netanyahu’s alternative to the talks amounts to no deal at all. He says that would lead Iran to redouble efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
Actually, Netanyahu did offer an alternative. No deal was better than a bad deal.
The left went postal:
Broadcast Networks Refuse to Carry…
‘Enraged’ Pelosi freaks on floor…
‘Near Tears Throughout’… ‘Saddened by the insult’…
Dems LASH OUT at Netanyahu, Tell Him to Go Home, Call Him ‘a Child’…
Thing is, Netanyahu was handcuffed from the start:
Top U.S. officials ahead of the speech sternly warned Netanyahu not to reveal secret details of the talks, which are entering a crucial final stage, warning such revelations could have a disastrous impact on hopes for a deal.
So without being able to talk about the deal, what concrete alternatives was Netanyahu supposed to offer?
Iran has no interest in agreeing to a deal that prevents it from obtaining nuclear weapons. They have already rejected Obama’s 10 year nuclear ban proposal.
Obama is a petulant, insufferable child. He was shown up by the House and he had another one of his hissy fits. Worse, Obama is a chronic liar. Anyone with half a brain realizes that all Obama is doing is reaching for a token- anything- to put on the mantle until after he leaves. He’ll take any deal- bad or otherwise- just to claim an accomplishment. Then this mess will, as like so many other of his messes, fall into the laps of his successors.
He’s a jerk.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
Key point:
Iran has no interest in agreeing to a deal that prevents it from obtaining nuclear weapons. They have already rejected Obama’s 10 year nuclear ban proposal.
FTA:
The fact is Obama wants Congress to rubber-stamp his finalized agreement with Iran!
After-the-fact!
Bibi N. certainly did have “viable alternatives” in his speech for dealing with Tehran, as opposed to Obama’s pie-in-the-sky.
Bibi’s plan has no sunset (at 10 years or ever).
Bibi’s plan has harsh sanctions and strongly enforced inspections.
Bibi’s plan would prevent Iran from ever getting the bomb.
Foreign Affairs by Ego, . . Perfect.
The Presidency is occupied by an insecure outsized and needy ego, incapable of “learning.” (Jarrett knew this when she gave us that insane “I worship him” speech.)
For 6 years we have been offered what such an extreme personality disorder, with absolutely no experience, can inflict on a Nation.
Unfortunately, when the individual is also sitting in the most powerful chair in the world, the damage is global.
It’s not a matter of ego. It’s a matter of considering inescapable questions:
If we rule out the possibility of negotiating curtailment of Iran’s nuclear weapon program, what, specifically, are the options we have left?
What are their complications and risks, and their costs in dollars and lives?
Exactly what achievable and stable end-point situation would define success?
I don’t hear any hardliners giving clear answers to those questions. I don’t even see much indication that they’re thinking about them.
So far as ego goes, I think there’s a far bigger ego issue on the republican side of the discussion. They’re totally fixated on their dislike of Barack Obama. Given that republicans seem to believe that anything and everything Obama says or does is automatically wrong, what’s the likelihood that their attitude isn’t affecting their judgment in this situation?
I can easily imagine a number of disastrous scenarios for the U.S. triggered by military action against of Iran, none of which seem the least bit far fetched. That’s the main reason a lot of people become extremely worried when Netanyahu is allowed to get within reach of the steering wheel. His agenda is not identical with that of the United States.
And just in case anyone missed it, . . . the price of idiotic pandering.
Thorbjørn Jagland, now “former” Nobel peace prize committee chairman was and is an embarrassment, . . . does that mean that Obama will return his Nobel Peace Prize?
is the fool still doing weed? he acts like it most of the time.
Bibi got a plan, and thats the plan , that Iran don’t get the bomb, by whatever means necessary, you tell them “Do you want a bomb, or do you want to see tomorrow?” Just your very basic plan to keep another jerk from going nuclear
I wonder if the part of the deal Obama wants kept secret is him ordering our forces to shoot down Israeli planes.
BREAKING: These Black Pastors Just Teamed Up to DEFY Barack Obama
@Greg:
…what, specifically, are the options we have left?
Crippling sanctions
What are their complications and risks, and their costs in dollars and lives?
Null
Exactly what achievable and stable end-point situation would define success?
Preventing another N.Korea.
A person always tries to do what they can to help the ones they want to win, and to hinder the ones they want to lose, lose.
@James Raider: #4
I should have saved the info, but from the time obama took office the first time, and the deadline for nominations for the nobel peach prize was 11-12 days.
@Greg:
.
The same one Obama used in Libya.
The Libyan Gambit
@James Raider:
Kind of late. The NP has become a complete farce.
@Greg:
Knowing that any agreement with Iran under current conditions will be a farce, what do you propose to stop Iran from going nuclear? Knowing they are hell bent on the destruction of all Jews, what do you propose? Knowing you may not want war, nor do I, but Iran is willing to go that route because it fulfills a religious belief, what do you propose?
GOP leadership scheduled a high profile campaign speech before the Unites States Congress for a foreign leader (conveniently aired at 6PM Israeli time) in which the leader criticized the American Government in a deceitful fashion – and Bibi’s handmaidens in Congress, with their panties all ajumble, couldn’t get enough. Have we ever seen a more disgustingly naked or destructive partisan spectacle than the Republicans obstructing US foreign policy efforts at the highest levels to help a foreign leader turn out the vote by bashing an American President before Congress? And what does Bibi offer as an alternative? A “better deal”? There will never be a better deal according to his criteria, so what he’s really asking us to do is nothing. In other words, although he refuses to honestly say it, Bibi wants us to go to war. And if Congress scuttles any potential nuclear agreement, Bibi will be back here in a year telling us we’ve run out of options and have no choice. How many American service members need to die because conservatives take it as Biblical fact that Bibi knows more than the combined intelligence communities of the United States and Israel about the capabilities and intentions of Iran?
@mossomo:
A perfect example of the ignorance of the average Bibi cheerleader regarding the specific facts around the Iranian nuclear program and sanctions. Sanctions won’t stop Iran in the same way that a nuclear deal will. And sanctions will likely fall apart without a deal because this isn’t a bi-lateral negotiation. From Gary Sick, one of the word’s foremost experts on Iran:
If anyone is interested in actual facts regarding Bibi’s speech
Years which Israel said Iran would have The Bomb
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Both Israel’s military and intelligence agencies have contradicted the PM
American Jews are one of the solid bases of the modern Democratic Party
When the hard line neo maxi right says they hate liberals they are saying they hate American Jews
Stop saying you hate Anerican Jews
Stop saying you hate the people American Jews vote for
@Tom:
Really? Now you’re questioning the time the speech was given? Grasping at straws there, Tom?
Why, yes, we have. Only it was under Democrat leadership when Pelosi invited President Calderon of Mexico to speak before a joint session of Congress. Have you forgotten how Calderon blamed the United States for all the ills of Mexico, even going so far as to call Arizonans racist for trying to rid itself of the Mexican criminals that had entered Arizona illegally? Every Democrat was on their feet, clapping like seals, over that statement by Calderon. Do you remember how Eric Holder did his jack-in-the-box imitation, jumping to his feet when Calderon spoke of the guns that had entered Mexico, killing hundreds of Mexicans, when it was Holder’s own program that allowed that to happen? You want hypocrisy, well that was pure hypocrisy on display.
Not to mention that you lefties get your news (and base your opinion) on so-called reporters like Christine Amanpour. Interesting that Amanpour, in a puff piece on her done by the NYSlimes, had this to say about a painting in her apartment:
“12. Favorite Item in the Apartment: A massive painting that I got in Iran, a few years ago, by Farideh Lashai, a friend who is also Iran’s pre-eminent abstract-expressionist painter. It gives me joy every time I walk in my door. ”
And what is that painting that gives her so much joy? A burning World Trade Center.
Nothing like having an Iranian cheer leader on U.S. news cheering for Iran while they bash Netanyahu.
@Greg: Greg, your hate Bush blame Bush mantra has NEVER ended. The sanctions are working and a bad deal is worse than no deal at this time. President Obola is acting like the baby he is!!
@retire05:
No, it’s called recognizing the blatantly obvious for what it is. I realize your senses are a little clouded by that tingly sensation you get when you think of Bibi in his fighter pilot suit. Fortunately, not all Americans feel the compulsion to run questions of foreign policy through the lens of school girl crushes on foreign dignitaries and pathological hatred for the sitting POTUS. What’s next for you? Wouldn’t it be so hot if that buff Vladimir Putin rode by shirtless on his horse and put that 98 pound weakling Obama in a headlock until he sold back Alaska for a ruble? That would just be so awesome for Vlad to prove how right you are about Obama.
@Tom:
While, unlike hard core leftists that get a tingle running up their leg, I will admit that I hold more respect for a young man that is willing to fight for his nation’s freedom than I am by a young man who promotes the radical Green Party while enjoying the benefits of a tony university education.
The rest of your post is just so much bull shit and doesn’t deserve a response. Unfortunately, bull shit is all you are capable of offering.
@mossomo, #9:
I’m not sure what the effect of imposing “crippling sanctions” would be, if Iran is in fact less than a year away from a nuclear weapon, as Netanyahu asserts.
Nor do I see any sense in doing so while the State Department is in the middle of negotiations. In the first place, it prematurely plays our last non-military bargaining chip. In the second place, it destroys the credibility of our negotiators themselves. How can they credibly speak for our government if Congress suddenly decides to do whatever the hell they want, totally disregarding the fact that the conduct of foreign negotiations is the Executive Branch’s responsibility?
Make no mistake, Netanyahu was advocating war, from a podium before the assembled Congress of the United States. The speech was designed to increase the level of fear as a motivation for such a war. And once again, nobody is talking about what form that war would take, or how great the dangers of it to the United States might be.
@Common Sense, #18:
I didn’t mention Bush. I’m rarely the one to bring him up. Apparently you’ve noticed something about the current situation that reminds you of the former situation. That would be a good observation.
@Tom:
Sanctions won’t stop Iran in the same way that a nuclear deal will.
I guess our definition of stop must differ. From what has been leaked of the nuclear deal, it doesn’t stop them, it only postpones Iran going nuclear for decade.
@Greg:
You asked what options we had left as if we didn’t have options available. Just because you don’t agree with said option, doesn’t mean that we don’t have that option available.
In the context of the over all debate, crippling sanctions come into play if a deal is not reached.
It destroys the credibility of our negotiators themselves
As if building a mock US aircraft carrier and bombing it to dust, and then calling for Israels destruction for umpteenth time lends Iran any credibility as a peace partner. And never mind those chants of, “Death to America.”
Obama used to say about Iran and its nuclear enrichment that ”all options are on the table.”
But even he doesn’t say that anymore.
Iran is painting itself into a corner where the only options left are nasty ones for it IF (and I can’t make that IF big enough) Obama has the balls.
To quote Obama:
To quote Obama more recently, Obama said the issues standing in the way of a comprehensive agreement were no longer technical……
Gee, are we doing the limbo with Iran?
Is it a matter of how low we will go to please Iran?
Because, if that’s the game Obama is playing, the Iranians will have him, flat on his back, right on the ground.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, was quoted as saying he agreed with the Americans that it was better to have no deal than a bad deal.
he said.
Gee, what do you know?
the Ayatollah, Bibi N. and MOST Americans agree with one another and in opposition to Obama!
Did I just write, ”How low can you go?”
Iran has thrown down that gauntlet.
Iran’s state-owned Press TV is reporting that Tehran is demanding that all sanctions be lifted to proceed with a nuclear agreement.
@mossomo:
I guess I’m one of those crazy liberals who thinks a decade is better than a year. By the way, you do understand that it’s an utter fabrication that we’re going to “let them go nuclear” at the end of the deal right? Listen, the last thing I want to do is interject facts into your daily Obama derangement session, but you didn’t actually believe that, did you?
http://m.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/white-house-official-nuclear-deal-is-best-way-to-avoid-war-with-iran/386806/
@mossomo:
The option should be, you stop building a bomb, we don’t blow up your facilities. Deal?
@Redteam:
You can’t blow up the knowledge, which they have already. All you’re suggesting is a solution that’s likely more short term than an actual deal. Your idea is the implicit threat in the deal you seemingly oppose. By the way, do you have any idea how big Iran is?
@Tom:
Yes.
Your point? Knowledge is not enough to build an A Bomb. You have to have facilities. I’m sure the ‘formula’ for building an A bomb can be found on ‘google’, but the facilities are not there. Destroy their facilities, no further construction. If they start to rebuild facilities, destroy them again. The size of Iran doesn’t matter. B 52’s have a very long range.
@Redteam:
Good point. We’ve been bombing our way to victory in the Middle East for the last 15 years, so why would this time be different?
@Tom: I didn’t know we bombed Iran or was that just BS on your part?? Thought so!!
@Redteam:
You also missed the boat on my query regarding the size of Iran. The point is without the continuation of an intrusive inspection regiment, how the hell are we going to know where the facilities are located?
@Common Sense:
I thought there were more countries than Iran in the Middle East. Maybe the Neo-cons would prefer to forget?
@Common Sense: Sorry, forgot to add these for emphasis: “!!”
@Tom:
So with all things Obama that winds up in a major fail (Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt), the agreement is not to stop Iran from being the major state sponsor of terrorism, it is to kick the can down the road on Iran building nuclear weapons until Obama is out of office.
The IAEA has already stated that Iran has been dishonest in its revelations to the IAEA. According to the NY Times:
Iran is not going to be honest with Obama because Obama is so very, very charming. They are going to play him for the fool he is. Obama had an opportunity to get a grip on Iran when the students of Iran were holding signs saying “Obama, help us.” Instead, he went to play golf.
Anyone who thinks that Obama, or anyone in his administration, can maneuver a deal with Iran has not been paying attention. All one has to do is look at Iraq, which Joe Biden said would be the centerpiece of the Obama administration, the many claims the Obama administration made about Libya before the Benghazi massacre, how he managed to alienate Egypt by backing the Muslim Brotherhood, and many other examples of the ineptness of this administration. Someone needs to tell Obama that the Middle East is not as charmed by his “too cool” persona as some stupid Americans.
Frankly, I think we, and Israel, are screwed.
@Tom:
when did that start? 15 years would put it in early 2000, I don’t remember that.
I wasn’t talking about ‘bombing our way to victory’, only about ‘bombing Iran to a halt on nuclear development’. Quite a difference in goal.
Do you believe that one B2 dropping one bunker buster on that mountain in Iran would shut down bomb development? It would.
@Tom:
Are you serious? I’m not in any intelligence service and I know EGGZackly where they are. You think we don’t have competent spies, or what?
@Redteam:
It’s amazing how war mongers always think the next one will go off without a hitch. Nothing ever goes sideways, does it? That’s why that giant daisy cutter killed OBL at Tora Bora, and the Iraq war only lasted six months before victory. Know what, let’s not think too hard about this. Bibi, who is never wrong, told us what to do, so that’s good enough for me.
@Tom
I hadn’t classified you as a ‘war monger’ but if that’s what you’d like, it’s ok with me.
you trying to re-write history? I can’t see one B2 strike on one mountain in Iran taking over 6 months, or 6 hours either. That 6 month stike must be led by Obama and Kerry.
@Redteam:
All great points. So when do we start? Bomb. Bomb…BOMBYBOMB! By the way, how did we ever make decisions in this country before we figured out Obama was a secret Muslim? It’s like, yeah, he says this, but he’s a secret Muslim, so let’s do that. So easy.
@Tom:
I didn’t know it was a secret. What action did he take that a Muslim in charge would not have done?
@Redteam:
I think he went to church once or twice.
I’ve always wondered, do you need to take your hood off to eat soup, or is the mouth hole big enough to maneuver a spoon effectively?
@Redteam:
Ummm, Redteam, I think Tom just called you a KKKer. Typical liberal argument when they have nothing of substance.
@retire05:
Oh, c’mon, I never said that. Just like Scott Walker never said Obama isn’t Christian. But since you’re here, maybe you can help me with a problem. I am a huge Tigers fan and I’m trying to burn a giant T on my neighbor’s lawn. A giant lower case T. But, embarrassingly, I just can’t get it to light evenly. Do you have maybe a good pitch formula? Perhaps handed down in your family?
@Tom:
Maybe you can hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails and learn what she used to burn all those women that bewitched her husband? No doubt the Chinese already know.
@retire05:
Alright, that made me laugh.
@Tom:
By the way, you do understand that it’s an utter fabrication that we’re going to “let them go nuclear” at the end of the deal right?
I remember having this very same debate with somebody about our “Sunshine Policy” with North Korea. Those results only verified my derangement session was more wise than crazy.
a decade is better than a year.
Son, your math is wrong. Never is the correct answer.
@retire05:
the ineptness of this administration.
You are too kind.
@Redteam:
The option should be, you stop building a bomb, we don’t blow up your facilities. Deal?
You just don’t know how large Iran is. CIA and NRO suck anymore. Israeli HUMINT doesn’t exist in Iran. And Iranian dissents are too Gump to provide actionable intelligence.
@Nanny G:
the Iranians will have him, flat on his back, right on the ground.
Did they learn those moves from Reggie Love.
War with Iran makes sense, right? It will give us an opportunity to remove an active military threat to ISIS, and then to defend Iraq on two fronts simultaneously. (Look at a damn map.) It should also create excellent military opportunities for Vladimir Putin, for North Korea, and also an opening for some slow and thoughtful maneuvering by China. Meanwhile, we can finish bankrupting ourselves in the process. If Iraq ultimately cost us several trillion, what is war with Iran likely to cost? Iran is no push-over. So… What’s not to like?
I cannot believe the stupidity of all of this. How obvious does a really bad move have to be in order for people to recognize it?
@Tom:
You think? Well you think wrong. He hasn’t been to any church since elected. He has been to a mosque
You seem to know more about ‘hoods’ than I do, why don’t you tell us?
@retire05:
It does tell us what’s on his mind.
@mossomo:
They’re so good, you don’t even know they’re there.
It’s 1,648,195 km2 636,372 sq mi But the mountain where 99% of their nuke facilities is a lot smaller. One bunker buster will shut it down.
@Greg:
You give your buddy way too much credit. He will not do anything to confront the US militarily. They basically don’t have a military. It all went to hell when the soviet union collapsed. They’ve only been back in business a short time. Look at how he is struggling just trying to take one little penisula in Ukraine.
One bunker buster 3.5 million, to deliver it, less than 5 million. Any more questions?