FOD 2014.12.01

My biggest fear is that some radical islamic group will get its hands on a true weapon of mass destruction, be it nuclear, biological, or chemical. We all know they will have no hesitation or compunction about using it.

IMO the most likely breakthrough will come courtesy of Iran, which continues its nuclear development program unchecked by treaties, agreements, sanctions, or threats.

And definitely unchecked by the obama administration.

Iran Cheats, Obama Whitewashes

The administration thinks a nuclear Iran is inevitable—but lacks the courage to say it.

Does it matter what sort of deal—or further extension, or non-deal—ultimately emerges from the endless parleys over Iran’s nuclear program? Probably not. Iran came to the table cheating on its nuclear commitments. It continued to cheat on them throughout the interim agreement it agreed to last year. And it will cheat on any undertakings it signs.

The latest confirmation of the obvious comes to us courtesy of a Nov. 17 report from David Albright and his team at the scrupulously nonpartisan Institute for Science and International Security. The ISIS study (not to be confused with the ISIS currently running rampant in the Middle East), based on findings from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), concluded that Iran was stonewalling U.N. inspectors on the military dimensions of its program. It noted that Tehran had tested a model for an advanced centrifuge, in violation of the 2013 interim agreement. And it cited Iran for trying to conceal evidence of nuclear-weapons development at a military facility called Parchin.

These are only Iran’s most recent evasions, piled atop two decades of documented nuclear deception. Nothing new there. But what are we to make of an American administration that is intent on providing cover for Iran’s coverups? “The IAEA has verified that Iran has complied with its commitments,” Wendy Sherman, the top U.S. nuclear negotiator, testified in July to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It has done what it promised to do.” John Kerry went one better, telling reporters Monday that “Iran has lived up” to its commitments.

That's not just a whitewash of the highest magnitude. That's a bald-faced lie.

... Yukiya Amano, the director general of the IAEA, complained last week that Iran had “not provided any explanations that enable the Agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures” related to suspected work on weaponization. Since when did trust but verify become whitewash and hornswoggle?

That’s a question someone ought to ask Mr. Kerry or Ms. Sherman at their next committee appearance...

Why the spin and dishonesty? ... The real problem is cowardice. As a matter of politics (the obama administration) cannot acknowledge what, privately, it believes: that a nuclear Iran is undesirable but probably inevitable and hardly catastrophic. As a matter of strategy, it refuses to commit to the only realistic course of action that could accomplish the goal it professes to seek: The elimination of Iran’s nuclear capabilities by a combination of genuinely crippling sanctions and targeted military strikes.

And so—because the administration lacks the political courage of its real convictions or the martial courage of its fake ones—we are wedded to this sham process of negotiation. “They pretend to pay us; we pretend to work,” went the old joke about labor in the Soviet Union. Just so with these talks. Iranians pretend not to cheat; we pretend not to notice. All that’s left to do is stand back and wait for something to happen.

Think about the 'somethings' that might happen. obama could grow a pair and implement truly meaningful sanctions, perhaps even some form of military action.

Highly unlikely.

Someone else in the international community might step up and do what needs to be done. The Saudis? Possibly. The Israelis? More likely. The UN? Fuggedaboutit.

Or, possibly, no one steps up. Iran gets a nuke, and some American city disappears in a flash of light.

Thanks to the empty suit that today sits in the Oval Office...