{"id":1368,"date":"2017-06-19T15:29:46","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T15:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/new\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2017-07-13T17:45:30","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T17:45:30","slug":"nearly-200-former-us-military-leaders-urge-congress-to-reject-iran-nuclear-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/19\/nearly-200-former-us-military-leaders-urge-congress-to-reject-iran-nuclear-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 200 Former US Military Leaders Urge Congress to Reject Iran Nuclear Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The battle for Congress\u2019 vote on the Iran nuclear deal wages on. Some 200 former US military leaders stated opposition to the accord, saying it threatens national security.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

A group of nearly 200 retired generals and admirals sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday urging American lawmakers to reject the\u00a0Iran nuclear agreement<\/a>, saying it\u00a0threatens\u00a0national security, the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

Supporters and opponents of the deal are\u00a0waging a vigorous battle<\/a>\u00a0over the votes of congressmen, who are\u00a0slated to vote next month on\u00a0the deal<\/a>\u00a0secured by\u00a0President Barack Obama<\/a>, which is perceived by his backers\u00a0as the crown jewel of his foreign policy.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In the latest development, retired senior military officers, including many who had\u00a0worked in the White House during various administrations dating back to the 1980s, penned a letter addressed to Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate and the House.<\/p>\n

The letter is a response to a previous\u00a0one\u00a0sent last week by three dozen retired senior military officers expressing\u00a0support for the deal, the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agreement will enable Iran to become far more dangerous, render the Mideast still more unstable and introduce new threats to American interests as well as our allies,\u201d Wednesday\u2019s\u00a0letter states.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our judgment as former senior military officers\u2026removing sanctions on Iran and releasing billions of dollars to its regime over the next ten years is\u00a0inimical to the security of Israel and the Middle East<\/a>,\u201d it continues.<\/p>\n

Citing issues such as limited inspections, Iran\u2019s tendency to violate agreements and the fact that the deal does not completely stop Iran from acquiring a bomb, the letter states that \u201cthe JCPOA [nuclear agreement] would threaten the national security and vital interests of the United States and, therefore, should be disapproved by the Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn summary, this agreement will enable Iran to become far more dangerous, render the Mideast still more unstable and introduce new threats to American interests as well as our allies. In our professional opinion, far from being an alternative to war, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action makes it likely that the war the Iranian regime has waged against us since 1979 will continue, with far higher risks to our national security interests. Accordingly, we urge the Congress to reject this defective accord,\u201d the letter concludes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Most Dangerous Nuclear Accord in US History\u2019<\/h1>\n

The signatories include retired generals and flag officers from every branch of service. One is retired Lt. Gen. William G. \u201cJerry\u201d Boykin, who was deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence under President George W. Bush and is now executive vice president of the Family Research Council.<\/p>\n

Retired Vice Adm. John Poindexter also fixed his name to the missive as well as retired Maj. Gen. Richard Secord, who were involved in the Iran-Contra affair during\u00a0the Reagan administration, according to\u00a0which arms were sold to Iran, in violation of the arms embargo, in order to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

Many of the letter\u2019s signatories served in the White House under both Democratic and Republian administrations. \u201cThe only thing they appear to have in common is that they consider the Iran nuclear deal a threat to US interests in the region and its own national security,\u201d the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0states.<\/p>\n

Leon A. \u201cBud\u201d Edney, a retired admiral who served as vice chief of naval operations, initiated the letter after reading the previous one written\u00a0by other retired officers in support of the agreement.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Retired<\/p>\n

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney. (Wikipedia)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI looked at the letter they published and thought it was very weak,\u201d Edney is quoted as saying by the\u00a0Post<\/em>. \u201cI just don\u2019t agree with it.\u201d He passed the letter on to colleagues, who shared it with others. The number of signatories to the responding letter almost doubled between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think this letter will sway anything,\u201d Edney conceded. \u201cIt\u2019s just the opinion of people who have served their country. It\u2019s an alternative view to what I consider a very weak letter put out by the administration, implying generals and admirals support this agreement. But I don\u2019t think it will have any impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, who was vice commander of US Air Forces in Europe, said he considers the agreement \u201cthe most dangerous nuclear accord in US history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I don\u2019t like about this is, the number one leading radical Islamic group in the world is the Iranians,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are purveyors of radical Islam throughout the region and throughout the world. And we are going to enable them to get nuclear weapons. Why would we do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

McInerney said he\u00a0believes\u00a0that most retired general officers do not support the agreement\u00a0but that not all agreed to\u00a0sign the letter, fearing negative career repercussions.<\/p>\n

By: United with Israel Staff<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

Sign the Petition to Oppose the Nuclear Deal with Iran<\/h3>\n

The US Congress must reject the dangerous deal with Iran and ensure that sanctions remain in force until the nuclear threat is completely eliminated.<\/p>\n

I strongly oppose any deal with Iran that allows for easing sanctions before the nuclear threat has been completely eliminated. Allowing Iran to enrich uranium without being subject to ‘anytime, anywhere’ inspections is extremely dangerous and unacceptable. This bad deal with Iran is far worse than no deal and must be rejected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The battle for Congress\u2019 vote on the Iran nuclear deal wages on. Some 200 former US military leaders stated opposition to the accord, saying it threatens national security. A group of nearly 200 retired generals and admirals sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday urging American lawmakers to reject the\u00a0Iran nuclear agreement, saying it\u00a0threatens\u00a0national security,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1368"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5163,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions\/5163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}