Bush's Iran Plan Is Worse Than Obama's
Apr 28, 2015 1:00 AM EDT
By Marc Champion
Josh Rogin's astonishing article revealing what George W. Bush had to say about his successor's foreign policy raises so many questions, it's hard to know which one to ask first. What's the best way to respond to the man who invaded Iraq and forgot to think "what next?" when he tells President Barack Obama that, before using force, “you call in your military and say, ‘What’s your plan?’”
In any case, that's a debate for the past. What Bush said that's relevant for the future concerns Iran. Like Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, two former U.S. officials with rather better foreign policy records than his, Bush thinks the deal Obama is looking to strike is a disaster in the making.
You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren. That’s how Americans should view the deal
.
Here again, when you consider Bush's words, try to forget his invasion of Iraq, if you can. He's on solid ground when he says the deal with Iran might end badly. After all, it can't guarantee Iran never gets a bomb; it won't eliminate Iran's nuclear fuel production capacity; it won't end the country's long-range missile program; it won't remove the incentive for Saudi Arabia and other Iranian rivals to acquire nuclear weapons; and it won't change the nature of the regime in Tehran or its foreign policy goals.
That said, it's impossible to make a good argument that this deal should be scrapped unless you can suggest and defend a better one. What if this one is the best of all bad possibilities? Bush didn't offer any alternative, but we have a clue to what his might be in his record in dealing with the exact same threat Obama now faces.
It was in late 2002, almost two years into Bush's presidency, that an Iranian opposition group exposed Iran's covert nuclear fuel program to the public. In the first half of 2003, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the information, and later that year, after the U.S. had invaded Iraq, France, Germany and the U.K. began negotiations with Iran to end the nuclear program.
more...
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-28/bush-s-iran-plan-is-worse-than-obama-s