Many of the Democrats who have come out against the Iran nuclear deal, such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), are veteran lawmakers who have less to fear than young members in terms of repercussions from leadership or the administration for defying the president.
But a freshman Dem from Pennsylvania came out against the Iran deal Sunday in an op-ed declaring that the agreement Obama insists is an alternative to war will actually lead us to war.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) is the sixth Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to come out against the deal.
He wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer that, even after meeting with Obama in the White House Situation Room, he determined there were three reasons why he couldn’t support the deal.
“First, this agreement will inject at least $56 billion into the Iranian regime. This is a massive sum for a country with a gross domestic product of $400 billion,” Boyle wrote. “What does Iran currently spend its money on? It is the single largest funder of terrorism in the region. It funds Hezbollah in Lebanon, supplying it with more than 80,000 rockets, all located just over the Israeli border. It funds Hamas in Gaza. Remember those thousands of rockets that rained down on Israel last year? They too were courtesy of Iran. And Iran also funds the murderous Assad regime in Syria.”
“The administration’s response on this point is to claim that money shouldn’t be an issue when analyzing the nuclear agreement. But it is part of this agreement. It would be impossible to analyze this deal without weighing the inevitable impact these billions will have on the further funding of terrorism.”
Boyle also points to the lack of anytime, anywhere inspections and disputes the administration assertion that a 24-day notice is no big deal. “As a former top official at the International Atomic Energy Agency recently confirmed, 24 days is enough time for Iran to hide most weaponization activity,” the congressman wrote. “During a congressional hearing, I asked Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to dispute this fact. They did not.”
His third objection is that the deal does not prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power but merely delays it.
“The argument that a vote against this deal is a vote for war is disingenuous. Actually, the opposite is true,” Boyle wrote. Releasing billions of dollars to Iran will result in more rockets in Lebanon and Gaza. These will be used against Israel, as similar weapons have been for the last seven years. With more cash for more rockets, these attacks will likely happen again, increasing the odds that Israel again will respond militarily. Only this time, the Israeli wars with Lebanon and Gaza will last longer, and there will be higher casualty numbers.”
“The nuclear agreement with Iran doesn’t make war less likely. It makes war more likely.”
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