Iran to Inspect Itself in Nuke Deal. Plus: Senior Senate Dem on Foreign Relations Says NO to Deal!

Iran deal is already a farce but "self inspections" confirms opponents worst fears!

The Obama Administration hailed the Iran deal as "historic" and Obama himself declared that it wasn't based on trust but verification and insisted that the deal "contains the most comprehensive inspection and verification regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program." One expert sympathetic to Obama's deal chortled ""This puts in place unprecedented inspections on the ground. There's no other system like it in the world."

Well, maybe that last part was right. This deal may contain "unprecedented inspections" like no other. Just not the way the expert or Obama intended.

The Associated Press reports that one of the secret side deals, ones which were not even shared with American negotiators gives Iran the right to inspect itself at the most sensitive nuclear site:

(AP) -- Iran will be allowed to use its own inspectors to investigate a site it has been accused of using to develop nuclear arms, operating under a secret agreement with the U.N. agency that normally carries out such work, according to a document seen by The Associated Press.

Sen. Tom Cotten (R-AR) said this is like  "allowing an NFL player to submit their own samples for drug testing." Too bad Saddam Hussein didn't hold out for this kind of inspection. He might still be in power. Strike that. President Bush would never have fallen for this charade!

This revelation is sure to spark concern among some Democrats who will soon be called on to vote on the deal. But apparently not all. As AP reports:

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi shrugged off the revelation, saying, "I truly believe in this agreement."

"I truly believe" that there's no fact that will dislodge Pelosi from what approximates to a religious zeal in favor of a bad deal.

The White House insists that there is no provision for self inspection. Yet, Administration officials have already admitted they were not privy to the secret side deals. Like Nancy Pelosi they believe what they want to believe.

Read the agreement for yourself and see what YOU "believe:"

1. Iran will provide to the Agency photos of the locations, including those identified in paragraph 3 below, which would be mutually agreed between Iran and the Agency, taking into account military concerns.

2. Iran will provide to the Agency videos of the locations, including those identified in paragraph 3 below, which would be mutually agreed between Iran and the Agency, taking into account military concerns.

3. Iran will provide to the Agency 7 environmental samples taken from points inside one building already identified by the Agency and agreed by Iran, and 2 points outside of the Parchin complex which would be agreed between Iran and the Agency.

Top Foreign Policy Senate Dem Says NO to Bad Deal

Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has joined top foreign relations Democrats in the House in opposition to this deal. Menendez points out that the promises made by the Obama Administration when it first began negotiating with Iran were all thrown away. He concludes:

“We now know all of that fell by the wayside. But what we cannot dismiss is that we have now abandoned our long-held policy of preventing nuclear proliferation and are now embarked – not on preventing nuclear proliferation – but on managing or containing it -- which leaves us with a far less desirable, less secure, and less certain world order. So, I am deeply concerned that this is a significant shift in our nonproliferation policy, and about what it will mean in terms of a potential arms race in an already dangerous region.
...
“This deal grants Iran permanent sanctions relief in exchange for only temporary – temporary -- limitations on its nuclear program – not a rolling-back, not dismantlement, but temporary limitations. At year ten, the UN Security Council Resolution will disappear along with the dispute resolution mechanism needed to snapback UN sanctions and the 24-day mandatory access provision for suspicious sites in Iran.

“The deal enshrines for Iran, and in fact commits the international community to assisting Iran in developing an industrial-scale nuclear power program, complete with industrial scale enrichment.
...
“Whether or not the supporters of the agreement admit it, this deal is based on ‘hope’-- hope that when the nuclear sunset clause expires Iran will have succumbed to the benefits of commerce and global integration. Hope that the hardliners will have lost their power and the revolution will end its hegemonic goals. And hope that the regime will allow the Iranian people to decide their fate.

“Hope is part of human nature, but unfortunately it is not a national security strategy.
“The Iranian regime, led by the Ayatollah, wants above all to preserve the regime and its Revolution, unlike the Green Revolution of 2009. So it stretches incredulity to believe they signed on to a deal that would in any way weaken the regime or threaten the goals of the Revolution.

“I understand that this deal represents a trade-off, a hope that things may be different in Iran in ten-15 years. Maybe Iran will desist from its nuclear ambitions. Maybe they'll stop exporting and supporting terrorism. Maybe they'll stop holding innocent Americans hostage. Maybe they'll stop burning American flags. And maybe their leadership will stop chanting, “Death to America" in the streets of Tehran. Or maybe they won't.

That's only a small snippet from Menendez's statement. For anyone who says opponents of the deal haven't thought it through I recommend reading his statement in it's entirety.

Menendez confirms what many of us have said about Obama's foreign policy from the beginning. It's based on a fantasy that hope will overcome national self interest and weaken the hold that evil regimes like Iran have over their people. It's a bad deal and top Democrats know it!