STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS

Six Years After President Obama Reached Out to Iran, He Made a Historic Deal!
Congratulations to Obama, John Kerry, State Dept. Team, Military/Intelligence Community.
Historic Day for America/Hysterical Day for Bibi and Republican ChickenHawks!

For over 37 years, I have waited for this rapprochement with Iran. I knew that Obama would eventually reach it with this country. Obama had taken the initial risk as did Nixon with his unexpected shift to recognize China. Silent leaders make bold movements. Loud leaders or histrionic leaders like Bibi and McCain do nothing but create unnecessary wars which slaughter countless innocent victims.  Neither of these men will go down in history for anything more than ‘saber rattling’ ad infinitum.

Obama understood that Iran has been helpful to the US ground troops both in Iraq and Afghanistan by extricating them from a very dangerous, complex situation. Our military leaders had informed me for years that this was the case.

However, the Iran deal is important suis generis. For the most part, it really has nothing to do with nuclear capabilities. Iran really does not want a nuclear bomb. It is totally useless. Please ask the Pakistani leadership, both civilian and military, whether their having the Islamic Bomb in any way curtailed their corrupt political, incendiary practices in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India? Funny how Bibi never brings up Nuclear Pakistan when he rants about the dangerous of a Nuclear Islamic State. That’s because neither he nor the IDF care about nuclear capability.

As for Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni states, they have failed to maintain a civil society based on secular laws and transparent economic incentives. Instead of coming to terms with Iran, a very powerful Persian state, Saudi Arabia has decided to act out like a spoiled brat in kindergarten who has not been able to get the continuous attention of their surrogate father, America. For too long, Americans have tolerated Saudi Arabia’s nonsensical religious interpretation of the Holy Koran with narratives that emphasized the religious extremism and barbarism of a tribal sect, the Wahabbis. 

Now times have changed. Obama along with his negotiating team understood that inevitable transformation where America no longer would pamper the spoiled oil drenched hooligans of the Middle East—Dubai, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia and their poorer cohorts Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, etc.

Obama and Iran have signaled to the world that trade will once again travel through the Silk Roads of China, Russia and Iran in a vast infrastructure yet to be built by the different private corporations that will be bidding for the necessary contracts. New enterprises will arise where once sands and ruins have stood. Once again, our corporations—Bechtel, Boeing, Northrup Grumann, and Halliburton will descend into Persia and start up much needed businesses. Persian students will continue to flood our universities in the USA as they have had in the past and become the new leaders of a different type of democracy in Iran.

Germany, France, Russia and China will have the advantage of doing trade with the Iranians on a real competitive basis without fear of legal sanctions. Even the sneaky state of Israel who supplied the Ayatollah Khomeini with arms, guns, pilots, fighter jets and artillery shells [in Hebrew] during the 1989 Iran/Iraq Wars will make their necessary shekels without having to transfer goods to a third country as they have in the past four decades [especially  gas/oil/ telecommunications equipment/ military assistance, etc].

Finally, the Middle East hypocrisy of long-abiding allies: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Dubai, etc. will be attenuated for real détente without pretext that that those countries really need us for more than military hardware and assistance. Iran will dominate the Middle East Crescent as I have predicted for years. They will effectively displace the Sunnis and try to maintain a hegemony akin to what they had during the times of Cyrus the Great and Darius.

The only fly in this seemingly halcyon ointment is Turkey which for the present is completely besieged on all of its major geopolitical borders. But its Prime Minister, Erdogan, can no longer bluff his way forward. He will have to declare whether Turkey is a secular or religious state. Did Ataturk fail in the long run? Or did Sunni Islam rise again? Either way, Erdogan will have to deal with a Shi’ite Persia. He knows that and he has no choice.

As for America, we are in very good shape. Obama has corrected our financial markets so that we are no longer in a recession or economic abyss a la Bush Family. Obama has made us as of the past year, a net exporter of gas/oil. Obama has recognized Communist Cuba. And finally Obama has made peace with a three scores and seven year enemy: Iran. Even Stupid Republicans who want to destroy/diminish Obama’s accomplishments by inviting American trained con man Bibi to speak in front of congress, can’t stop the momentum.

As for me, as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Navy Captain, I resigned over President Carter’s orders in 1978 to accompany Ramsey Clark to visit Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris. At the time, I believed this opening movement would cause the USA major problems.  So I left. Sec. State Cyrus Vance resigned six months later. How would I know then that it would take five different Presidencies to finally accomplish what we should have done back in 1978----make peace with Ayatollah Khomeni?
Congratulations to all those members of this incredible American and Persian team that made this deal possible. The American people are no fools and we will not let anything stop this treaty from finally being ratified in June 2015.

As we say in Persian, “Merci”! 

As we say in Harlem, “Don’t Mess With The Man!” as a warning that should be heeded by all who think that they can spoil this deal. Just ask Petraeus, Hillary, Republicans and others what happens when you do.
Criticism of this deal is pretty much like worthless Book Reviews:

“Book Reviewers [critics] are little old ladies of both sexes.” John O’Hara [American Novelist].