This Memorial Day: ‘Eyes on the prize’ – or the lies?

Bill Knight column for Mon., Tues. or Wed., May 28, 29 or 30, 2018

Nobel Peace Prize wannabe and U.S. strongman Donald Trump on Thursday cancelled the June summit with North Korea strongman Kim Jong Un, another distraction, one diverting our attention from another foreign-policy farce that’s arguably more important.

The dust has somewhat settled after Trump this month decided to violate the U.S. treaty with Iran and six other parties. The dustup isn’t yet radioactive, but its dangers are dire. It’s antagonizing Iranian leaders into considering whether to pursue nuclear arms, confusing businesses that resumed doing business there, angering other nations, from long-time allies to China and Russia, and seemingly setting up another Mideast war.

This Memorial Day week, look at recent graduates and wonder whether they’ll be in combat over another country depicted as having “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” Look at long-term care residents and ask what their futures would be with more blood and treasure spilled and spent. Look in the mirror…

The Iran treaty that Trump individually broke discouraged Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Negotiated three years ago by the Obama administration, working with Russia, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU), it was condemned by Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign to criticize predecessors. He called it “one of the most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into,” later adding that the U.S. “will be instituting the highest level of economic sanctions.”

Requiring Iran to convert or cut nuclear facilities and accept international monitoring in exchange for lifting some economic sanctions, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action shouldn’t be about Trump’s ignorance or zeal to undo Obama’s achievements. The deal was working. Last spring Central Intelligence Agency experts said Iran was complying, and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency agreed.

Illinois’ U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said withdrawing was “a mistake of historic proportions. [It] isolates the United States from the world at a time when we need our allies to come together to address nuclear threats.”

Most Americans supported the Iran pact according to a survey by the nonpartisan Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA). Most Americans thought the deal helped deter nuclear proliferation; 60 percent said that the U.S. should participate in the agreement –73 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents, and 48 percent of Republicans.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responded to Trump, saying, “Iran is a country that adheres to its commitments, and the U.S. is a country that has never adhered to its commitments. Who are you to decide for Iran and the world? The world today does not accept America to decide for the world.”

Indeed, EU foreign-affairs chief Federica Mogherini said, “The nuclear deal is not a bilateral agreement, and it is not in the hands of any single country to terminate it unilaterally. The nuclear deal with Iran is crucial for the security of the region, of Europe and of the entire region. As long as Iran continues to implement its nuclear-related commitments as it is doing so far, the European Union will remain committed to continued, full and effective implementation.”

            The pact was unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council and was an important piece of the world’s non-proliferation goal. Trump’s decision to decide on his own to violate the agreement casts doubt on future talks with North Korea, and the value of any promise by the U.S. government. But if “Make America Great Again” means “America First,” then the world comes later.

The sanctions were and could be devastating, withholding medicine and causing poverty for regular Iranians. The Treasury Department already has restored sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week demanded Iran agree to a dozen other unrelated demands and implied that the U.S. is ready to confront Europe and companies that do business in Iran.

 “It is one of the biggest achievements that diplomacy has ever delivered, and we have built this together,” the EU’s Mogherini said to world leaders. “It is the demonstration that win-win solutions are possible through dialogue, engagement and perseverance, that common ground that be found – even when positions and interest differ, that respect can be a universal language. This deal belongs to each and every one of us. Stay true to our commitments and we will stay true to ours, and together with the rest of the international community we will preserve this nuclear deal.”

Congress has 60 days to decide its next move. Iran also can initiate the treaty’s dispute resolution process, opening another 45-day period to express grievances and seek compromise.

As we remember the service and sacrifice made for the nation, we should also note the excuses government has used to send Americans into harm’s way. Some were just and noble; some were not and dishonest.