Monday, July 20, 2015
Our hostages in Iran are more important than President Obama's feelings
The gist of President Obama’s press conference on
Wednesday was that he’s proud of his Iran agreement. And he may well be
right that it's a good deal. Not being a nuclear physicist, I don't have
any frame of reference to judge whether it blocks Iran's path to the
bomb. And, frankly, neither does the chorus of those with knee-jerk
reactions. Personally, I look forward to hearing from experts and hope
there can be a substantive, mature discussion in the Congress.
Preventing a nuclear-armed Iran is essential, and I applaud the president’s efforts to pursue that goal diplomatically rather than militarily. He's right that it’s naive to think Iran was poised to capitulate completely, and he's right that solving every issue in one agreement is not feasible. And while the president even resorted to posing questions to himself that he thought reporters should have, he wasn't likely to address Amir Hekmati or the other three Americans held hostage or missing in Iran.
So Major Garrett had to. He pointed out one of those “concerns with regard to Iran”: that the Islamic Republic has unlawfully taken three Americans hostage (with one more missing and thought to be held by persons unknown at the behest of the regime in Tehran), and that Iran has used them as bargaining chips in an attempt to exact concessions.
Garrett asked the president why he was "content" to leave the issue of the hostages outstanding. I might have worded the questions slightly differently, but that doesn't mean Major was wrong to ask his question his way.
But I can tell you that the president hasn’t met with all their families, in fact, I’ve begged him on TV to meet with the family of former Marine Amir Hekmati or at least say his name out loud.
I’ve grown close to the family over the past several months, and I’ve asked the President to visit them before Amir’s father, Ali Hekmati, dies of cancer, so that he can hear personally how much his son’s service means to his commander in chief.
I understand that the president is busy even on a good day and that scheduling a presidential visit is challenging. But it's been nearly four years. That said, I do commend Vice President Biden for meeting with Amir’s sister and her husband at length recently.
What’s a bigger deal to me than a visit, a bigger deal than the fact that the hostages weren't released immediately as a result of this deal (which I think was an unreasonable expectation), is that the president didn’t even mention the four Americans until Garrett brought them up. Granted, he’s stated his commitment to their freedom in the past, but I’ve yet to hear a plan from his administration for securing their release.
“One thing at a time,” you could argue. And that’s fair. It’s difficult and delicate work to win the release of any prisoner unjustly imprisoned abroad, especially in a rogue nation like Iran.
I know this because I’ve been working for the past 8 months advocating for Amir’s release. I’ve been on the ground with his family, most recently in Vienna, the site of the nuclear negotiations, to help them make sure Amir’s case loomed large over the discussions.
I constantly assure the family that it takes time, but we’ll get him home. I tell them the story of Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi, a former Marine with PTSD, who was unjustly imprisoned in Mexico. It took months to secure his release, but now he’s home.
When I tell Amir’s family this, they nod and they smile, but I can see in their eyes that they’re working hard not to lose hope. That’s the hardest part: keeping hope alive as the good news turns to bad, as reporters take up the cause one day and drop it the next, as the months roll into years.
This family needs more than handshakes and the occasional sound bite. It needs commitment and work and vision and a plan.
Major Garrett's job is to ask the president tough questions. President Obama, like him or not, is a brilliant, Harvard-trained attorney and a talented rhetorician when he chooses to be. I think those who rushed to outrage over the form of Major's question ended up accomplishing nothing other than patronizing the president.
You can’t solve all the world’s problems in a day, and preventing nuclear war is the highest priority. But if you ask me, these prisoners are a pretty damn high priority too. Every day they languish in prison as bargaining chips for whatever concession Iran might need next, our reputation grows weaker.
And they grow weaker. Amir has lost 30 pounds and developed a lung disease due to the squalid conditions in which he’s being held. He served his country honorably, and now he’s sitting in a damp cell while President Obama yells at Major Garrett just for mentioning him.
Just answer the question, Mr. President.
Ultimately, history may judge Major's question as a watershed moment in this crisis. At a bare minimum, anyone connected to the Internet in this country now knows there are four Americans being held hostage in Iran. The media should debate the way Major asked the question – that's healthy – but shame on those outlets who debated the words Major used without also telling those four Americans' stories.
Montel Williams is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy who served 22 years in the Marine Corps and the Navy. He went on to host the emmy award winning Montel Williams Show for 17 seasons and is now a noted activist on veterans issues. Williams is heavily involved in the campaign to free former Marine Amir Hekmati, currently held hostage in Iran nearly 4 years and asks all to use hashtag #freeamirnow on social media and go to giveforward.com/freeamir to help the Hekmati family. Follow him on Twitter@montel_williams and on facebook at Facebook.com/montelwilliamsfan.
Preventing a nuclear-armed Iran is essential, and I applaud the president’s efforts to pursue that goal diplomatically rather than militarily. He's right that it’s naive to think Iran was poised to capitulate completely, and he's right that solving every issue in one agreement is not feasible. And while the president even resorted to posing questions to himself that he thought reporters should have, he wasn't likely to address Amir Hekmati or the other three Americans held hostage or missing in Iran.
So Major Garrett had to. He pointed out one of those “concerns with regard to Iran”: that the Islamic Republic has unlawfully taken three Americans hostage (with one more missing and thought to be held by persons unknown at the behest of the regime in Tehran), and that Iran has used them as bargaining chips in an attempt to exact concessions.
Garrett asked the president why he was "content" to leave the issue of the hostages outstanding. I might have worded the questions slightly differently, but that doesn't mean Major was wrong to ask his question his way.
Amir has lost 30 pounds and developed a lung disease due to the squalid conditions in which he’s being held. He served his country honorably, and now he’s sitting in a damp cell while President Obama yells at Major Garrett just for mentioning him.Obama countered by saying that he is concerned about the hostages and that he’s met their families. And he scolded Garrett: “I gotta give you credit, Major, for how you craft those questions. The notion that I’m content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails. Major, that’s nonsense and you should know better.”
But I can tell you that the president hasn’t met with all their families, in fact, I’ve begged him on TV to meet with the family of former Marine Amir Hekmati or at least say his name out loud.
I’ve grown close to the family over the past several months, and I’ve asked the President to visit them before Amir’s father, Ali Hekmati, dies of cancer, so that he can hear personally how much his son’s service means to his commander in chief.
I understand that the president is busy even on a good day and that scheduling a presidential visit is challenging. But it's been nearly four years. That said, I do commend Vice President Biden for meeting with Amir’s sister and her husband at length recently.
What’s a bigger deal to me than a visit, a bigger deal than the fact that the hostages weren't released immediately as a result of this deal (which I think was an unreasonable expectation), is that the president didn’t even mention the four Americans until Garrett brought them up. Granted, he’s stated his commitment to their freedom in the past, but I’ve yet to hear a plan from his administration for securing their release.
“One thing at a time,” you could argue. And that’s fair. It’s difficult and delicate work to win the release of any prisoner unjustly imprisoned abroad, especially in a rogue nation like Iran.
I know this because I’ve been working for the past 8 months advocating for Amir’s release. I’ve been on the ground with his family, most recently in Vienna, the site of the nuclear negotiations, to help them make sure Amir’s case loomed large over the discussions.
I constantly assure the family that it takes time, but we’ll get him home. I tell them the story of Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi, a former Marine with PTSD, who was unjustly imprisoned in Mexico. It took months to secure his release, but now he’s home.
When I tell Amir’s family this, they nod and they smile, but I can see in their eyes that they’re working hard not to lose hope. That’s the hardest part: keeping hope alive as the good news turns to bad, as reporters take up the cause one day and drop it the next, as the months roll into years.
This family needs more than handshakes and the occasional sound bite. It needs commitment and work and vision and a plan.
Major Garrett's job is to ask the president tough questions. President Obama, like him or not, is a brilliant, Harvard-trained attorney and a talented rhetorician when he chooses to be. I think those who rushed to outrage over the form of Major's question ended up accomplishing nothing other than patronizing the president.
You can’t solve all the world’s problems in a day, and preventing nuclear war is the highest priority. But if you ask me, these prisoners are a pretty damn high priority too. Every day they languish in prison as bargaining chips for whatever concession Iran might need next, our reputation grows weaker.
And they grow weaker. Amir has lost 30 pounds and developed a lung disease due to the squalid conditions in which he’s being held. He served his country honorably, and now he’s sitting in a damp cell while President Obama yells at Major Garrett just for mentioning him.
Just answer the question, Mr. President.
Ultimately, history may judge Major's question as a watershed moment in this crisis. At a bare minimum, anyone connected to the Internet in this country now knows there are four Americans being held hostage in Iran. The media should debate the way Major asked the question – that's healthy – but shame on those outlets who debated the words Major used without also telling those four Americans' stories.
Montel Williams is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy who served 22 years in the Marine Corps and the Navy. He went on to host the emmy award winning Montel Williams Show for 17 seasons and is now a noted activist on veterans issues. Williams is heavily involved in the campaign to free former Marine Amir Hekmati, currently held hostage in Iran nearly 4 years and asks all to use hashtag #freeamirnow on social media and go to giveforward.com/freeamir to help the Hekmati family. Follow him on Twitter@montel_williams and on facebook at Facebook.com/montelwilliamsfan.
Pentagon chief Carter not offering new arms deal to Israel
WASHINGTON – In the face of Israeli outrage over the Iran nuclear accord, the Pentagon is moving quickly to reinforce arguably the strongest part of the U.S.-Israeli relationship: military cooperation.
But officials say Washington has no plans to offer new weaponry as compensation for the Iran deal.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter left for Tel Aviv on Sunday to push ahead with talks on ways the U.S. can further improve Israel's security -- not just with Iranian threats in mind, but an array of other challenges, including cyberdefense and maritime security.
Israel also has expressed concern that U.S. sales of advanced weaponry to Gulf Arab states has the potential of offsetting, to some degree, Israel's qualitative military edge.
Aides said in advance of the trip that although Carter strongly supports the Iran deal, he had no intention of trying to reverse Israeli opposition to it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced the deal as a mistake of historic proportion.
Carter is scheduled to meet with Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, as well as with Israeli generals, and visit troops in northern Israel. He plans to stop in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, U.S. allies whose leaders also are worried about implications of the nuclear deal.
On the day the Iran accord was announced, Carter issued a statement saying the U.S. is "prepared and postured" to help Israel improve its security, although he offered no specifics. He added that the U.S. would "use the military option if necessary" to protect its allies, to "check Iranian malign influence" and to ensure freedom of navigation in the Gulf.
The U.S.-Israel defense relationship has deepened in recent years, even as tensions between the two over how to contain Iran's nuclear program has grown.
The U.S. has invested hundreds of millions in an Israeli air defense system known as Iron Dome, designed to shoot down short-range rockets, mortars and artillery shells fired into northern Israel from southern Lebanon and into Israel's south from the Gaza Strip. The U.S. has worked with Israel on anti-missile systems and a wide range of other defenses. Two years ago the Pentagon committed to providing advanced radars for Israel's fleet of fighter jets and KC-135 refueling aircraft, and making Israel the first country to buy the V-22 Osprey hybrid airplane-helicopter.
Just two months ago Washington announced a $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel for a range of missiles and bombs, including bunker busters that can penetrate reinforced defenses to reach underground targets. Not included is the Pentagon's biggest bunker buster bomb.
"There is no real compensation for Israel."Israeli officials insist they are not prepared to discuss American "compensation" for the Iran deal, saying that would imply acceptance of the accord. Israel believes there are loopholes in the deal that will pave the way for Iran to eventually emerge as a nuclear power.
- Israeli Cabinet Minister Yuval Steinitz
Cabinet Minister Yuval Steinitz, Netanyahu's point man on the nuclear issue, told reporters "there is no real compensation for Israel" if Iran develops the capacity to make nuclear weapons. While he said that Israel will discuss "almost everything" with the U.S., he said Israel's focus right now is voicing its opposition to the deal.
The two countries have been holding talks on renewing a 10-year defense pact set to expire in 2018. Under the current deal, Israel receives about $3 billion in military aid from the U.S. each year. That number is likely to increase when the deal is renewed, and possibly before then.
Obama has indicated he is open to new ways of improving Israeli security, but he has played down the idea that ending economic penalties on Iran will drastically alter the balance of power in the region.
"Do we think that with the sanctions coming down, that Iran will have some additional resources for its military and for some of the activities in the region that are a threat to us and a threat to our allies? I think that is a likelihood," Obama told a White House news conference on Wednesday. "Do I think it's a game-changer for them? No."
Some private analysts also suggest the concern about Iranian ascendancy may be exaggerated.
"Naturally, with the lifting of sanctions there's going to be concern by Israel and Saudi Arabia that Iran will become `normalized' in the region. However, I think Iran is still going to face a certain amount of isolation," Dalia Dassa Kaye, director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy, wrote in an analysis.
Obama's principal military adviser, Gen. Martin Dempsey, met with Netanyahu and Israeli military officials just last month. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman told reporters with him in Israel that once an Iran nuclear deal was struck, Israeli and U.S. officials needed to "quickly and comprehensively" discuss the way ahead.
"It will be incumbent on both of us to make sure that we provide the kind of reassurances that the state of Israel has always counted on us to provide. But we are going to have to do the same thing with the Gulf allies," Dempsey said, alluding to deep concerns in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that removing sanctions on Iran would make it a greater regional danger.
Dempsey said he understands why Israelis believe a nuclear deal will give Iran room to accelerate its funding of surrogate Shiite groups like Hezbollah.
"I share their concern," Dempsey said.
Trump won't apologize to McCain, suggests backlash led by trailing GOP rivals
Donald Trump on Sunday declined to apologize for his comments about war veteran and Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, suggesting the backlash is being fueled by fellow Republican presidential candidates trailing him in the polls.
“Republican candidates, some of whom are registering one percent and zero, they're very upset that I'm leading the polls by actually a nice margin,” Trump, a self-funded, billionaire real estate mogul, told ABC’s “This Week.” “They started attacking me.”
On Saturday, Trump acknowledge that McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot who spent five-and-a-half years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, was indeed a war hero but only “because he was captured.”
“I like people who weren’t captured,” he also said.
The feud between Trump and McCain appeared to have started during a recent event in Phoenix, Ariz., that swelled to 1,500 people, many apparently energized by Trump suggesting that he would, if elected, build a wall along the southern U.S. border and that some Mexicans coming into the country are rapists and drug dealers.
McCain, whom Trump financially backed in his failed 2008 presidential bid, called the attendees “crazies,” which upset Trump, who called for an apology.
Most of the 14 other GOP candidates have condemned Trump’s remarks about McCain, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry who are calling for Trump to quit the race.
“This is not just an insult to John McCain, who clearly is a war hero and a great man,” Rubio said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But it's an insult to all POWs, to all men and women who have served us in uniform, who have been captured in battle. … It's ridiculous. And I do think it is a disqualifier as commander in chief.”
Within hours of Trump’s “war hero” comments, Perry called for him to drop out, and he repeated his position Sunday.
“I really don't understand his strategy here of taking on a bullet that went through John McCain and a hit a lot of us that wore the uniform of this country,” Perry said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I still stand by my statement. Until Mr. Trump apologizes directly to John McCain and to the veterans of this country, I don't think he has the character or the temperament to hold the highest position in this country.”
McCain has yet to respond.
“I'm certainly not pulling out,” Trump told ABC. “I'm leading and I'm leading in many states. … And I will win the Hispanic vote.”
Trump also said he received a standing ovation after the event Saturday in Ames, Iowa, at which he made the comments and that “nobody was offended.”
“This whole thing was brought up by a lot of the people that are competing against me currently that aren't even registering in the polls,” he said.
Trump also repeated earlier criticism about McCain failing to use his elected position of power to improve the trouble Department of Veterans Affairs so that veterans could get better health care without the exceedingly long waits.
“It's a scandal. And John McCain has done nothing,” he said, before waving off criticism from veterans’ groups, saying, “Maybe they don't speak to the same vets that I speak to.”
Obama looks to ban Social Security recipients from owning guns
The Obama administration wants to keep people collecting Social Security benefits from owning guns if it is determined they are unable to manage their own affairs, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The push, which could potentially affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others, is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws that prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the United States illegally, and others, according to the paper.
The language of federal gun laws restricts ownership to people who are unable to manage their own affairs due to "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease” – which could potentially affect a large group within Social Security, the LA Times reported.
If Social Security, which has never taken part in the background check system, uses the same standard as the Department of Veterans Affairs – which is the idea floated – then millions of beneficiaries could be affected, with about 4.2 million adults receiving monthly benefits that are managed by “representative payees.”
The latest move is part of the efforts by President Obama to strengthen gun control following the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.
Critics are blasting the plan, saying that expanding the list of people who cannot own guns based on financial competence is wrongheaded.
The ban, they argue, would keep guns out of the hands of some dangerous people, but would also include people who simply have a bad memory or have a hard time balancing a checkbook.
The background check for gun ownership started in 1993 by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, named after White House Press Secretary James Brady, who was partially paralyzed after being shot in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
Gun stores are required to run the names of potential buyers through a computerized system before every sale.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Tit for Tat ? ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the an...
-
What's the role of government? To one award-winning academic, it's discrimination according to race. On February 9th, Mic...
-
NEW YORK (AP) — As New York City faced one of its darkest days with the death toll from the coronavirus surging past 4,000 — more th...