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.
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.