Saturday, August 22, 2015

When Kerry Met Rouhani

I've been writing for a long time that the outline of a nuclear deal between America and Iran has been painfully clear: Iran will pretend not to have nuclear weapons programs; and we will pretend to believe them. The Parchin side agreement (Remember, it isn't secret--we just can't see it) is a small but easily digested example of this level of pretending.

Let's review the Parchin side deal between Iran and the IAEA (tip to Instapundit):

The document, titled “Separate arrangement II” – which was referenced in a Wednesday AP story and published Thursday – indicates that Iranians will be allowed to inspect themselves for evidence of the nuclear work they conducted at Parchin [a][b]. Instead of allowing IAEA inspectors to collect evidence from the facility, samples will be collected by the Iranians using Iranian equipment. Instead of allowing the IAEA to collect everything it wants, only seven samples will be handed over from mutually agreed upon areas. Instead of giving inspectors access to facilities, photos and videos will be taken by the Iranians themselves, again only from mutually agreed upon areas.

The side agreement is a farce. What kind of pressure was the IAEA under to even agree to this level of pretending to inspect? I wonder if someone at the IAEA leaked this in protest to putting their integrity into a blind trust for the duration of the deal.

And you wonder why I worry about what the IAEA could ignore with different personnel in charge if this is possible now?

Here is the text of this side deal which includes this gem:

The above mentioned measures would be followed, as a courtesy by Iran, by a public visit of the Director General, as a dignitary guest of the Government of Iran, accompanied by his deputy for safeguards.

So in the side deal, after the pretend inspecting is completed, Iran also agreed to a dog and pony show by the DG of the IAEA to Parchin--the only IAEA official to visit the site--to create the illusion that the IAEA inspected the site.

The farcical inspections take place in the shadows--or they are supposed to, anyway.

The purely "courtesy" visit is to take place under the glare of the photographers. Why would that be?

And given my earlier joke, I'd really like to see every secret side deal.

Why would our administration go to such lengths to pretend that this deal is so great? And why does our president assume we can't tell the difference between a real deal and his deal?



We're screwed by this deal. And we're supposed to like it. Just lie back and think of presidential legacy!

All things considered, Meg Ryan is an amateur at pretending. Nobody in the Obama administration deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for this sorry spectacle of a deal.

But they sure should be in the running for an Oscar.