We reported on this matter a few days ago but our astonishment about the reaction non-reaction from the Republican led Congress has only increased.
From the London Daily Mail today:
- Obama administration makes acknowledgments in letter to Kansas congressman
- Administration did not make a signature on the nuclear agreement necessary
- Controversial deal was not passed by Congress, but approval wasn’t necessary
- Deal is expected to start taking effect in January
As of Sunday, it has been 5 days since the news broke that the “deal” so artfully negotiated with Iran by the wily John Kerry to “prevent” that terrorist-sponsoring nation from developing nuclear weapons had not been signed…by anyone!
Aside from some news stories in some “news outlets” on the day that revelation was made, there has been little domestic mention of it since, that we have found, other than on some conservative websites. The link and lede from the London Daily Mail is then not an exception.
The Obama administration has apparently put that story “to bed” with, it, seemed to us, a kind of high schoolish, and condescending response to Congressman Mike Pompeo (R,KS) who had asked if the final copy of the “agreement” had been provided to Congress since the one received was not signed.
In her letter to Congressman Pompeo, Julia Frifield, noted “Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs”, after expressing her gratitude for his letter, advised the congressman that the “JCPOA” is not a treaty, not an “executive agreement”, certainly not a “signed document”, and, of course, is not “legally binding”. It’s just some “political commitments” that Secretary Kerry and some of the guys from Iran and the other 5 nations kinda got together and made.
She respectfully implied that Congressman Pompeo should know that the US does this stuff all the time.
We wonder how some of us regular American folks thought that the 2 year long talks, so “sensitive” that they couldn’t be revealed even to our Congress while in progress, was a big deal. Here it turns out it’s just some “political commitments”.
And Ms. Frifield assures us all that they include a whole lot of things Iran agreed to do and if they don’t carry them out, those dreaded “sanctions” will be “reimposed”! Now whether that would include Iran giving back the $150 billion which will have been released to them, Ms. Frifield doesn’t say. But keep in mind, she notes, President Obama and his administration are committed to “full transparency” as the JCPOA is implemented.
In our earlier piece on this subject, us simple folk at Veritaspac, wondered how this extraordinarily dangerous travesty could go unchallenged, including the immediate initiation of impeachment proceedings against President Obama.
This so-called set of “political commitments”, which violate every stated objective of the highly touted Iran “nuclear” talks and has resulted in the greatest potential global catastrophe since the Cold War, is just the latest in a long series of lies, coverups, and lawlessness throughout the 7 plus years of Obama’s presidency.
The absurdity of an “unsigned agreement” is so blatant, one can only marvel at the “audacity” of this president to openly expose his total contempt for the basic intelligence of the American people, especially those who voted for him twice!
Anyone who has had any experience with legal documents of any kind: contracts, home mortgages, bank loans, credit applications, non-disclosure agreements, non-compete agreements, knows that, in virtually all instances, the failure of one or both parties to sign them essentially means there is no agreement. (We invite our lawyer readers to chip in on this).
Once again, it is a valid question to ask: Whose interests does Barack Obama serve?
DLH
So non-binding talks that still result in fait acompli actions by Obama to lift sanctions, some of which Congress has enacted, don’t require, by Obama’s lights don’t allow, congressional oversight in order to be removed? There is nothing to report that Congress has anything to say about because there is no agreement, only what Obama says which Iran can disagree with when it wants. It obtains nuclear weapons capability not longer down the road but sooner. We understand the concept of executive actions in foreign affairs, we don’t understand how a Republican led Congress allows itself to be played as bumps on a log. In the cold war the U.S dealt with self-aggrandizing power hungry secular thugs who didn’t want to die. Radicalized apocalyptic Islamist are a whole different matter. They think nuclear war to accomplish their goals will be rewarded in heaven. We really don’t want them to have nuclear war capabilities to add to the efficacy of their jihad.