Richard Greene on Iran

Shame on Richard Greene for his Sunday column slamming President Obama and the Iran nuclear agreement (“Barack Obama’s incredible risks on world security”).

This agreement was negotiated by Germany, Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States. It was unanimously approved by the U.N. Security Council and as recently as last week supported in an open letter by 36 retired U.S. generals and admirals.

It is not simply an Obama deal, as Greene might have people believe.

“For the security of our nation, we call upon Congress and the American people to support this agreement,” the generals and admirals wrote. “And if the deal is rejected by America, the Iranians could have a nuclear weapon within a year. The choice is that stark.”

They go on to say: “If at some point it becomes necessary to consider military action against Iran, gathering sufficient international support for such an effort would only be possible if we have first given the diplomatic path a chance. We must exhaust diplomatic options before moving to military ones.”

It seems that Greene would rather slam Obama than be open with all the facts.

— Fred Darwin, Arlington

So it took Richard Greene all of four paragraphs before he spouted Hitler analogies in reference to the president’s attempt to curb the Iranian nuclear program. Hitler again, Richard?

And this from the same guy who supported and was a part of the administration that gave us the disastrous Iraq War. Which, combined with our ill-fated excursion into Afghanistan, now has a price tag reaching $4 trillion and still rising? Please!

— T.E. Turpin, Bedford

Our major European allies negotiated with us to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon today.

Ten years ago, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared Iran was merely weeks away from completing a bomb, not unlike their claims that Saddam Hussein was also creating a nuclear weapon, as an excuse to invade Iraq.

Now Richard Greene makes these same accusations.

In 1965, Greene graduated from college. In 1968, he graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Mortgage Banking. Most of the men in my class in 1966 and I joined or were drafted to fight in Vietnam. Greene and the vast majority of the Republican Congress did not, and they have no first-hand experience fighting a war.

What do they have in common? None served in combat.

Like Greene, Cheney, Bush and Benjamin Netanyahu, these Republican politicians have no alternative other than war to stop Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

If you think the Iraq War was a waste of lives and money, imagine Greene’s choice, the Iran War. Also, imagine your children and grandchildren fighting it.

— Michael S. Tomasic, Burleson

It’s taken me a while to figure out Tea Party shill Richard Greene. But I think I’ve got it now. His positions on issues are simple: If the president is for them, he is against them. If Obama came out against cancer, the headline on Greene’s column would be: “Obama on the wrong path with cancer.”

Greene predictably came out against the Iran deal. Duh. However, he should have watched Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night. Lawrence Wilkerson, retired Army colonel and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell said point blank that this is not a bad deal and far better than no deal at all. His logic made a ton of sense.

But I’m being naïve. Greene ain’t buying anything that might make the president look good. No reason to make the Tea Party mad.

— Frank Matthews, Fort Worth

This story was originally published August 19, 2015 at 5:39 PM with the headline "Richard Greene on Iran."