My Congresswoman Wept Over the Iran Deal

I had never met a Congressman or woman before last week. I am generally mistrusting of politicians, so you might understand why I lacked any motivation to meet one in person. This only changed after I spent a year living in Israel, a country I fell in love with. When I returned to America I was filled with a desire to defend the country. This led to volunteering with numerous advocacy groups, including Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Earlier this month, I attended the CUFI conference in Washington D.C., which involved meeting directly with our Representatives.

The building that holds her office was huge and filled with vacant halls. We had to spend a little bit of time in the waiting room.  But soon, the door opened, and I saw a slender woman with red hair and a warm smile.  She shook my hand and asked my name.  We sat in a circle around her.  It was not planned, but the meeting took place at the same time as the signing of the Iran deal.  After listening carefully as each of us explained why we were opposed to the deal, my Congresswoman started to speak, “our President has signed this deal…”  but then my Congresswoman paused.  And then the first politician I had ever met began to weep.  She wept for just a moment, just a few tears, and then she regained her composure.  Those tears reprimanded me for all my former cynicism.  Those tears showed me how wrong I had been about politicians.

Her tears were the tears of foresight, and the tears of a mother.  Her tears were the first of a flood that will be unleashed if this deal is accomplished.  This deal will give Iran access to $150 billion dollars.  IDF officials say Iran is currently spending between $4 and $5 billion on regional terrorist organizations.  Iran is funding President Assad’s genocide in Syria, and Hezbollah’s mafia vice-grip on Lebanon.  Iran is funding the Shia Houthi rebels against the government in Yemen, as well as their attacks on Saudi Arabia.  Iran gives hundreds of millions of dollars to Hamas to fire endless rockets into Israel.  If blood is being shed anywhere in the Middle East, then most likely Iran is helping to pay for it.  But, we signed a deal with them.  We legitimized the fanatics in Tehran.

Obama said that the issue could only be resolved “diplomatically, through a negotiation, or it’s resolved through force. Through war. Those are the options.”  This is a false dichotomy.  There is no point in mentioning a hypothetical war, because there is already a war.  Iran is at war with our allies.  Iran is also at war with us.  Four days after Iran signed the deal, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking at a rally stated, “You heard ‘Death to Israel’, ‘Death to the US.’ You could hear it. The whole nation was shaken by these slogans… So we ask Almighty God to accept these prayers by the people of Iran.”  This was broadcast on Iranian State television.  This deal is supposed to be the victory of diplomacy over war.  What it is, in fact, is a victory of denial over reality.

We were told this would stop Iran’s ability to get a nuclear weapons, when it in fact paves the way.  It simply delays the process for a short while.  It makes a future nuclear Iran someone else’s problem.  If we wanted to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons – we could do it.  But Americans are sick of being at war with radical Islam, even if radical Islam is not sick of being at war with them.  So instead we are counting on a radical hippy movement taking over Tehran.  That when the Iranian Mullahs get hundreds of billions of dollars handed to them, they will decide to make love and not war.

The tears I saw in my Congresswoman’s office were the tears of someone who understands the bloodshed that is coming.  How do we know?  Because four days after Iran signed the deal the Supreme Leader stated that the deal meant nothing, “The Islamic Republic of Iran will not give up support of its friends in the region — the oppressed people of Palestine, of Yemen, the Syrian and Iraqi governments, the oppressed people of Bahrain and sincere resistance fighters in Lebanon and Palestine… Our policy will not change with regards to the arrogant US government.”  The killing will continue as usual, only far better funded.

The tears will flow in Syria when Assad butchers women and children, in Israel when thousands of rockets fly from Gaza, in Yemen when rebels kill government troops, and in Lebanon when Hezbollah crushes anyone who opposes them.  Eventually, the tears will come to America.  Not today, but rest assured, our soldiers will one day be fighting Iranian soldiers.  But by then, the Iranian soldiers will be backed by nuclear weapons.  In the words of Henry V, Obama’s “jest will savor but of shallow wit, when thousands weep more than did laugh at it.”