On Obama’s Win and the Iran Nuclear Deal: The Wrong Time to Celebrate

Last updated on: September 3, 2015 at 11:19 am by Robert Hunt

On Obama’s Win and the Iran Nuclear Deal: The Wrong Time to Celebrate 2015-09-03T11:19:39-06:00 Robert Hunt

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Yesterday I learned from the Washington Post and New York Times that President Obama got the votes necessary for the multi-nation treaty with Iran over its nuclear program to stand. It was heralded as a victory for Obama’s foreign policy and I personally was glad to see it happen.

But I’m not celebrating. First because in the raucous run-up to the victory the debate about the treaty created vitriolic accusations ranging from accusations of fostering genocide to war mongering to disloyalty.

Moreover, even letting bygones be bygones it is almost certain that the majority of the citizens of Israel and many American Jews, people who are friends and allies of the US, now feel even more threatened than they felt before. It simply isn’t a victory to leave the people most directly affected by the treaty feeling less secure. And that includes, by the way, some of the United States Arab allies as well.

The treaty appears to me to be the least bad way of dealing with the threat of a nuclear Iran, one that places heavy bets on certain judgments that I think are correct. But those who think those judgments wrong also have strong arguments and legitimate interests at stake. A “victory” celebration simply serves to dismiss those arguments and legitimate interests. In fact both remain relevant, since in the long unfolding of the treaty the basic presuppositions underlying it need to be subject to scrutiny.

As importantly Christians and Jews, like Christians and Muslims and Christians and members of all different religions need to stay in dialogue with one another. We need to understand each others fears and concerns rather than dismissing them as a hindrance to whatever national interests or security goals we legitimately want to attain.

When the solution to a problem is the least bad among the choices we shouldn’t celebrate, nor commiserate, but continue to listen. Something that seems harder and harder to do, but without it we all lose.

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