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Speaking at American University, President Obama delivered a hard hitting speech on why the United State Congress should approve the nuclear deal with Iran.

This is the same university where in 1963, President Kennedy gave the commencement address in which he announced that the United States, the former Soviet Union and United Kingdom would begin negotiations seeking to limit above ground nuclear testing.

At the time all nuclear tests where above ground with both sides testing nuclear weapons resulting in nuclear fallout, Kennedy sought and won a bi-partisan ratification for his proposal.

Obama tried to link the two periods in history with Kennedy’s test ban with his recent nuclear deal with Iran. One has to be careful in utilizing a historical period to contemporary times, far too often politicians over use history to fit their present day narratives.

The successful Kennedy atmospheric nuclear test ban was also in the back drop of the Berlin crisis, and the Cuban missile crisis which had the world on the brink of nuclear war, with that it in mind both sides believed this was in their best interests.

President Kennedy had broad based support for his effort, unlike today where opposition is fierce against the nuclear agreement with Iran, mostly coming from Republicans and also some Democrats.

The president did not help his cause when he stated, “In fact, it’s those hardliners who are most comfortable with the status quo. It’s those hardliners chanting “Death to America” who have been most opposed to the deal. They’re making common cause with the Republican caucus.”

Many believe this was over the top as there are Republicans, who will not support anything that gives credit to the president, but lumping Republicans in with the leaders of Iran will not build bi-partisan support for this agreement, it will just harden their position even more.

Invoking the legacy of the authorization to use force in Iraq, when one has to remember that both Republicans and Democrats voted to go into Iraq, including Vice President Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and incidentally both voted against the first Persian Gulf War then voted for the Iraq war authorization.

Even former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war and to include Senate minority leader Harry Reid, so one has to be careful when placing things in historical content.

The president still hasn’t made the case on a couple of the key provisions, with the first being how will the inspections be carried out?
Early in the process the president mentioned that any agreement with Iran will be to end its nuclear capabilities, but Iran will still be able to keep its infrastructure intact.

This becomes problematic in the future as Richard Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote the agreement does not resolve the problems posed by Iran’s actual and potential nuclear capabilities. Many of these problems will become greater as we approach the ten-year point when restrictions on the quantity and quality of centrifuges come to an end and its fifteen-year point, when restrictions pertaining to the quality and quantity of enriched uranium also end.

We still do not have knowledgeable data on past Iranian nuclear history and Tehran has given and continues to give misleading information to the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA), as this will be the lead agency leading the inspections of Iran’s nuclear program.

The other question will the inspectors have access to all sites in Iran, as Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif says some military sites will remain off-limits to inspectors.

Members of Congress also want to see all side agreements between the IAEA and Iran, but this part is complicated as Secretary Kerry has stated he hasn’t seen these agreements.

“If there is a reason for inspecting a suspicious undeclared site anywhere in Iran, inspectors will get that access even if Iran objects. This access can be with as little as 24 hours’ notice.” The unfortunate aspect Iran can draw out this process up to 24 days if it so chooses.

An additional concern from this deal is alleviating sanction relief for Iran in its support for this deal. What would Iran do with an infusion of billions of dollars, the president makes the case they would use it to re-build it’s dismal economy, but even under sanctions Iran still funded terror proxies across the Middle East. What would they do with billions of dollars?

The president stated, “Keep in mind unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran had been in place for decades, but had failed to pressure Iran to the negotiating table.” This is true, but the sanctions were built over time and really the only reason Iran came to the negotiating table was the biting sanctions and the plunging oil prices which further devastated its economy.

The final aspect of this deal the president never mentioned in his address, why was lifting the arms embargo against Iran lifted after five years for conventional weapons and eight years for missiles added into the agreement at the last moment?

These are but a few of the concerns that the president needs to address if he is to sell this agreement.