Let's Make a Deal: US and Iran Reach Agreement

      It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This agreement is better than we could have imagined; this is a bad deal that makes lots of US concessions without getting anything in return. 

      No doubt, we're going to be hearing both of these arguments over the next few weeks, months-and years.. Opinions will differ as usual. What's clear is that the GOP isn't going to like the deal and Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu won't-in fact he has already claimd this deal is not 'reality based.'

      http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/04/02/netanyahu-deal-must-significantly-curb-iran-nuke-program

      You can see this deal as a redux of 2002; back then the hawks won and any kind of deal on Iraq short of regime change was ruled out by design. This time, the hawks lost. In early 2003, George W. Bush did what he had wanted to do from the start: attack Iraq. Netanyahu was with Bush then as he is with the GOP hawks in Congress today. So this time we try the road not travelled last time and see how this works out. 

    " Iran and the world powers said here Thursday that they had reached a surprisingly specific and comprehensive general understanding about the next steps in limiting Tehran’s nuclear program, though Western officials said many details needed to be resolved before a final agreement in June."

     "Both Germany’s foreign office and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said that the major parameters of a framework for a final accord had been reached, after eight days of intense debate between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif."

      "There was no mistaking the upbeat mood surrounding the announcement. “We have stopped a cycle that is not in the interest of anybody,” an exuberant Mr. Zarif said at a news conference after the announcement."

     "Speaking from the White House, President Obama made a strong case for the deal, saying that it “cuts off every pathway” for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and that it establishes the most intrusive inspections system in history. “If Iran cheats,” he said, “the world will know it.”

     http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-talks.html?_r=0

     Unlike what we did under Bush, this action today isn't unilateral. The GOP isn't happy and no doubt will try to please their good friend Netanyahu by undermining their own country's efforts in Congress. However, who else actually misses the Bush Doctrime-which basically was declaring war at every turn and eascalting every difference into a pretext for more war?

      It's been said that 'war is hell' but that's not what Republicans think. For them war is heavenly, and more war is even more heavenly. Yet, among most Americans, there doesn't seem to be this hunkering for the glory years of the Bush-Cheney wars-which is one reason Jeb Bush's numbers aren't more impressive. If Jeb is going to run on bringing back his big brother's wars, this will only exacerbate the problem that starts with his very name.