Susan Shaer Quotes Paul Eaton on Iran in Huffington Post

When It Comes to Iran, Don’t Follow the Iraq Playbook

Susan Shaer, Executive Director of WAND and Win Without War co-chair
February 17, 2015 | Huffington Post

I observe the recent Washington conversation on Iran nuclear negotiations with a creepy sense of déjà vu. It makes me recall the congressional debate — if it can really be called that — in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Then, as now, political posturing and the embrace of arbitrary deadlines obscured the facts and drove our country into disastrous war with repercussions still playing out today.

Before we get to that, it is important to establish the core points that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with when it comes to international diplomacy with Iran: Limiting Iran’s nuclear program is a priority for the United States and for our allies; any agreement must be enforced with a strict and intrusive verification regime, and there are reasons to be skeptical of Iran, so negotiators should proceed with caution.

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As Army Major General Paul Eaton, who commanded U.S. training programs in Iraq, put it, “People in Congress who root for the deal to fail have not thought through the alternatives, which are stark: The Iranian program will be limited diplomatically or we will have a war.”

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As members of Congress think about how to vote, they should heed the warning in another of General Eaton’s arguments: “The only military way to stop Iranian nuclear ambitions is a full-scale ground invasion and subsequent regime change. A mission that would make the Iraq and Afghan wars look like a cakewalk.”

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