If only the voices of Scientists and Nuclear Experts, actually mattered in today's bellicose, hot-button world ...
Group of Scientists Backs Obama on Iran
by Jack Martinez, newsweek.com -- August 10, 2015
Over the weekend, 29 top U.S. scientists signed an open letter supporting the Iran nuclear deal in an important show of confidence as President Barack Obama defends the deal to Congress and voters.
The letter calls the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- the formal name for the agreement -- “an innovative agreement, with much more stringent constraints than any previously negotiated non-proliferation framework.” Citing their expertise as “scientists and engineers with understanding of the physics and technology of nuclear power and nuclear weapons,” the group of experts -- which included Nobel Prize winners as well as professors from Princeton, Harvard, MIT and Stanford -- argued that the deal allows “unprecedented” access for inspectors. [...]
From the
Scientists Letter:
August 8, 2015
[...]
Concerns about clandestine activities in Iran are greatly mitigated by the dispute resolution mechanism built into the agreement. The 24-day cap on any delay to access is unprecedented, and will allow effective challenge inspection for the suspected activities of greatest concern: clandestine enrichment, construction of reprocessing or reconversion facilities, and implosion tests using uranium. The approach to resolving “Possible Military Dimensions” is innovative as well: the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must be satisfied that it is fully 2 informed about any previous activities, in order to guide its future verification plans, but Iran need not be publicly shamed. This agreement, also for the first time, explicitly bans nuclear weapons R&D, rather than only their manufacture as specified in the text of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
[...]
As you [President Obama] have stated, this deal does not take any options off the table for you or any future president. Indeed it will make it much easier for you or a future president to know if and when Iran heads for a bomb, and the detection of a significant violation of this agreement will provide strong, internationally supported justification for intervention.
In conclusion, we congratulate you and your team on negotiating a technically sound, stringent and innovative deal that will provide the necessary assurance in the coming decade and more that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons, and provides a basis for further initiatives to raise the barriers to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and around the globe.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Garwin, IBM Fellow Emeritus
Robert J. Goldston, Princeton University
R. Scott Kemp, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rush Holt, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Frank von Hippel, Princeton University
Also signed by:
John F. Ahearne, Director, Ethics Program at Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
Philip W. Anderson, Professor, Emeritus, Princeton University
Christopher Chyba, Princeton University
Leon N. Cooper, Brown University
Pierce S. Corden, Former Director, Office of International Security Negotiations, Bureau of Arms Control: Department of State
John M. Cornwall, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA
Sidney D. Drell, Stanford University
Freeman Dyson, Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University
Harold A. Feiveson, Princeton University
Michael E. Fisher, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and University of Maryland
Howard Georgi, Harvard University
Sheldon L. Glashow, Boston University
Lisbeth Gronlund, Union of Concerned Scientists
David Gross, Professor of Theoretical Physics, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, UCSB
Sigfried S. Hecker, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University
Martin E. Hellman, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
Ernest Henley University of Washington
Gregory Loew, Emeritus Deputy Director and Professor, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
C. Kumar N. Patel, Professor Emeritus of Experimental Condensed Matter, UCLA
Burton Richter, Stanford University
Myriam Sarachik, City College of New York, CUNY
Roy F. Schwitters, The University of Texas at Austin
Frank Wilczek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
David Wright, Union of Concerned Scientists
We all know Republicans can't stand to hear Scientists speak -- BUT surely the reasons given by these retired generals and admirals, would give them pause enough ... to ease back down from their DEFCON Two nuclear battle-stations ...
That's assuming of course, the "Donald Trump Show" promoters (aka the Media) -- will ever give it a rest (the 24/7 Donald-News-Cycle).
Dozens of retired generals, admirals back Iran nuclear deal
by Karen DeYoung, washingtonpost.com -- August 11, 2015
Three dozen retired generals and admirals released an open letter Tuesday supporting the Iran nuclear deal and urging Congress to do the same.
Calling the agreement “the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” the letter said that gaining international support for military action against Iran, should that ever become necessary, “would only be possible if we have first given the diplomatic path a chance.” [...]
From the
Generals Letter:
There is no better option to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon. [...]
We agree with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, who said on July 29, 2015, “[r]elieving the risk of a nuclear conflict with Iran diplomatically is superior than trying to do that militarily.”
If at some point it becomes necessary to consider military action against Iran, gathering sufficient international support for such an effort would only be possible if we have first given the diplomatic path a chance. We must exhaust diplomatic options before moving to military ones.
For these reasons, for the security of our Nation, we call upon Congress and the American people to support this agreement.
GEN James “Hoss” Cartwright, U.S. Marine Corps
GEN Joseph P. Hoar, U.S. Marine Corps
GEN Merrill “Tony” McPeak, U.S. Air Force
GEN Lloyd W. "Fig" Newton, U.S. Air Force
LGEN Robert G. Gard, Jr., U.S. Army
LGEN Arlen D. Jameson, U.S. Air Force
LGEN Frank Kearney, U.S. Army
LGEN Claudia J.Kennedy, U.S. Army
LGEN Donald L. Kerrick, U.S. Army
LGEN Charles P. Otstott, U.S. Army
LGEN Norman R. Seip, U.S. Air Force
LGEN James M. Thompson, U.S. Army
VADM Kevin P. Green, U.S. Navy
VADM Lee F. Gunn, U.S. Navy
MGEN George Buskirk, U.S. Army
MGEN Paul D. Eaton, U.S. Army
MGEN Marcelite J. Harris, U.S. Air Force
MGEN Frederick H. Lawson, U.S. Army
MGEN William L. Nash, U.S. Army
MGEN Tony Taguba, U.S. Army
RADM John Hutson, U.S. Navy
RADM Malcolm MacKinnon III, U.S. Navy
RADM Edward "Sonny" Masso, U.S. Navy
RADM Joseph Sestak, U.S. Navy
RADM Garland “Gar” P. Wright, U.S. Navy
BGEN John Adams, U.S. Air Force
BGEN Stephen A. Cheney, U.S. Marine Corps
BGEN Patricia "Pat" Foote, U.S. Army
BGEN Lawrence E. Gillespie, U.S. Army
BGEN John Johns, U.S. Army
BGEN David McGinnis, U.S. Army
BGEN Stephen Xenakis, U.S. Army
RDML James Arden "Jamie" Barnett, Jr., U.S. Navy
RDML Jay A. DeLoach, U.S. Navy
RDML Harold L. Robinson, U.S. Navy
RDML Alan Steinman, U.S. Coast Guard
Then again, how many of those Scientists and Generals --
EVER had their own "Celebrity Apprentice" TV Show?
SOOO, how do they really rate ... on the couldn't-care-less American radar?