The following is the gist of what Senator Cory Gardner had to say responding to the email I sent him about the nuclear talks with Iran:

“This framework, based on details released thus far, appears to leave vast portions of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure intact despite their continued sponsoring of terror, and would expire in as few as ten years, allowing Iran to build nuclear weapons unrestricted. The American people, through their representatives in Congress, should be provided the opportunity to reject any deal that does not completely eliminate the threat of a nuclear Iran. I am also concerned that the current deal ignores other state-sanctioned terror activity Iran is pursuing.” Senator Cory Gardner

To “completely eliminate the threat of a nuclear Iran” is a fine and lofty goal but diplomacy is all about what is possible not what is ideal. What I pointed out to him in my initial email was that war is always an option regardless of any previous treaties. I cannot understand why, if there is a possibility for a treaty to monitor and restrict Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, why wouldn’t we try? Military experts have made it clear that even if we bomb Iran we will at most delay their nuclear development by a couple years. Isn’t ten years better than two years which is in effect the Cory Gardner default plan? Iran is within a year of developing a bomb if we pursue Senator Gardner’s ambitions. He and everyone that voted for him will be personally responsible for the inevitable outcome.

It is apparent that Israel will not hesitate to do whatever they think they need to do whenever they think the time is right. If they make a decision to attack unilaterally they know that we will have their back. Personally, I am tired of committing our soldiers and financial resources to conflicts that do not threaten our national security except in some politician’s war hawk brain. Our Founding Fathers including Washington and Jefferson were very adamant that we should only declare war in case of a vital threat to our national security. Since the War Powers Act that FDR signed after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the executive ability to effectively declare war without a Constitutional act of Congress has become easier and easier with every subsequent administration.

Perhaps American exceptionalism has contributed to our eagerness to involve ourselves in foreign military campaigns. As the world’s number one energy producer I find it hard to believe that the U.S. is merely motivated by commerce. In any case, anyone that is a strict Constitutionalist will have to recognize this fundamental deviance from the Constitution and the Founding Fathers intention. To oppose this possibility to avoid war with Iran is certainly tantamount to inviting war. Republicans have historically favored war on various non-Constitutional grounds. Did you know that Eisenhower, a Republican, started our involvement in Vietnam? Check it out. The opposition of the Republican dominated Congress to any attempt to avoid war should be punished by the voters. However, I tend to doubt if it will since Americans seem to turn a blind eye to these kind of international involvements. I hope war weariness will show itself in the actions of the American electorate. We have enough problems here in this country without spending more American resources on efforts that just create more problems for us and hatred of the U.S..

Please listen to the Republican presidential candidates. They really think that tough talk and actions will be better in the long run for the U.S.. Are we willing to once again tragically take that chance? Every historical despot has thought the same thing. History is replete with examples which proves it does not work. Rome overextended its military campaigns on this line of reasoning only to lose the empire. The German Nazis also spread themselves too thin on the Western and Eastern fronts. The U.S. will not make our country more secure by becoming more aggressive with every regional and international skirmish. We will only create more enemies, kill our young folks and rake up multi-trillion dollar debts as we did with Iran and Afghanistan. If we keep electing war hawks we will not get peace but more war. American voters should make it very hard for our politicians to get us into war. This should have been the lesson of Vietnam. I am not sure we are capable of learning these lessons. If we do not, we will not be remembered well by history. The U.S. should always err on the side of peace if we want to do something historically different.

War is always an option and Senator Gardner is not doing any of us a favor by disregarding any treaty in advance to restrict Iran’s nuclear ambitions. We may not be able to “completely eliminate the threat of a nuclear Iran” for all time but any delay to war, even if ten years, should not be dismissed lightly and ideologically. Senators Gardner’s inability to think and act rationally due to political affiliations proves that he is none other than the typical partisan, Republican war hawk that G.W. Bush and the neocons were. They were wrong then and they are STILL wrong! Please write him and let him know but don’t get your hopes up.