Mike Rogers (R-Mich), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had some harsh words for the agreement the Obama administration has just made with Iran concerning that nation’s nuclear program.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Rogers said, “We have just rewarded very bad and dangerous behavior...we may have just encouraged more violence in the future than we have stopped.”
CONGRESSMAN MIKE ROGERS (R-MICHIGAN): We have just rewarded very bad and dangerous behavior. So think about what this agreement does. It says you can continue to enrich - that's what the Iranians believe - and they have made no changes, no changes in the development of their nuclear weapon program. I can tell that you with a high degree of certainty.
So here is the leading nation state of terror who tried to commit a political assassination right here in Washington, D.C., as they believe contributed to the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, who continues to be the main driver between the incredible brutality that's happening in Syria, very active around the world with other political assassination attempts.
And what have we done? We’ve taken away the one thing - we've given them just enough breathing room - the one thing that brought them to the table. What’s worried about that is bipartisan opposition in Congress, very strong bipartisan opposition to the deal. Our Arab League partners don't like the deal. Israel doesn't like the deal. And we may, we may have just encouraged more violence in the future than we have stopped. That's why I hope we reconsider where we're at, and certainly in six months.
A few minutes later, Rogers put an exclamation point on this:
ROGERS: The only thing that’s changed is you have now given them a permission slip to continue enrichment. That's what the Iranians walked away from. That’s the one thing the whole world was trying to stop them from doing. That's why I don't understand their rhetoric on this.
And we know that when you go down this path - we made this mistake in Pakistan, we made this mistake in North Korea. And now why? History is a great judge here and a great teacher. Why would you make the same mistake to a nation that will proliferate a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if they're successful in getting a nuclear weapon?
