On Wednesday afternoon, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell slammed neoconservatives who voiced their opposition to President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Appearing on MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts, O'Donnell lashed out at opponents of the deal: “Well, look, they are on a straight line of being wrong about every single thing that's come up in the 21st century in foreign policy.”
O’Donnell implied that those who supported the War in Iraq should not be trusted to judge how this deal will play out: “Every opponent to this deal was in favor of the Iraq War. Every Republican opponent to this deal was in favor of the Iraq War. That war was about predicting the behavior of Saddam Hussein. Their prediction was completely wrong.”
The MSNBC personality made the comparison between ominous predictions about Saddam Hussein and ones now being made about Iran if they acquire nuclear capabilities:
They now live with the prediction that Iran not only wants to and will develop nuclear weapons whether they enter this deal or not, but as Bibi Netanyahu now wants to suggest to America, Iran will launch one of these on a missile to the United States. And so what Bibi Netanyahu is saying in effect is, all that celebrating you saw in the streets of Tehran last night was for the mass suicide we are now all embarked on when we have American nuclear weapons firing back at us after we've fired at them.
In general, MSNBC’s coverage of the nuclear deal with Iran has been incredibly positive. Last night, Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes voiced their approval and hinted at the “historic” and “transformational” nature of the deal.
The relevant portion of the transcript is below.
MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts
July 15, 2015
THOMAS ROBERTS: Lawrence, let's talk about this. Democrats are skeptical. Republicans seem to be cemented in opposition. Peter said recalcitrant. So why are neocons so against this deal?
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Well, look, they are on a straight line of being wrong about every single thing that's come up in the 21st century in foreign policy. Every opponent to this deal was in favor of the Iraq
War. Every Republican opponent to this deal was in favor of the Iraq War. That war was about predicting the behavior of Saddam Hussein. Their prediction was completely wrong. They didn't even think they were predicting. They thought they had an accurate present tense reading that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons, was developing weapons of mass destruction. They were – and then it included, then, a prediction of what will he do when he gets all of this assembled, and they were completely wrong. They now live with the prediction that Iran not only wants to and will develop nuclear weapons whether they enter this deal or not, but as Bibi Netanyahu now wants to suggest to America, Iran will launch one of these on a missile to the United States.
And so what Bibi Netanyahu is saying in effect is, all that celebrating you saw in the streets of Tehran last night was for the mass suicide we are now all embarked on when we have American nuclear weapons firing back at us after we've fired at them. It involves – some of the opposition involves a complete ignoring of everything we've learned about nuclear weapons, about nuclear deterrents and about what those Iranian people in the streets were cheering for last night.
