David Brooks: Iranian Leadership Was Willing To Do Whatever It Took To Win The War, And We Didn’t
PBS NEWSHOUR: David Brooks of The Atlantic and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including the preliminary deal with Iran.
AMNA NAWAZ, PBS NEWSHOUR: Let’s start off with this memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran that was signed this week. You have both seen a lot of criticism for how much Iran gets versus the U.S. out of this deal. You also may have heard a guest at the top of the show say, look, the war had to come to an end, so that makes it a good deal. We will see what happens next. David, is the U.S. better off today than it was before the war? DAVID BROOKS, THE ATLANTIC: No, it’s significantly worse off. I’m glad the war’s over. I mean, it’s good for all of our economy and people stopped dying. But, listen, in 60 days, Iran may have control of the Straits of Hormuz. In 60 days, they may be able to restart their nuclear program. I’m highly dubious they’re going to give that up. And so — and, plus, they have shown they can stand up to the world’s greatest military, survive it, and sort of outsmart it. And I’m really struck by — Napoleon has this famous phrase that, when it comes to war, the moral is to the material as 3-1. Meaning the moral is three times more important than the material. And how did the United States, with our military, our economy, our alleged power, lose a war to Iran with their military and their alleged power? And it’s because they wanted it more. And they had leadership that was willing to do whatever it took to win the war. And we didn’t. We had a president who I don’t want to say chicken out, but he wasn’t tough enough to fight this war. And you shouldn’t start a war you’re not tough enough to fight, especially when their response, closing the strait, is the most obvious thing that we were — allegedly was seemingly unprepared for. And so it’s a debacle for America. NAWAZ: Jonathan, the other point here is, though, what other option does President Trump have, keep fighting the war, let the strait stay closed? He’s under domestic pressure, economic pressure. Was at least ending the war a good first step to move forward? JONATHAN CAPEHART, MS NOW: OK, well, first, I — is the war truly over? I mean, at least right now, it is as we’re talking. But we don’t know. Look, the president needed an off-ramp. People have been saying that to him and about him for at least a few weeks now. So, finally, he’s taken the off-ramp. But I hesitate to call this a deal. You used the right phrasing, memorandum of understanding. The hard part comes now in these 60 days, these technical negotiations that the Obama solid painstaking years — Wendy Sherman, I think she was assistant secretary of state — basically moved to Switzerland to help negotiate this. The secretary of energy was involved. Five other countries were involved in the negotiation of the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal. And President Trump ripped it up. Does anyone believe he is going to be able to come up with a suitable alternative, from their perspective, in 60 days? I just do not see it happening.
