Sen. Pat Roberts: Disarm Iran, not Congress

I am alarmed by the Obama administration’s behavior in regard to appeasing a nuclear Iran. This is not my first critique of the administration’s national security approach, but it may be the most serious.

In a widespread effort, the Obama administration has systematically downgraded the Iranian threat in intelligence agency assessments. Most recently, the Senate witnessed this when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified in February. Since 1984, Iran has been listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the State Department. Yet since nuclear talks commenced in 2013, references to Iran’s use of terrorism and proxies have diminished.

Placating a terrorist state is unacceptable.

President Obama seems to have a “bucket list” for his final two years in office. For reasons I do not fundamentally grasp or accept, alienating our allies in the Middle East, removing hard-won sanctions against the ayatollah and the Revolutionary Guard, and allowing Iran to continue churning its centrifuges are on the top of that list.

The president is more interested in turning enemies into allies than keeping our allies safe. Perhaps he believes he will be the one to create peace in the region. But nuclear Iran represents peace to no one.

For this reason, it is imperative for Congress to have a voice in any nuclear agreement with Iran. The president has made it clear he sees Congress as little more than a nuisance on his way to achieving what he wants. But, unfortunately for him, the Founding Fathers believed Congress was imperative to good foreign policy. The Constitution grants foreign policy powers to the executive but requires checks and balances by Congress. The best example of this is with international treaties.

But the president has made it clear he is more interested in what the United Nations has to say than what Americans have to say. This is what I would call treasonous.

How the administration can argue the United Nations, and not Congress, should be an arbitrator in a final deal is astonishing. A nuclear deal with Iran is not a friendly agreement, such as a memorandum of understanding, between governments. A nuclear deal with Iran is attempting to trust a state sponsor of terrorism.

Iran represents a threat to the region and the world. I refuse to give up my voice in these negotiations – the voice of the people of Kansas.

Now is the time for Congress to pass serious legislation that puts in place a backstop for Iran’s ability to cheat. It has before and it will again. Congress must have the ability to review and approve an agreement with Iran.

My worst fear is that Iran believes the United States is powerless to stop it. I want to end that narrative.

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Sen. Pat Roberts: Disarm Iran, not Congress."