Walking Away Alone

Brent Scowcroft, the former US national security adviser to two Republican presidents and considered a Washington sage, said he supports the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. Scowcroft, who worked for Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, recently wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in which he urged the US lawmakers to back the accord.  “If the United States could have handed Iran a ‘take it or leave it’ agreement, the terms doubtless would have been more onerous on Iran,” he wrote. “But negotiated agreements, the only ones that get signed in times of peace, are compromises by definition.” He said if Congress rejects the deal, it would be an “abdication of the United States’ unique role and responsibility” and the US would lose leverage over Iran’s nuclear issue.  He stressed, “Let us be clear: There is no credible alternative were Congress to prevent US participation in the nuclear deal. If we walk away, we walk away alone.”