Cotton, a freshman Senator and war veteran makes stand against Iran

Arkansas Senator Thomas Cotton served as chief author of a letter written to Iranian leaders, expressing that any nuclear deal negotiated with President Barack Obama can easily be reversed by a future U.S. Congress.

According to The Washington Post, Cotton made a name for himself last week before even making his first speech on the Senate floor.

In a letter from 47 Senate Republicans, the ruling Iranian regime was told to be wary of negotiating a nuclear deal with Obama.  The letter gave Cotton more attention than his maiden speech, which was full of historical references and was designed to position him to follow the footsteps of John McCain and Lindsey Graham.  It also expressed his concern of a worldwide perception that the U.S. military has grown weak.

The Arkansas Senator is no stranger to the military.  Cotton, a five-year veteran of the U.S. Army, served two combat tours as an Infantry Officer.  He served with the 101^st Airborne in Iraq and with a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan.  He received several military decorations, including the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Infantry Badge.

“An alarm should be sounding in our ears,” Cotton said. “Our enemies, sensing weakness and hence opportunity, have become steadily more aggressive. Our allies, uncertain of our commitment and capability, have begun to conclude that they must look out for themselves, even where it is unhelpful to stability and order. Our military, suffering from years of neglect, has seen its relative strength decline to historic levels.”

The Washington Post reported that Cotton, who serves on both the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Forces Committee, articulated that America must have “such hegemonic strength that no sane adversary would ever imagine challenging the United States.  ‘Good enough’ is not and will never be good enough.”  That strength, he said, should come at whatever the necessary costs. He emphasized that while the budget must be slashed, it should not be balanced on the backs of the military.

Cotton further stressed his point by stating, “In our globalized world, our domestic prosperity depends heavily on the world economy, which, of course, requires stability and order. Who provides that stability and order? The U.S. military.”