Sen. Tom Cotton: U.S. should strike Iran

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton believes that a United States military strike on Iran could cripple the county’s nuclear capabilities without escalating to an all-out war.  Cotton, a veteran of the Iraq war, is also a leader of Republican opposition to the developing Iranian nuclear deal.

“The United States military has amazing capabilities,” said Cotton. He continued to say that “air and naval bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities would in fact work,” based on Israeli air force attacks made in the past and President Obama’s statement about a “military option.”

As reported by USA Today, Cotton compared the option to President Clinton’s 1998 order of Operation Desert Fox, the bombing campaign issued after Iraq’s refusal to cooperate with international weapons inspectors, which lasted four days. “That’s what military action would look like if we had to take military action against Iran,” said Cotton.

“There’s a whole range of military action that the United States military is capable of providing to the commander in chief to achieve our national strategic objectives,” he said, dismissing comparisons to the predictions of a short conflict.

Obama has voiced his opinion on choosing military action over diplomacy in regards to Iran. “We can bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, thereby starting another war in the Middle East and setting back Iran’s program by a few years,” said Obama. “Do you really think that this verifiable deal, if fully implemented, backed by the world’s major powers, is a worse option than the risk of another war in the Middle East?”

Cotton referred to this as a “false choice” and defined the framework agreement as little more than “a list of dangerous White House concessions.” In an open letter he constructed last month to Iranian leaders, which 47 Republican senators signed, Cotton threatened an agreement negotiated by Obama could be reversed by a new president “with the stroke of a pen.”

According to Cotton, the bill has gotten a boost from New York Senator Charles Schumer, the man that is on the verge of becoming the Senate’s Democratic leader next year. “Sen. Schumer and I don’t often agree on matters, but one area where we do usually agree is supporting a strong U.S.-Israeli alliance,” Cotton said. Schumer’s endorsement and his leadership position “probably will make a difference in getting more Democrats to support the constitutional prerogatives of the Congress.”