On April 13, I attended the Washington Forum Program sponsored by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. There were some impressive panels and speakers and then there was was Treasury's Acting Under Secretary Adam Szubin who read prepared remarks. Szubin discussed the Iran sanctions program, and described how it helped pave the way to the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)." I do not normally comment on these types of presentations but listening to his shameless remarks I was appalled.
The text of Szubin's speech is available here: https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0419.aspx
Sections are titled "The JCPOA: A Sanctions Success Story" and "The Benefits of the Bargain." You get the idea. He ended with a flourish labeling the agreement "deft diplomacy."
Having been at Treasury, I understand how these remarks are drafted and cleared. I assume they were reviewed by both the State Department and the White House. But Adam Szubin, just because you and the administration call something a "bargain" and a "success" and "deft diplomacy" doesn't mean that it is. While I do not doubt the premise that sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table, the true legacies of the JCPOA will be a case study of naivete, a much more dangerous world, and disastrous results.
The text of Szubin's speech is available here: https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0419.aspx
Sections are titled "The JCPOA: A Sanctions Success Story" and "The Benefits of the Bargain." You get the idea. He ended with a flourish labeling the agreement "deft diplomacy."
Having been at Treasury, I understand how these remarks are drafted and cleared. I assume they were reviewed by both the State Department and the White House. But Adam Szubin, just because you and the administration call something a "bargain" and a "success" and "deft diplomacy" doesn't mean that it is. While I do not doubt the premise that sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table, the true legacies of the JCPOA will be a case study of naivete, a much more dangerous world, and disastrous results.
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