It's fair to say that Iran's leadership has had a difficult 24 hours. It's also fair to say that the former Barack Obama brain trust, including the ones who likely ran the White House for the last four years behind the scenes, haven't enjoyed them too much either.
In a very real way, it's pretty instructive to take note of which political actors are actually frustrated, annoyed, and even angry that the world's top sponsor of terror has seen their nuclear ambitions go up in a mini-mushroom cloud. At the forefront of that rogue's gallery has to be Tommy Vietor, Obama National Security Council alum and current host of the "Pod Save America" podcast.
When word broke that the U.S. military had carried out a successful termination of Iranian nuclear ambitions via bunker busters, Vietor was apoplectic. He took to X.com to vent:
[Language]
And then my personal favorite:
It's always a smart move to frame the threat with perpetual liability. Now, no matter when a terror attack occurs, if it can be tied back to an Iranian source, Vietor can claim vindication. It's the same approach the left takes to climate change - say that climate change will lead to extreme weather events, then no matter what kind of storm occurs, it confirms the claim.
But Vietor once again proves himself too smart by half. Consider a few points that somehow elude him:
First, no one needs to wait for Iran to "retaliate." They've been actively attacking, maiming, conspiring against, murdering, and massacring Americans for decades. It's why so many people were rightly incensed when the Obama administration (of which Vietor was a key part of the administration's foreign affairs apparatus) sent over pallets of cash, financing the terror regime as some sort of "deal." Even David French, whose anti-Trumpism earned him a high-paid gig at the New York Times, testifies as much:
Second, the notion that all global actors only respond to American action, that they don't have any will or agenda of their own, is bizarrely arrogant and thoroughly idiotic. Vietor warns about Iran's "sleeper cells" in the United States. Does he believe that those cells, should they exist, were sent here just to wait for American provocation before launching retaliatory action? Or does he subconsciously recognize that their presence indicates a pre-established determination to attack Americans regardless of what we do or don't do?
Finally, if you are terrified of what Iran might do now, why would you not have been terrified at the prospect of their regime getting their hands on a nuclear weapon? If you are worried about Iran blowing up a bus, why would you not have been terrified at the prospect of them blowing up an entire city or region? If you are worried about 40 bus riders perishing at the hands of angry Iranians, why would you not have been worried about a million innocents perishing under a mushroom cloud?
I don't doubt that Vietor and the entire Obama team opposed the idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon. They attempted payoffs and concessions, rolling the dice on the Ayatollahs and radical Islamists negotiating in good faith when they weren't screaming "death to America" in the streets. Well-intentioned? Short-sighted? Whatever.
The effectiveness of their strategy resulted in a situation where the current administration felt it had no choice but to launch a coordinated strike. That speaks louder than any series of social media posts.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
