Jon Keyser’s TV ad in the Republican Senate race is polished, forceful, even riveting. Too bad it climaxes in a falsehood.
Who wouldn’t be intrigued by an ad that starts out, “Military intelligence officer Jon Keyser conducted capture and kill missions to remove high value targets in urban areas”? At that point we hear from Keyser himself. “For us,” the former state representative from Morrison says, “Baghdad was the roughest. We weren’t fighting amateurs; we were fighting a vicious enemy armed by Iran.”
But then Keyser flies off the rails. “Now Obama wants to give these guys nuclear weapons,” he says sternly, “and Michael Bennet, he was all for it.”
In fact, no political leader in America wants to give the mullahs nuclear weapons. Not one.
Keyser obviously believes the Iran nuclear agreement that Colorado Sen. Bennet voted for last year is a misguided, dangerous deal that will facilitate Iran’s long-term nuclear aspirations. That’s part of a legitimate debate that will continue into the fall campaign, since all five of the GOP primary hopefuls have denounced Bennet’s position.
But it’s one thing to contend the agreement plays into Iran’s hands and quite another to flatly insist the senator wants to arm the repressive Islamic regime with weapons of mass destruction. Bennet no more wants to see that than Keyser. The claim is not only offensive, it’s preposterous. And Keyser doesn’t have license to throw wild accusations around regarding Iran because he did the noble work of fighting its proxies.
To be sure, there is plenty to object to in the Iran deal, since the U.S. failed to get everything it would have liked in negotiations. But if Keyser goes on to win the Republican primary, we hope when he debates Bennet he is prepared to contrast the deal with the real-world alternatives and not an imaginary scenario in which Iran consents to dismantle its nuclear program lock, stock and barrel. It is inconceivable that the Islamic hardliners would have agreed to such an outcome, no matter what the sanctions.
Iran’s revolutionary regime has survived more than 35 years despite war and economic isolation. The idea that its leaders were prepared to blink and abandon every shred of a program they have identified with their national sovereignty is fantasy.
We’d argue that the U.S. got a lot in the deal, beginning with the fact that Iran gives up most of its enriched uranium stockpile and centrifuges — and is further away today from building a nuclear bomb than it was a year ago.
Keyser is free to disagree. Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner is a vehement critic of the Iran deal, but so far as we know he hasn’t accused the administration of wanting to give Iran nuclear weapons. And neither should anyone else who wants to be taken seriously.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit or check out our for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
