Colin Powell Guts Republicans By Supporting And Praising Obama’s Iran Deal

Colin Powell, screen capture NBC

Republican Colin Powell called the Iran Deal a “good deal” this morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, saying that the Iranians “have been on a superhighway for the last ten years to create a nuclear weapon or nuclear weapons program with no speed limit.”

The former Secretary of State strongly supported the Iran Deal, saying the agreement limits Iran’s centrifuges and stockpiles. Powell called these “remarkable” changes, saying “We have stopped this highway race” the Iranians were on.

“It’s a pretty good deal… I know there are objections to it, but here’s why I think it’s a good deal,” the former Secretary of State said. He continued, “One of the great concerns that the opposition has that we are leaving open a ‘lane’ for the Iranians to go back to creating a nuclear weapon in 10-15 years are forgetting the reality that they have been on a superhighway for the last ten years to create a nuclear weapon or nuclear weapons program with no speed limit.”

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“In the last ten years they’ve gone from 136 centrifuges up to something like 19,000 centrifuges.” That is something Republicans never talk about. Powell pointed out, “This agreement will take them down to 5,000 cent all of this will be under IAEA supervision and I think this is a good outcome.”

“They had stockpiled something in the neighborhood of 12,000 kilograms of uranium. This deal will bring it down to 300 kilograms,” Powell said. “It’s a remarkable reduction. I’m amazed that they would do this this but they have done it.”

Putting a finely honed knife to the back of Republican fearmongering about the Iran deal, Powell said, “These are remarkable changes. We have stopped this highway race that they were going down and I think this is very, very important.”

For the finishing blow, Powell took out the Republican argument that we just gave them everything and got nothing, “Will they comply with it? Well, they get nothing until they comply and that’s the important part of the arrangement.”

Powell served under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, during the Iraq war debacle. During his military career, has also served as National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In other words, his opinion is worth more than many in the Republican party, whose first job it has been to avoid military service while sending others to fight for them.

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