Jessica T. Mathews On Iran

by tristero

Jessica T. Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, advocated “coerced inspections” of Iraq as an alternative to invasion and conquest. Time and again, she and other CEIP members warned against the dangerous illusion of forcing democracy at the point of a gun. In short, she and CEIP were among the majority of the world who needed to be taught no lessons on the perils of naive idealism (a la George Packer and the other liberal hawks), far right militarism (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al), or reality-deficient neo-conservatism (Wolfowitz, Kristol, etc).

There isn’t a chance in hell that the Bush administration will take what Jessica T. Mathews has to say about Iran seriously. But, by God, you should, and so should anyone who cares about constructing a sensible alternative to the slow-motion slide into nuclear catastrophe that is the current American foreign policy:

The administration must, finally, hold its nose and recognize that the nuclear challenge is the indisputable priority. It must get off the sidelines and into negotiations with Tehran. It must solidify agreement among its fellow permanent [United Nations security] council members by working closely with Russia, not least by concluding a long overdue pact on civil nuclear cooperation. Russian participation would make it possible to provide Iran with a credible international guarantee of uranium enrichment and reprocessing services.

With China and the others, the United States needs to make clear that the Security Council can resort to other steps besides economic sanctions to significantly raise the cost to Tehran of its continued defiance, beginning with making International Atomic Energy Agency inspections mandatory rather than voluntary.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (and her fellow foreign ministers from the council’s permanent members) should be flying to Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa and other leading countries of the G-77 to explain why Iran is wrong to claim that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty gives it the “right” to enrich uranium, and why Iran’s abuse of the treaty devalues each of their commitments to give up nuclear weapons.

Given the American record with Iraq and Iran, others will be skeptical that Washington has made a clear choice for nonproliferation and away from regime change. The message will have to be steady and unequivocal. If President Bush and Secretary Rice continue to say one thing and Vice President Dick Cheney and our ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, say another, the effort will quickly fail.

Members of Congress have a direct responsibility as well. Only they — especially the Democrats — can make such a policy change possible. They will have to forgo the indulgence of slamming the administration from the right and currying favor with pro-Israel voters by vying to see who can be the most anti-Iranian.*

All of this, and more, is what serious anti-nuclear diplomacy would look like. It has not yet been tried. Anyone who promotes the use of military force from the present position of American indecision and before the obvious political steps have been taken is repeating the error that led us into Iraq.

The international community’s record on Iran’s nuclear program (as on North Korea’s) has been feckless. Only the United States can change that. If we fail to pursue this effort with unwavering, clear-minded diplomacy, a nuclear-armed world will be the Bush administration’s chief legacy, no matter how the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism turn out.

Open memo to Kevin Drum and Matthew Yglesias: You all but dismissed Mathews in 2002/03. This time, boys, listen up. Once again, she’s absolutely right.

[UPDATE: The talks have not been going well. But apparently, they will continue.]

* Note to right-wingers, especially neo-conservatives: Jessica Tuchman Mathews is the daughter of Barbara Tuchman. Yes, THE Barbara Tuchman. This means that in addition to having one helluva brilliant mom, Mathews’ background is Jewish. So don’t even begin to try accusing her of anti-semitism merely because she places America’s interests above those of Richard Perle’s far right business friends in Israel.