Destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities would take ‘several days’ – US Senator Tom Cotton
For a politician who just days earlier bizarrely remarked that “Iran already controls Tehran,” Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton’s latest comments, about the brief time it would take to eliminate Iran’s nuclear plants, may be greeted with some skepticism.
Cotton, comparing the situation today in Iran with that of Iraq
in 1998, said in a radio interview Tuesday that eliminating
Iran's nuclear facilities would only take “several days” of US
airstrikes.
“It would be something more along the lines of what President
Clinton did in December 1998 during Operation Desert Fox,”
Cotton told the Family Research Council's Washington Watch
program. “Several days of air and naval bombing against
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction facilities, for exactly the
same kind of behavior, for interfering with weapons inspectors
and for disobeying Security Council resolutions.”
READ MORE: Obama ‘embarrassed’ for GOP over Iran letter as criticism rises
Cotton accused President Barack Obama of making the public choose
between what could seem another big war and a diplomatic
resolution to Iran’s nuclear program, which some believe is being
used to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran has repeatedly denied
the charges, saying its research is solely for civilian purposes.
“Even if military action were required… the president is
trying to make you think it would be 150,000 heavy mechanized
troops on the ground in the Middle East again as we saw in Iraq.
That's simply not the case,” Cotton said.
The Senator said the Republicans “simply” want Obama to
be “as tough in the protection of America's national security
interest as Bill Clinton was.”
Cotton was referring to the Clinton administration’s 1998 bombing
of Iraq, a four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets coordinated
by the United States and United Kingdom. The justification given
for the bombardment was Baghdad’s alleged failure to comply with
UN Security Council resolutions and its interference with United
Nations Special Commission inspectors.
READ MORE: Tehran and world powers reach solutions on Iran nuclear program
Cotton, 37, the youngest serving member of Senate, grabbed
headlines last month for a controversial letter that he and 48
other US Senators signed and addressed to the “Leaders of the
Islamic Republic of Iran,” which stated that a nuclear agreement
made without congressional approval might not last beyond the
Obama administration and could be revoked by the “stroke of a
pen.”
In an interview with Vice News, Obama said the senators’
interference in foreign diplomacy and their apparent lack of
respect for the role of the presidency is “not how America
does business.”
"I'm embarrassed for them," Obama told Vice founder
Shane Smith. "For them to address a letter to the ayatollah –
the supreme leader of Iran, who they claim is our mortal enemy –
and their basic argument to them is: 'Don't deal with our
president, because you can't trust him to follow through on an
agreement'... That's close to unprecedented."
However, in explaining his decision to present the letter to the leaders of Iran while crucial talks were ongoing, Cotton flubbed basic Iranian geography.
In an interview on Face the Nation on Sunday, Cotton warned the United States must stand up to Iran’s “attempts to drive for regional dominance” because they “already control Tehran.”
