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On Iran Deal, Mark Kirk Continues Hitler, Chamberlain Analogy

After the prisoner swap securing Bergdahl's release, Kirk says terror suspects should never be allowed to leave the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
After the prisoner swap securing Bergdahl's release, Kirk says terror suspects should never be allowed to leave the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

When the framework for a nuclear deal with Iran was announced in April, Sen. Mark S. Kirk said, “Neville Chamberlain got a better deal from Adolf Hitler.”  

Now with a final agreement between the Iranian government and the P5+1 negotiating partners the Illinois Republican isn’t so sure about that.  

“This agreement condemns the next generation to cleaning up a nuclear war in the Persian Gulf. It condemns our Israeli allies to further conflict with Iran,” Kirk said in an interview with WKRO radio, which Buzzfeed highlighted Wednesday.  

“This is the greatest appeasement since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler,” Kirk said in the radio interview.  

Kirk said in his view President Barack Obama must not understand the events that led up to World War II, including the annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany.  

“He is doing this because of his very poor understanding of the history of what happened to Neville Chamberlain, when Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler,” Kirk said. “The key lesson of the 1930s is that appeasement leads directly to war.”  

Some potential Democratic allies of Kirk’s position on the agreement (though almost certainly not on his rhetoric) have been largely circumspect while reviewing the terms of the deal, including Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.  

As for Kirk’s partner on legislation to impose more biting sanctions on Iran, Sen. Robert Menendez, Kirk again alluded to the New Jersey Democrat’s legal troubles. Menendez had been the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, prior to being indicted on federal corruption charges.  

“I would say that Sen. Schumer has been pretty good on this issue, and Bob Menendez, who has just been indicted maybe on the crime of being against the Iran deal, has been pretty much effectively silenced,” Kirk said.  

 


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