WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS,W.Va. — Former Vice President Dick Cheney offered grave concern about the nuclear deal with Iran now being considered in Congress.
Cheney, and his daughter Liz Cheney, spoke to the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Business Summit at the Greenbrier Resort on Thursday. They are presently traveling the nation touting their new book, “Exceptional, Why the World Needs a Powerful America.”
“I’m convinced there will be another mass casualty attack against the United States sooner or later,” Dick Cheney said. “The next time they’re likely to be armed with something far deadlier than airline tickets and box cutters.”
Cheney said the deal the Obama administration has produced with Iran is dangerous and paves the way for an almost inevitable conflict in the future.
“I am deeply, deeply concerned with the agreement,” he said. “I think it will create a path for them to acquire nuclear weapons and that is devastating when you put that in the hands of the most significant terror sponsoring state in the world.”
Cheney said the agreement should be a treaty because of the far reaching impact it could have on the country in future years. Cheney also lamented most of what the Obama administration had said to encourage support fort he deal has turned out to be false. A lack of on the spot inspections at any moment by the U.S. or U.N. representatives leaves a lot of room for cheating by Iran he said. Something Liz Cheney said should be expected since in her words Iran has cheated on all agreements previously singed for non-proliferation of weapons.
“You add that all together it makes war more likely, not less likely,” said Liz Cheney. “So the notion those of us who oppose this agreement are pro-war is fundamentally dishonest.”
“If Iran has the means to develop a nuclear weapon, and clearly they will, then all of the other nations in the region are going to be concerned they’ll need to acquire nuclear weapons themselves,” said the former vice president. “We are going to end up with a nuclear arms race in the middle east.”
Back in the United States the military’s budget is slashed every year and according to Army officials is at the lowest point in history in terms of readiness to defend the country. Liz Cheney said without the U.S. leading the world from a position of strength, the world becomes a far more dangerous place.
“Consider a world in which we don’t lead, but the rules of the game are set by nations like Iran, like Russia, like China or by terrorist organizations like Isis and like Al Queda,” Liz said.
The father-daughter team said they hadn’t endorsed any candidate for president, but both agreed the next president will have a lot to repair, if that’s the direction voters choose to go.
“We really are living at another hinge-point in history,” said Liz. “Another moment, where the nations got to decide if we continue down the path we are on, which has been a dangerous one or if we’re going to restore the nation to the kind of power and strength that our own security and the defense of freedom requires.”