A glorious chapter in the march of folly

Since we've already been here -- in November 2013, when after days of "tension" and "dramatic talks up to the last minute" the interim Iran agreement was signed -- we have reason to believe that once again we're watching a similar scenario (there is an understanding, there isn't any understanding, there are gaps, there aren't gaps) ahead of the document supposed to be signed, possibly Tuesday. The document will form the backbone of a permanent agreement on Iran's nuclear program due to be signed on June 30, and could easily be called "the march of folly."

In 1984, historian Barbara Tuchman's published her book "The March of Folly." It contained a number of historical examples of foolish policy. In her book, Tuchman goes as far back as Montezuma, the Aztec ruler who insisted on opening the gates to the white conquistador rather than fighting him, believing that his arrival was the return of the deity Quetzalcoatl. Today, the West is opening the gates to the Iranians, who like the white conquistador back then, are taking advantage of the opening to take over. The Iranians, who see themselves as continuing the Islamic Revolution, find it difficult to believe just how blinded the world is by its stupidity, or worse -- pretends that it doesn't know what's going on.

And that's the awful thing about this story. The world is going to bring Iran back into the family of nations, remove the sanctions it worked so hard to put in place, and allow it to keep its dangerous, unnecessary nuclear capability (if indeed its intentions are innocent) merely because the world doesn't care about the ramifications of doing so. Let Western leaders make a victory sign and go back to their capitals. Israel and its Sunni enemies will clean up afterward. A crazy, violent area known as the Middle East, which is already up to its ears in complications, is telling the world "Hey, stop" -- but it looks like someone, maybe someone in the White House, has decided that this deal mustn't be stopped.

True, there are certainly some who will say, "So what's the alternative-" First of all, we need to admit that a regime as primitive as Iran shouldn't have gotten so far with its nuclear program. "Lie your way to a bomb" is how the Iranian motto begins, and later, when they understood how the world works today, they moved on to negotiating their way to a bomb. Either way, the result is the same. The Iranians will always be shrewd.

Negotiating with Iran was supposed to have given them the bare minimum. Instead, Iran has been given the status of a world power, nearly equal to that of the countries it's negotiating with. Look at Iran in 2003 and look at it today, and this is after eight rounds of sanctions in the U.N. Security Council and oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Imagine how things will look after all those are removed. And how is it possible that as a rebel state, it's still getting as much time as possible? What is the lesson in all this? Let's leave ourselves out of it for a minute (the Jewish state, really...). First of all, the agreement promises the ayatollahs long years in power instead of throwing them on the ash heap of history, like we might have done in 2009, if not for ourselves then at least for the Iranian people. But in 2009, the West was already on autopilot set with one target: a deal.

This deal is clearly paving the way for Iran to become a dangerous regional power that will no longer be under international supervision by the time our children are in high school. How has it not occurred to anyone that if we're headed toward such a bad deal, Iran must remain under supervision as long as a regime like this is in power there?

This Friday is Passover eve. We will sit around the family table and recall how every generation must see itself as having fled Egypt. This Friday, every one of us will bless the freedom he or she enjoys. But the traditional bitter herbs are already being prepared on Tuesday and not in the form of romaine lettuce or horseradish, but rather in the form of a bitter deal that could easily comprise another chapter in Tuchman's wonderful book.

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