Cotton, Crawford: U.S. Iran strike a success

By STEVE BRAWNER

How much did President Trump’s airstrikes degrade Iran’s nuclear program? U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and Rep. Rick Crawford say a lot. 

The two should be in the know more than any other member of Congress because they chair their chambers’ respective intelligence committees. Cotton heads the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Crawford, who represents eastern and northern Arkansas’ 1st District, chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. 

In those positions, they are part of the “Gang of Eight” whose members traditionally have had access to White House classified intelligence. It also includes the top Democrats on their committees as well as the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate.

Two out of eight is quite a position for Arkansas to be in.

Cotton emerged from a briefing of all U.S. senators last Thursday and said in a seven-minute press conference that the strikes, in concert with Israel’s efforts, had inflicted “catastrophic damage,” had “effectively destroyed Iran’s nuclear program today,” and had protected the world for years. He listed three experts who don’t support Trump who had said the mission had badly damaged Iran’s nuclear program. The press conference is available on YouTube on Forbes Breaking News’ channel.

Cotton noted that Iran could reconstitute its nuclear program. However, he said the U.S. bombing was not the only action taken against it. Israel had destroyed centrifuges and other sites associated with producing a bomb, and it also had killed Iranian nuclear scientists. Press reports have quoted a senior Israeli military official saying it was 11, along with 30 senior security officials.

Asked if he knew where Iran’s enriched uranium was located, Cotton declined to comment. 

But he added, “I will say it was not part of the mission to destroy all their enriched uranium or to seize it or anything else. Again, this is not a ‘Mission Impossible’ movie. There’s not a single thing out there that can be done or not done to allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. It’s the entire chain of events and people and places that you have to put together to get a nuclear weapon: the scientists, the centrifuges, the repair parts, centrifuge manufacturing, the cascades of centrifuges, the gas-to-metal conversion facilities. But I’m confident the mission was an extraordinary success.”

Cotton’s remarks followed Trump’s pronouncement that the mission had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capability. 

That assertion was counteracted by a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report done immediately after the bombing saying the mission had slowed Iran’s efforts by only months. Its findings were leaked to the press soon after it was posted on a system accessible by Congress. It’s not known if someone connected to Congress, someone with the Defense Intelligence Agency, or someone else leaked it.

Cotton said the report was preliminary and based on incomplete information, and he condemned the leaking of it.

Crawford also condemned the leak and told Fox News on June 26 that the airstrikes were “wildly successful.” He said the physical damage they inflicted was less important than the pressure they brought on Iran to negotiate. 

“And essentially, this strike led to peace in the Middle East, and I think if we can focus on that, we can get past all this rhetoric about how much damage was inflicted or was not inflicted, and I think that’s the real point of this story,” he said.
Arkansans will have to decide on their own what they think about their elected representatives’ assertions. Cotton and Crawford are in a position to know more than almost anyone. On the other hand, it’s no secret that this is a partisan time, and members of Congress very much tend to support a president from their own party. Cotton has been especially partisan during his political career, although he seems to have dialed it down a notch this year.

Let’s remember two things. One is that this is a complicated issue with no easy solution, and all of us have limited information. Even Crawford noted that the president has access to classified information that he doesn’t. 

The second is that the ayatollah must never get the bomb. We all should agree on that, even if we don’t agree on how to achieve it.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 19 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.