One of the calumnies embraced by some on the left with regard to President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was that it was a war fought for oil. This was nonsense, of course. Nor was United States military action in Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, or Afghanistan (to just name the Muslim majority countries) motivated by oil. Kuwait is no exception to this rule, as every time in recent history when one country has invaded another for the purpose of annexing it in its entirety—North Korea’s invasion of South Korea and North Vietnam’s invasion of South Vietnam, for example—the United States has become involved.
Still, Washington is not the most ethical of towns. Both Bush administration officials and some Democrats who supported the war have sought to translate their support or the contacts they made into a golden parachute. It may not be illegal, even if it is unseemly. Nor is Iraq a special case. Too many U.S. ambassadors to Saudi Arabia have turned around and gone to work for Saudi interests in their retirement from the diplomatic service. Many U.S. ambassadors to Turkey have done likewise. David Welch, a top Bush-era diplomat handling the rapprochement with Libya, upon retirement turned around and used his contacts both to garner business from Libya and, behind the scenes, also worked to advise Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Whether or not the Iran deal comes off—the ball is in Tehran’s court as the U.S. Congress has played into President Obama’s hands and effectively traded its say for the sake of a symbolic vote—only one thing is certain: In January 2017, there will be a new president in the Oval Office. Whether or not there has been rapprochement with Iran, many who have been active on the Iran account among Obama’s staff, Secretary of State John Kerry’s staff, the State Department’s negotiating team and, if she fails to win the presidency, Hillary Clinton’s staff as well will be looking for new jobs. Many will enter the private sector.
It’s time to put Team Obama and Kerry on the spot: Will they eschew any possibility that they will work for companies working in the Iranian market? Such a pledge may not be legally binding, but perhaps it’s time for the chief proponents of the Iran diplomacy and the architects of the collapse in the sanctions regime to assure the public that their motivation does not include a golden parachute based on the contacts with senior Iranian officials that they have made over the course of the Obama administration. If they lie to the press after the fact, then at least they can suffer some embarrassment for their actions and a lesson can be learned for future efforts to bring rogue regimes in from the cold.
It was unseemly and wrong during the Clinton administration when officials traded on their contacts with Saudi Arabia, the PLO, and Turkey, and wrong in the Bush administration when diplomats and military officers did likewise with the Kurds, Iraqis, and Turks. It’s time for assurance that only American national security interests and nothing else now drives diplomacy with Iran.
