Obama's dishonesty on Iran

Obama's dishonesty on Iran


But before the deal was struck, the Obama administration had promised much more — "anytime, anywhere" inspections, on demand. When asked about this on Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry displayed symptoms of amnesia.

"This is a term that, honestly, I never heard in the four years that we were negotiating," Kerry said. "It was not on the table. There's no such thing in arms control as anytime, anywhere."

Barring a genuine brain malady, there is no gentle way of skirting around the fact that this is a lie. The White House specifically promised this in public. Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser and spokesman, in making the case for the Iran deal in April, told CNN, "Under this deal, you will have anywhere, anytime, 24/7 access as it relates to the nuclear facilities that Iran has."

Beyond this, Kerry appears to have specifically discussed it as a negotiating point with senior lawmakers. After speaking with Kerry, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., mentioned "anytime, anywhere" in a speech this spring to Jewish groups uneasy about the deal. And Kerry seems to have told the same thing to the Republican chairmen of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees, according to their recollection.