Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before Congress on Tuesday received rave reviews from Richard Perle, former chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and assistant secretary of defense.
"It was an excellent speech and should put behind us the controversy over whether he should've been invited," Perle said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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"It's time to focus on the substance of what he had to say and he made a compelling case for not rushing into an agreement [with Iran] that is flawed in so many ways. I hope his audience will pay close attention."
During his 39-minute speech, Netanyahu cautioned President Barack Obama against inking a nuclear deal with Iran. He warned it would be a "countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare" by a country that "will always be an enemy of America."
"If the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran, that deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons — it will all but guarantee that Iran will get those nuclear weapons, lots of them," Netanyahu said.
Perle, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the proposed U.S. deal has a 10-year-limitation that is "a killer" because when it expires, Iran would be in "easy reach of nuclear weapons."
The United States and five other world powers agreed in principle in 2013 to allow Iran to maintain limited uranium enrichment production, although a U.S.-Iran deal to finalize it is still being negotiated. Israel fears a nuclear attack by Iran if a deal goes through.
Perle said he was "surprised" there has been little discussion about the authority the U.S. Constitution gives the president to enter into international agreements or treaties.
"The Constitution is very clear. The president has the power to enter into a treaty, but the Senate has the power to reject that treaty if it chooses to do so in the ratification process," Perle said.
"The Obama administration seems to take the position that they're not bound by that very clear, unmistakable constitutional protection.
"I believe the Senate should even now be insisting that any agreement that is signed by the president is sent for submission for the ratification process in the Senate like every other important treaty that the United States has ever entered into."
Perle also was impressed with the appearance at the address of Holocaust survivor and scholar Elie Wiesel.
"Eli Wiesel got the standing ovation that he richly deserves and he was a reminder [that] … never again should the potential for genocide be allowed and that means taking action before it's too late," he said.
"That means not entering into agreements that predictably will place the most lethal weapons in the hands of the most dangerous enemies."
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