9/11 families target Saudi Arabia nuclear deal

Terry Strada lost her husband on 9/11. That is a wound that never closes, and anyone with a pulse should respect the weight she carries when she speaks. But respect for her grief does not mean handing her a veto over American foreign policy. A civilian nuclear reactor in Saudi Arabia is not a weapon, and pretending otherwise is the kind of fear-laced thinking that gets us nothing but lost leverage in a dangerous region.

The Trump administration has spent years tightening nonproliferation rules, and this deal, if done right, comes with inspections and safeguards that would make any cheating obvious. Saudi Arabia is a thorny ally, but an ally nonetheless. Iran is right there, enriching uranium with fewer constraints than anyone would like. If we walk away over symbolic outrage, the Saudis will buy their reactors from China or Russia. Then who watches the fuel? The answer is nobody.

Here is the part that should bother every conservative: the people suddenly so worried about 9/11 families now were fine with the Obama administration selling arms and cutting nuclear deals with outright enemies. Pain is real, but it doesn't make you a nuclear engineer. And it doesn't make you a diplomat. The president was elected to make hard calls in America's interest, not to flinch every time someone invokes a date that changed the country. The families deserve honor. They don't deserve to be used as a prop by people who never cared about them until it became a way to hit this White House.