5 (Scummy) Politicians Pushing the US Closer to a Disastrous War With Iran
loose talk of war,” but Congress is heavily engaged in just that kind of talk, and a lot more.
Here are five politicians serving in the Congress who have done a lot to push the US toward a belligerent stance on Iran, moving us ever closer to another disastrous “war of choice.”
1. Senator Mark Kirk, R-Illinois
Left: Worthless POS Mark Kirk.
campaign donations from advocates for Israel, Kirk is the co-author of the most consequential sanctions bill yet on Iran, the Kirk-Menendez bill.
conservative writer David Frum, sever “Iran from the entire global payments system.” The amendment prohibits US financial institutions from doing business with the Central Bank of Iran and from doing business with any foreign bank that knowingly deals with Iran’s main bank.
officials worried the sanctions would send the price of oil up—the amendment passed 100-0 in the Senate. President Obama signed it into law on New Year’s Eve, with the amendment stipulating that the sanctions would go into force 60 days later.
told Foreign Affairs. Instead, the sanctions may cause the Iranian regime to hunker down and, perhaps, lash out at the West. “They’re going to be counterproductive, because Iran has an incentive to accelerate to nuclear capability rather than come to the table and negotiate,” Nasr said. And if the acceleration occurs, the prospects for US air strikes become higher.
2. Senator Carl Levin, D-Michigan
Levin suggested that the US impose a “no-fly” zone or a naval blockade on Iran to curb Iranian enrichment. While Levin was suggesting that the US pursue these options in lieu of military action, the imposition of a naval blockade is considered an act of war under international law. The same goes for a no-fly zone, as Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess told the Senate last year in the context of Libya. So the US would, in effect, be declaring war on Iran if Levin had his way.
3. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina
A favorite of the neoconservative wing of the GOP, Graham sees military might as the solution to Syria and Iran. In 2010, Graham told the Halifax International Security Forum that he sees the US waging war on Iran to “neutralize their nuclear program” and “sink their navy, destroy their air force and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard, in other words neuter that regime.”
Graham teamed up with Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Bob Casey (D-PA) to author a resolution that rules out containment as an option of dealing with a potential Iranian nuclear weapon. The resolution is also an effort to shift US policy from stopping an actual nuclear weapon to halting nuclear weapons “capability,” an ill-defined term. As Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), told me in an interview, “if we use that as grounds for whether or not we go to war, we’re on incredibly shaky ground, and war is going to be even more likely than it already is.”
February 17 blog post:
It is an attempt to enact a political authorization for military force. It is an attempt to pressure the Administration politically to move forward the tripwire for war, to a place indistinguishable from the status quo that exists today. If successful, this political move would make it impossible for the Administration to pursue meaningful diplomatic engagement with Iran, shutting down the most plausible alternative to war.
centerpiece of AIPAC’s legislative agenda early this month, as thousands of delegates fanned out across Capitol Hill to pressure politicians to sign on to the bill. AIPAC’s lobbying worked: 58 senators from both parties are now co-sponsors of the bill, and a similar resolution in the House has garnered 94 cosponsors.
4. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida
has stated that the Obama administration “must not fall into the regime’s trap and again pursue the failed policy of dialogue and engagement.”
NIAC’s Abdi explained, “the House is putting restrictions on the only tool available to prevent a nuclear Iran and prevent a disastrous military confrontation.”
Although the US does not currently have diplomatic ties with Iran (they were cut off following the 1979 revolution in Iran), experts have warned that the wholesale barring of diplomatic contact with Iran would make any US standoff with Iran more volatile by ruling out lines of communication that might prevent a further escalation. Currently, the Swiss government acts as the main go-between for the US and Iran.
5. Representative Brad Sherman
he’s proud that he has been “pressing for sanctions since 1998.”
under consideration in a number of House committees.
The aim of the bill is to further “tighten economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran and its remaining business partners.” But one specific provision in the legislation garnered a lot of critical attention: the prohibition on “the transfer of any goods, services or technology needed to keep Iran’s American-made aircraft flying.” Iran possesses 15 aircraft that run on US-made engines, which were sold to Iran when Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a stalwart Western ally, was in power in Iran.
M.J. Rosenberg, a blogger highly critical of the Israel lobby and Israeli policy towards Iran, wrote in November 2011:
What better way to ensure a war than to have Iranian civilians die because of US actions?
Mondoweiss. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.
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