Senate Votes Unanimously Toward War Against Iran...

[paulitician]

Yesterday the US Senate voted unanimously in favor of a Lindsey Graham resolution, S.Res.65, which "trongly support(s) the full implementation of United States and international sanctions on Iran and urg[es] the President to continue to strengthen enforcement of sanctions legislation."

The legislation, as expected from a Lindsey Graham product, is full of misstatements, historical revisionism, and war-drum-beating hyperbole. Particularly revolting is the distortion and lies about Iran's not being in compliance with IAEA nuclear safeguards requirements and the irony of Graham's using Iran's refusal to implement UN resolutions as evidence of its rogue status. Also deceptive is the sleight of hand claiming that Iran pursuing a "nuclear weapons capability" is the real violation, rather than an Iranian failure to uphold its agreed upon obligation to not actually divert fissile material to build a nuclear weapon. It is a unilateral lowering of the bar, which is in fact itself a US violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Most alarming, however, is that this resolution contains among the clearest legislative language to date promising that should Israel decide to attack Iran, the US would back Israel militarily. It is breathtakingly foolhardy for the US Senate to give such carte blanche permission to any foreign country to attack another nation as it sees fit with the promise of the backing of the United States military. The move will likely embolden Israel to continue recent escalation of military action in the region and will likely propel Israel closer to an attack on Iran. In economic theory this is known as "moral hazard."

The resolved clauses of the resolution must be seen to be believed, so I reproduce them here (see especially the original point (8), which was apparently even too over-the-top for the Senators -- the substitute language is just as bad but it adds a layer of vagueness as a fig leaf):

Congress--
(1) reaffirms the special bonds of friendship and cooperation that have existed between the United States and the State of Israel for more than sixty years and that enjoy overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress and among the people of the United States;

(2) strongly supports the close military, intelligence, and security cooperation that President Obama has pursued with Israel and urges this cooperation to continue and deepen;...

Read More:
Senate Votes Unanimously Toward War Against Iran « LewRockwell.com Blog
Senate Votes Unanimously Toward War Against Iran | Peace . Gold . Liberty

 

[g5000]

(8) urges that, if the Government of Israel is
compelled to take military action in legitimate self
defense against Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the
United States Government should stand with Israel
and provide, in accordance with United States law
and the constitutional responsibility of Congress to
authorize the use of military force, diplomatic, mili-
tary, and economic support to the Government of
Israel in its defense of its territory, people, and exist-
ence.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113sres65rs/pdf/BILLS-113sres65rs.pdf

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. AYOTTE, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr.
CORNYN, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CASEY, Mr. HOEVEN, Mrs.
GILLIBRAND, Mr. KIRK, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. CARDIN,
Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BROWN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr.
PORTMAN, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. ISAKSON,
Mr. HELLER, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. BAUCUS, Ms. STABENOW, Mrs.
FISCHER, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. TESTER, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr.
BURR, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BENNET, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mrs. HAGAN, Mr.
MORAN, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. JOHANNS,
Mr. WICKER, Mr. COONS, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. WHITEHOUSE,
Mr. WARNER, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota,
Mr. SCOTT, Mr. FLAKE, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. KAINE, Ms. HEITKAMP, Mr.
COBURN, Mr. LEE, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr.
PRYOR, Mr. VITTER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. NELSON, Mr. HATCH, Mr.
MCCONNELL, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. RISCH, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. SHELBY,
Mr. COATS, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. THUNE, Mr. JOHNSON
of Wisconsin, Mr. ENZI, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. COWAN, Mr. KING, Mr.
FRANKEN, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. CORKER, and Mr. UDALL of Colorado) submitted
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations

 

[Avorysuds]

Obama = more war. Yay! Just in time to take credit for Afghanistan draw down without having to every cut military spending!

 

[Staidhup]

This is not a declaration nor is it a congressional approval for war, simply an acknowledgment of unconditional support for Israel.

 

[Oddball]

This is not a declaration nor is it a congressional approval for war, simply an acknowledgment of unconditional support for Israel.

The same garbage was said by the apologists after the 1998 resolution making regime change in Iraq official federal policy.

It's only a matter of time before a cheap excuse will come along so attacking Iran could be framed as "supporting Israel".

Let Israel support itself and defend its own goddamn dirt.