Like many of you, I am concerned about what I am reading and hearing about the apparent interest in parts of the Bush White House to go to war against Iran. And like you, I believe that we Democrats must do everything we can to prevent Bush and Cheney from sending this country into another preemptive war. (I invite you to visit my website StopIranWar.com)
Fortunately, Hillary Clinton has been on the front lines in opposing any effort by the Bush administration to sidestep the Congress. Eight months ago, she took to the Senate floor to warn the President that he could not attack Iran without specific congressional authorization. She said then, long before other members of Congress stood up, "If the administration believes that any, any use of force against Iran is necessary the President must come to Congress to seek that authority."
Last week, Hillary voted for a non-binding resolution that designates the odious Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization in order to strengthen our diplomatic hand. On Monday, she joined Senator Jim Webb in co-sponsoring a bill that would prohibit the use of funds for military action in Iran without specific authorization by Congress.
I support Hillary in both these votes. She is committed to ending the unilateralism of the Bush-Cheney administration. She is a strong supporter of direct nuclear talks with Iran, because she believes that direct dialogue with our adversaries is a sign of strength and confidence, and a prerequisite to achieving America's goals and objectives.
She has been one of the leaders in the Senate in standing up to the Bush administration's dangerous approach to Iran. And as president she will reject the Bush administration's ideologically blinkered vision of the world that denies America the tools and the flexibility necessary to build and more peaceful and secure world.
Fortunately, Hillary Clinton has been on the front lines in opposing any effort by the Bush administration to sidestep the Congress. Eight months ago, she took to the Senate floor to warn the President that he could not attack Iran without specific congressional authorization. She said then, long before other members of Congress stood up, "If the administration believes that any, any use of force against Iran is necessary the President must come to Congress to seek that authority."
I am surprised that you are not aware that, long before the vote on the Iraq Resolution (October 2002), it was Senator Biden who was leading the effort to make clear to the President that the authorization for use of military force in Iraq did not extend to Iran or elsewhere in the region.
Many may not realize that the original request by the President was for authorization that would extend to anywhere in the region! Senator Biden was instrumental in severely limiting the scope of that request and has continued to lead on this issue ever since.
ANTI-SEMITISM IS EVIL, just as is anti-any-ethic-group. But what about ANTI-ISRAEL, based on the behavior of that nation?
We Americans need to stop playing word games. For example, if we apply Webster's definition of "TERRORISM" to the already-forgotten recent Middle East war between Israel and Hezbollah, and use OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENTS, then Israel and not Hezbollah was the biggest terrorist in this tragedy, with 50 to 1 non-combatant deaths for Lebanon vs. Israel (2/3 of Israeli dead were soldiers), and an even greater disparity in terms of infrastructure and the long-term suffering of people. Israel could have fought Hezbollah up close and personal, but instead involved a million innocent Lebanonese in an asymmetrical war using United States-supplied warplanes and smart bombs.
Of course, the word terrorism is reserved for our enemies, and not part of our terms of endearment with Israel. However, before we consign what happened to Lebanon and its people to "collateral damage" and it completely fades from our short attention span, perhaps we can find a more appropriate term to describe ravaged Lebanon, such as "collateral devastation." As the pendulum of action and reaction/cause and effect swings our way, we won't just sit and wonder why these terrible terrorists hate us and want to kill us (they do 9-11, we do Lebanon, and so on).
Human beings think and rationalize in words. For this reason, words decide issues. Many people use words imprecisely or for advantage, and not for truth. The prime example here, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel are not the same thing. If they were the same, then the Israeli government would be infallible. Israeli tough-guy terror (seen often, even on American TV) is about half the reason the United States is hated in the Middle East. Unfortunately, we have to go along too because no one can speak the truth of words and reality. Our one-sided policy in the Middle East is a disaster.
Mearshimer, and all the rest of us who are calling a spade a spade in this debacle are summarily dismissed as anti-semites.
See Article I, Section 8 of the document formerly known as the Constitution of the United States of American (now known as the "Meaningless List of Suggestions to Follow as Long as it Doesn't Contradict the Republican Agenda" after the USA PATRIOT Act).
And now this unfortunate endorsement.
I hope Gen. Clark does not lend his considerable credibility so freely as did Gen. Powell.
If the President goes ahead and starts any type of military action against Iran, without the ok of Congress, then everyone in both parties better initiate impeachment immediately.
1) The declaration of Iranian Revolutionary Guard as terrorist organisation is nothing but a propaganda ploy of the Bush administration which happens to work for Israel and their DLC minions. No difference from the propaganda before Iraq invasion. Iran is as much a terrorist organisation in their actions as some covert factions of the US military and private armies of merceneries (Blackwater etc..)
2) There is no need whatsoever to file redundant bills. The Constitution is abundantly CLEAR who can declare and fund wars. Period.
The only requisite credentials are basic literacy (to read the stupid resolution HRC supported and the Constitution), a very modest grasp of current events (to get a feel for the actions of entities to which PeterM refers), and some remedial history knowledge (how dubya's used even the slightest legal nuance to beat his war drums).
Your only valid debatable position is to claim that you don't believe dubya'd sink so low as to use the Senate resolution's terrorist definition as an excuse to attack. Basically, you'd have to assert that you believe dubya won't abuse his power. That's a pretty powerful argument... to blind faithers and neocons.
I have the qualification of experience of having lived in east Europe and its totalitarian rule however you need little credentials to recognize that your government is thoroughly corrupt to the core and that this constitutional republic is on the brink of complete takeover by forces of fascism.
In the eastern block, people had the advantage of understanding that whatever the government told the people was pretty much a lie. On the other hand, in the United States people pretty much believe whatever the government tells them - to their great harm.
It is hearting to see a great awakening in this country that recognizes that this system and the Bush administration in particular survives by pure deception and propaganda.
One of their tools is to accuse others of things that they perpetrate themselves to a greater degree and much larger scale and turning victims into perpetrators and pretending to be the victims themselves. This method is as old as society.
If you don't have the credentials of life in Stalinist tyranny and want a primer on principles of political manipulation that this system finds useful read 1984 by Orwell and The Prince by Machiavelli (really DO it!).
And if Hillary should have learned ANYTHING by now it's that if you give Bush an inch he'll take a thousand miles. The Democrats should being forcing Bush to prove EVERY LAST CLAIM he's making about Iran. By going along with labeling part of Iran's military a terrorist organization, they help give Bush the rationale he needs to start dropping bombs whenever he wants.
All Bush and Cheney want is a toehold, just a little crack into which they can start military aggression. They know well enough that once the bombs start dropping, escalating the war would be easy enough. Iran is sure to retaliate in some way, or maybe one of our bombs will go off course and hit an elementary school or a hospital, then all hell will break loose.
The Dems are once again playing into Bush's damned hands. The hands of a C student, as he loves to keep reminding the world.
We, along with Israel, have been the terrorists to other nations.
How does calling anyone a terrorist help anything?
p.s. your son is great on AAR
To Iraqi civilians they are all terrorists.
If you can't just continue the rant!!!
More pitiful demands from you....
When will you understand that you do not set the tone or the topic on these boards?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/world/middleeast/
03firefight.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all A Blackwater member killed one of the VP of Iraq's guards on 12/24/06. Blackwater is being investigated for smuggling weapons into Iraq that were sold on the black market, ending up in US-designated terrorists hands.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/21/blackwater.probe.ap/
index.html
Blackwater seems to be instigating terror and fear amongst Iraqis, that's sounds like terrorism.