[Peace-discuss] Democrats hawkish on Iran

[David Green]

While I don't subscribe to the Mearsheimer/Walt view on the power of the Israel Lobby, could there be any better prima facie evidence than this in favor of their view?
   
  I reality, the Democrats use support for Israel to cover their support for American war policies in the Middle East. It really helps the Republican/neocon case that they do this. It helps to make the two parties virtually indistinguishable.
   
  DG

"C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
  Lawmakers return to U.S.
and pledge tougher Iran sanctions
By Ron Kampeas Published: 08/23/2007

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Fresh off summer-recess visits to Israel, several 
key lawmakers are intensifying the push to pass legislation aimed at 
isolating Iran.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who led a trip to Israel 
last week involving 18 members of Congress, told JTA that Israeli
leaders depicted the Iran issue as most urgent. The delegation met with 
Israel's prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, opposition 
leader and president.

"All of us came back with a renewed sense of the importance of dealing 
with Iran, of the dangers that a nuclear armed Iran would pose to the 
region and the international community," Hoyer said. "There is a sense 
that Ahmadinejad is one of the few world leaders who expresses the 
possibility of the elimination of another sovereign nation -- Israel -- 
and hopes to eliminate from the Middle East the United States of America."

The renewed pushed could produce a clash between Congress and President 
Bush. Though the president also backs Iran's isolation, he opposes 
attempts by lawmakers to dictate the foreign policy of his administration.

The House passed two bills prior to the summer break aimed at Iran's 
isolation: One targets U.S. corporations that create foreign 
subsidiaries to evade restrictions on dealing with Iran's energy sector; 
another measure provides legal protection to states that divest from 
Iran. Florida had divested its pensions from Iran and a number of other 
states are close to passing similar legislation.

Both those bills are now under consideration in the Senate, where they 
are expected to pass.

Bush might object to broader legislation sponsored by Rep. Tom Lantos 
(D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that would 
extend sanctions to any third party having dealings with Iran's nuclear 
sector -- and restrict the president's ability to waive such sanctions.

Hoyer says he hopes to accelerate the passage of the Lantos legislation. 
He says the measure has 323 sponsors -- a number substantially greater 
than the 291 votes that would be needed to override a veto by Bush.

"There will be renewed activity in the Congress," Hoyer said.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House's minority deputy whip and its sole 
Jewish GOP member, said the Republican caucus was also committed to the 
Lantos legislation. Cantor led 17 other Republicans on his own Israel 
tour a week before Hoyer's delegation.

"There is overwhelming bipartisan support for that legislation," Cantor 
told JTA. "The sense in Congress is that we've got to do everything we 
can to isolate the clerics in Iran from global finance."

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee welcomed the accelerated 
push for tougher sanctions on Iran. "By strengthening the sanctions 
against Iran, Congress is sending a strong message that America and our 
allies will use all economic pressures available to encourage the regime 
to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons," AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said.

In addition to the two congressional delegations, Lantos and the 
chairman of the House's Middle East subcommittee, Rep. Gary Ackerman 
(D-N.Y.), also toured Israel this month.

Hoyer said he was unsettled by what he described as the relative lack of 
urgency among Europeans and others about Iran. A nuclear Iran would 
exert greater controls over oil markets, he said.

"Russia and Europe and China have economies that are reliant on foreign 
products. They should have concern over such a destabilizing reality," 
he said.

It is critical, Hoyer said, to make certain that Iran know all options 
are on the table. Stressing that he was speaking for himself and not his 
Israeli interlocutors, he added: "Clearly no one believes that you can 
take the military option off the table given the serious threat that 
would exist to the region and the international economy of a nuclear 
armed Iran."

Cantor and Hoyer also met with Palestinian Authority leaders. Cantor 
said he was stung when he learned that the authority had released funds 
to 3,500 Hamas fighters a day after P.A. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad had 
assured him that his government was maintaining no contacts with the 
terrorist group now running the Gaza Strip. Cantor wrote Fayyad 
demanding an explanation.

Hoyer later raised the issue with Fayyad, who apologized and provided an 
explanation. A computer error was responsible for the payment, he said. 
Fayyad was apprised of it within 45 minutes and managed to stop payment 
to about two thirds of the fighters. In the end, about 1,200 Hamas 
fighters in the Gaza Strip were paid.

Israeli leaders and U.S. diplomats, who trust Fayyad, Hoyer said, 
accepted that explanation. "Fayyad is perceived as a credible 
interlocutor," he said. Still, he added, his congressional delegation 
emphasized to Fayyad that "doing business with Hamas would undermine any 
willingness in Congress in terms of trying to assist the Fayyad 
government and Palestinian Authority."

Bush has pledged to use $270 million in already appropriated funds to 
assist the Palestinians in his push for a two-state solution. Congress 
can't withdraw the funds, but it can slow their disbursement through 
oversight.

Cantor said he had also heard from Fayyad, in a letter and a phone call.

"I reiterated that no matter what was the cause, the U.S. taxpayers do 
not want to see their hard-earned dollars going to terrorists in the 
Middle East," he said. "I assured him this incident will raise the 
awareness of sending taxpayers dollars to the Palestinian Authority. I 
am very cautious in going forward because of this."

In his interview with JTA, Hoyer discussed Bush's push to increase 
annual U.S. military assistance to Israel from $2.4 billion to $3 
billion and to sell Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf states $20 billion in 
arms.

The Israeli component would sail through Congress, he predicted.

Israelis supported the Saudi package, with reservations engendered by 
fears that the pro-Western Saudi leadership could one day lose its hold 
on power.

"Let us presume for a moment that the Saud family would not use those 
weapons offensively, but there are Islamic radicals who want to 
overthrow the Saudis," Hoyer said. "You're not always sure they control 
the weapons."

Hoyer said he was told that top Israeli security officials had reviewed 
the sale's particulars, although these have not yet been released by the 
Bush administration. Israelis sought assurances that the weapons would 
be defensive. One view expressed by Israeli President Shimon Peres was 
that since the Saudis would ultimately get the weapons, it was better 
that they come from the United States than from elsewhere.

"Their major concern was maintaining a qualitative edge," Hoyer said. 
"There was a conclusion the edge would be maintained."

The Israeli with the greatest reservations, he said, was opposition 
leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Netanyahu expressed the worry about guided missiles that could be more 
precise," he said.

###
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