[Peace-discuss] Look who's decrying HR 362

[Robert Naiman]

I'm all for it. Monday would be a great day for this. I am currently
on the East Coast, so unable to attend; but could support in other
ways.

I think that a powerful argument for Johnson might be that a number of
co-sponsors of the resolution have expressed grave concerns about the
blockade language, including Frank and Wexler, publicly (these
documents could be provided); Clay of Missouri removed his name from
the resolution as a result of pressure from peace groups in St. Louis.

The best thing, obviously, would be for Johnson to remove his name, as
Clay as done. The second best thing would be for him to do something
public (like sending a letter to the ranking member of House Foreign
Relations) expressing concern about the blockade language. The third
best thing would be for him to do the same thing privately.

On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 6:38 PM, Randall Cotton <recotton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Did anything come of the plans to contact Bob Naiman about coordinated
> action to influence our occasionally independent-minded Congressman Tim
> Johnson regarding this issue? A group visit to Johnson's office was
> suggested at the AWARE meeting Sunday before last...
>
> R
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
> To: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:16 PM
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Look who's decrying HR 362
>
>
> : A Phony Crisis -- and a Real One
> : by Patrick J. Buchanan
> : Posted 07/15/2008 ET
> :
> : Last week, the front pages of the world press blossomed with photos of
> four
> : Iranian rockets, fired in salvo, heading skyward.
> :
> : The image was powerful, and the message reinforced by the head of the
> Iranian
> : Revolutionary Guard. Should Israel attack Iran, said Ali Shira, Tel Aviv
> will be
> : "set on fire."
> :
> : U.S. reaction was swift and bristling. "Rice Says U.S. Will Defend
> Gulf,"
> : declared the headline over the AP story that began:
> :
> : "Condoleezza Rice flexed America's muscles in the Middle East Thursday,
> : forcefully warning Iran the U.S. won't ignore threats and will take any
> action
> : necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf. ...
> :
> : "Rice said Iran's leaders should understand that Washington won't
> dismiss
> : provocations from Tehran and has the ability to counter them. 'I don't
> think the
> : Iranians are too confused, either, about the capability and the power of
> the
> : United States to do exactly that.'"
> :
> : And what were the results of last week's missile crisis in the Gulf?
> Tensions
> : rose, strengthening Tehran's embattled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And oil
> prices shot
> : from $136 a barrel to a record $147.
> :
> : That $11-a-barrel spike alone translates into $25 million a day in fresh
> revenue
> : for Ahmadinejad and Co. And as the United States imports 13 million of
> the 20
> : million barrels we daily consume, that $11 spike in price translates
> into $143
> : million more sucked out of the U.S. economy every day -- into the
> coffers of
> : Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and OPEC.
> :
> : Can we not see who benefits and who pays for this war talk?
> :
> : Every day the war drums beat, the mullahs get richer and we get poorer.
> Which
> : raises the question. Was this mini-missile crisis cooked up by the
> mullahs to
> : rip off Uncle Sam? For by week's end it appeared the Americans had been
> had,
> : big-time.
> :
> : Saturday's New York Times reported that that photo of the four Iranian
> missiles
> : fired in salvo had been doctored.
> :
> : One rocket appears twice in the same photo. The large missile, on
> inspection,
> : was not the new Shahab-3b, which has a range of 1,200 miles, but a
> Shahab-3a,
> : with a range of 900 miles. It is no longer in production.
> :
> : The missiles fired with the Shahab-3a turned out to be Scuds, a
> short-range
> : missile that is no threat to Israel.
> :
> : The second day's firing turns out to have been of a single anti-ship
> missile.
> : Iranian TV showed one firing from three angles, making it appear as
> though three
> : missiles had been fired in succession.
> :
> : "The bottom line is that the Iranians are tweaking our noses," said
> Charles
> : Vick, an expert on Iran's missile forces.
> :
> : Under Secretary of State Nick Burns then splashed cold water on Iran's
> alleged
> : crash program to acquire nuclear weapons.
> :
> : "Iran has not yet perfected (uranium) enrichment," said Burns, "and, as
> a direct
> : result of U.N. sanctions, Iran's ability to procure technology or items
> of
> : significance to its missile programs, even dual-use items, is being
> impaired."
> :
> : Though the ex-head of Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, says Iran may be one year
> away
> : from a bomb -- and will use it on Israel -- according to the latest U.S.
> : National Intelligence Estimate, Iran shut down its nuclear weapons
> program in 2003.
> :
> : Iran, says Burns, has not yet mastered the technology of converting
> uranium gas
> : into fuel for use in power plants, let alone the stuff of bombs. And
> even if
> : Iran is one day able to enrich to weapons grade, she would still have to
> build
> : and test a nuclear device, then weaponize it to fit atop a missile and
> deploy a
> : missile force. All in all, says Burns, Iran's progress with uranium
> enrichment
> : has been "modest."
> :
> : There is thus no imminent crisis to justify war on Iran.
> :
> : Yet, what is Nancy Pelosi's Democratic House doing?
> :
> : Some 220 members, a majority, have endorsed House Concurrent Resolution
> 362.
> : This virtual war resolution "demands" that President Bush initiate a
> blockade to
> : halt all Iranian imports of refined petroleum products and impose
> "stringent
> : inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains,
> and
> : cargo entering or departing Iran."
> :
> : A Democratic House that came to power denouncing the rush to war on Iraq
> is
> : about to vote to demand that Bush commit an act of war against Iran.
> :
> : The front men for 362 are liberal Gary Ackerman of New York and
> conservative
> : Mike Pence of Indiana. But the juice behind them is that of the Israeli
> lobby
> : AIPAC, which is marching in step with Israel.
> :
> : Last week, Mossad's chief, Meir Dagan, was here to make the case for war
> on
> : Iran. This week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visits Dick Cheney and
> maybe Bush.
> : Next week, it is the head of Israel's armed forces.
> :
> : Israel and its Fifth Column in this city seek to stampede us into war
> with Iran.
> : Bush should rebuff them, and the American people should tell their
> congressmen:
> : You vote for 362, we don't vote for you.
> :
> : Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of "The
> Death of
> : the West," "The Great Betrayal," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Where
> the
> : Right Went Wrong."
> :
> : Copyright (c) 2008 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Ambassador Pickering on Iran Talks and Multinational Enrichment
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kGZFrFxVg8A