USAlone.com & United for Peace & Justice & Hon. Barbara Boxer / US Senate – 2007-09-24 22:37:15
http://www.usalone.com/no_iran_war_declaration.php
In case you thought it was just an aberrant moment of lunacy last week when Lieberman pressed General Petraeus for an attack on Iran, just before the weekend he introduced an amendment to the defense bill to authorize exactly that.
No, we are not kidding. He has drafted language that any impartial observer would interpret as a DECLARATION OF WAR against Iran, and he is pressing for a vote as fast as possible.
ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/no_iran_war_declaration.php
Here is the language from the amendment
[The Full Text Appears Below):
(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;
(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies.
The policy of the US should be to “combat” Iran with “all” “military instruments”?!? You can be absolutely certain that those are the ONLY words Dick Cheney and George Bush will see or care about.
We need every warm body we can muster to call and email their senators RIGHT NOW, before they pull another fast one and sneak this one through in the dead of the night. Call them toll-free at (800) 828-0498, (800) 614 2803 or (866) 340 9281, and the submit the action form below to make sure your message gets through.
Just yesterday, Newsweek reported that Cheney had recently made overtures to Israel to get them to launch an attack against Iran, to try to provoke an all-out conflagration. It seems every day there is a new story leaked about their aggressive preparations for The Debacle, Part 2. And just as in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion, they will keep lying, lying and lie some more about their intentions until they’ve shot off every cruise missile in the military inventory.
We need your voice and the voices of everyone else you know, and we them now. We need to absolutely flood the Capitol with phone calls and email. Please believe your voice counts. Please believe that when enough of us raise our voices together at one time they do have an impact.
Cheney and his minions are absolutely not going to stop pushing for an even bigger disaster unless we stop them by speaking out with a louder voice. So we cannot let up ourselves even for an instant.
We would be remiss not to ask who other than Dennis Kucinich has shown more courage to speak out against the Iraq disaster before it even started? If you are asking yourself what you can do to encourage Dennis to continue to stand strong on the ISSUES, why not make a contribution, if you are so motivated.
Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.
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Text of the Kyl/Lieberman Amendment
The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To express the sense of the Senate regarding Iran)
At the end of subtitle C of title XV, add the following:
SEC. 1535. SENSE OF SENATE ON IRAN.
(a) Findings.–The Senate makes the following findings:
(1) General David Petraeus, commander of the Multi-National Force Iraq, stated in testimony before a joint session of the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives on September 10, 2007, that “[i]t is increasingly apparent to both coalition and Iraqi leaders that Iran, through the use of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps Qods Force, seeks to turn the Shi’a militia extremists into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq”.
(2) Ambassador Ryan Crocker, United States Ambassador to Iraq, stated in testimony before a joint session of the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives on September 10, 2007, that “Iran plays a harmful role in Iraq. While claiming to support Iraq in its transition, Iran has actively undermined it by providing lethal capabilities to the enemies of the Iraqi state”.
(3) The most recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, published in August 2007, states that “Iran has been intensifying aspects of its lethal support for select groups of Iraqi Shia militants, particularly the JAM [Jaysh al-Mahdi], since at least the beginning of 2006. Explosively formed penetrator (EFP) attacks have risen dramatically”.
(4) The Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, released on September 6, 2007, states that “[t]he Commission concludes that the evidence of Iran’s increasing activism in the southeastern part of the country, including Basra and Diyala provinces, is compelling. . . It is an accepted fact that most of the sophisticated weapons being used to `defeat’ our armor protection comes across the border from Iran with relative impunity”.
(5) General (Ret.) James Jones, chairman of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, stated in testimony before the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate on September 6, 2007, that “[w]e judge that the goings-on across the Iranian border in particular are of extreme severity and have the potential of at least delaying our efforts inside the country. Many of the arms and weapons that kill and maim our soldiers are coming from across the Iranian border”.
(6) General Petraeus said of Iranian support for extremist activity in Iraq on April 26, 2007, that “[w]e know that it goes as high as [Brig. Gen. Qassem] Suleimani, who is the head of the Qods Force. . . We believe that he works directly for the supreme leader of the country”.
(7) Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the president of Iran, stated on August 28, 2007, with respect to the United States presence in Iraq, that “[t]he political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly. Soon we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course we are prepared to fill the gap”.
(8) Ambassador Crocker testified to Congress, with respect to President Ahmedinejad’s statement, on September 11, 2007, that “[t]he Iranian involvement in Iraq–its support for extremist militias, training, connections to Lebanese Hezbollah, provision of munitions that are used against our force as well as the Iraqis–are all, in my view, a pretty clear demonstration that Ahmedinejad means what he says, and is already trying to implement it to the best of his ability”.
(9) General Petraeus stated on September 12, 2007, with respect to evidence of the complicity of Iran in the murder of members of the Armed Forces of the United States in Iraq, that “[t]e evidence is very, very clear. We captured it when we captured Qais Khazali, the Lebanese Hezbollah deputy commander, and others, and it’s in black and white. . . We interrogated these individuals. We have on tape. . . Qais Khazali himself. When asked, could you have done what you have done without Iranian support, he literally throws up his hands and laughs and says, of course not. . . So they told us about the amounts of money that they have received. They told us about the training that they received. They told us about the ammunition and sophisticated weaponry and all of that that they received”.
(10) General Petraeus further stated on September 14, 2007, that “[w]hat we have got is evidence. This is not intelligence. This is evidence, off computers that we captured, documents and so forth. . . In one case, a 22-page document that lays out the planning, reconnaissance, rehearsal, conduct, and aftermath of the operation conducted that resulted in the death of five of our soldiers in Karbala back in January”.
(11) The Department of Defense report to Congress entitled “Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq” and released on September 18, 2007, consistent with section 9010 of Public Law 109-289, states that “[t]here has been no decrease in Iranian training and funding of illegal Shi’a militias in Iraq that attack Iraqi and Coalition forces and civilians. . . Tehran’s support for these groups is one of the greatest impediments to progress on reconciliation”.
(12) The Department of Defense report further states, with respect to Iranian support for Shi’a extremist groups in Iraq, that “[m]ost of the explosives and ammunition used by these groups are provided by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. . . For the period of June through the end of August, [explosively formed penetrator] events are projected to rise by 39 percent over the period of March through May”.
(13) Since May 2007, Ambassador Crocker has held three rounds of talks in Baghdad on Iraq security with representatives of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
(14) Ambassador Crocker testified before Congress on September 10, 2007, with respect to these talks, stating that “I laid out the concerns we had over Iranian activity that was damaging to Iraq’s security, but found no readiness on Iranians’ side at all to engage seriously on these issues. The impression I came with after a couple rounds is that the Iranians were interested simply in the appearance of discussions, of being seen to be at the table with the U.S. as an arbiter of Iraq’s present and future, rather than actually doing serious business…Right now, I haven’t seen any sign of earnest or seriousness on the Iranian side”.
(15) Ambassador Crocker testified before Congress on September 11, 2007, stating that “[w]e have seen nothing on the ground that would suggest that the Iranians are altering what they’re doing in support of extremist elements that are going after our forces as well as the Iraqis”.
(b) Sense of Senate.–It is the sense of the Senate–
(1) that the manner in which the United States transitions and structures its military presence in Iraq will have critical long-term consequences for the future of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, in particular with regard to the capability of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to pose a threat to the security of the region, the prospects for democracy for the people of the region, and the health of the global economy;
(2) that it is a vital national interest of the United States to prevent the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran from turning Shi’a militia extremists in Iraq into a
[Page: S11828] GPO’s PDF
Hezbollah-like force that could serve its interests inside Iraq, including by overwhelming, subverting, or co-opting institutions of the legitimate Government of Iraq;
(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;
(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies;
(5) that the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and initiated under Executive Order 13224; and
(6) that the Department of the Treasury should act with all possible expediency to complete the listing of those entities targeted under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747 adopted unanimously on December 23, 2006 and March 24, 2007, respectively.
Text provided by Sue Udry, Legislative Action Coordinator of United for Peace and Justice. 1100 Wayne Ave. #1020 Silver Spring, MD 20910 http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
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ACTION ALERT:
Vote this Week on Political Solution to End the Iraq Occupation
Hon. Barbara Boxer / US Senate
• Take Action: The Senate vote on the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment is scheduled as early as Tuesday morning, so time is of the essence here. Please email your Senators, right now, and urge them to support the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment when it comes up for a vote!
After nearly five years of a painful war in Iraq, there aren’t any good solutions. President Bush has refused to do the tough diplomatic and political work required to end the war, putting everything on the shoulders of our military, and the Republicans in Congress have been with him every step of the way.
Make no mistake — this is now a Republican war and the Republicans have walked away from every effort to responsibly end it.
Everyone agrees there must be a political solution. The Biden-Brownback- Boxer amendment pushes to the forefront a political solution in Iraq where each region would be given significant control over its own laws and administration. The Senate is scheduled to vote on this Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment as early as Tuesday morning, and I need your help to encourage my Senate colleagues to support it.
Click here to forward an email to your Senators today — urge them to support the Biden-Brownback-Boxer plan for a political settlement in Iraq that is the only way to bring about an end to this war!
For nearly five years, the Bush Administration has pushed for a strong central government in Baghdad that would unite Iraq. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen all too clearly, there is simply too much hatred and distrust among the various ethnic factions for this central government to work. It’s time to establish a federal system that gives each region greater control over its own affairs.
The Iraqi constitution clearly envisions a federal system like the one laid out in the Biden-Brownback-Boxer plan. While there would be a central government that distributes the oil and protects Iraq’s borders, the internal affairs of the Sunni areas would be handled by the Sunnis, the internal affairs of the Shiites would be handled by the Shiites, and the internal affairs of the Kurds would be handled by the Kurds. We can already see the positive impacts of local control in the Kurdish area where there is a much better quality of life for the people there.
Such a political settlement would help to tamp down much of the sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq since American forces overthrew Saddam’s government — and create an environment where we can bring our troops home.
The Senate vote on the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment is scheduled for as early as Tuesday morning, and I need your help to find the votes we need to pass it.
Click here to forward an email to your Senators today — urge them to support the Biden-Brownback-Boxer plan for a political settlement in Iraq that is the only way to bring about an end to this war!
Our brave men and women in uniform have served with honor and skill, and more than 3,700 have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. We couldn’t have asked them to do anything more.
Now it’s time for the Iraqi people to assume responsibility for the security and governance of their own country. The Biden-Brownback-Boxer plan will help the Iraqis reach their own settlement that will do just that.
It’s time to end the war and bring our troops home — and with the Biden-Brownback-Boxer plan, we can.
Thanks for your help.
The Letter of Support:
For nearly five years, the Bush Administration has pushed for a strong central government in Baghdad that would unite Iraq. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen all too clearly, there is simply too much hatred and distrust among the various ethnic factions for this central government to work. It’s time to support a federal system that gives each region greater control over its own affairs.
I believe the best answer left is a political solution, based on a plan authored by Senator Joe Biden and co-sponsored by Senators Sam Brownback and Barbara Boxer. The amendment pushes to the forefront a political solution in Iraq where each region would be given significant control over its own laws and administration.
Such a political settlement would help to tamp down much of the sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq since American forces overthrew Saddam’s government — and bring an end to this war.
I urge you to support the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment when it comes up for a vote this week.
Thank you for your consideration.
