Posted on 09/25/2007 11:12:13 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress signaled its disapproval of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a vote Tuesday to tighten sanctions against his government and a call to designate his army a terrorist group.
The swift rebuke was a rare display of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress bitterly divided on the Iraq war. It reflected lawmakers' long-standing nervousness about Tehran's intentions in the region, particularly toward Israel—a sentiment fueled by the pro-Israeli lobby whose influence reaches across party lines in Congress.
"Iran faces a choice between a very big carrot and a very sharp stick," said Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "It is my hope that they will take the carrot. But today, we are putting the stick in place."
The House passed, by a 397-16 vote, a proposal by Lantos, D-Calif., aimed at blocking foreign investment in Iran, in particular its lucrative energy sector. The bill would specifically bar the president from waiving U.S. sanctions.
Current law imposes sanctions against any foreign company that invests $20 million or more in Iran's energy industry, although the U.S. has waived or ignored sanction laws in exchange for European support on nonproliferation issues.
In the Senate, Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., proposed a nonbinding resolution urging the State Department to label Iran's military—the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—a terrorist organization.
The Bush administration had already been planning to blacklist a unit within the Revolutionary Guard, subjecting part of the vast military operation to financial sanctions.
The legislative push came a day after Ahmadinejad defended Holocaust revisionists, questioned who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and declared homosexuals didn't exist in Iran in a tense question-and- answer session at Columbia University.
The Iranian president planned to speak Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly.
Lantos' bill was expected to draw criticism from U.S. allies in Europe. During a visit to Washington last week, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told lawmakers that France opposes any U.S. legislation that would target European countries operating in Iran. He argued that such sanctions could undermine cooperation on dealing with Iran.
Any takers that one GOP presidential candidates might be one of the 16?
Chrissy Matthews is deeply saddened.
Don’t worry if we are forced into a war with Iran someday, they will forget they ever took this vote. Revise and extend....
If Congress had any balls they would have attacked this SOB when he was in our reach.
When Democrats don’t try to trick and deceive people and people know what they are about, like supporting Moveon and being unpatriotic and supported a terrorist dictator, people turn on the democrats.
This is why the Dems will eventually fail, they can’t win support of America because Dems are Anti-American.
Your guess was correct. Here are the 16 who voted against.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll895.xml
—— NAYS 16 -—
Abercrombie
Baldwin
Bartlett (MD)
Blumenauer
Conyers
Ellison
Flake
Gilchrest
Hinchey
Lee
McDermott
Miller, George
Moore (WI)
Olver
Paul
Stark
Ron Paul, the conscience of the House.
Amazing words from a man whose party position is to speak softly and run away with your tail between your legs.
Duncan Hunter vs. Columbia University (from yesterday):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0370DeS6PU
Hunter is ahead of the curve once again.
McDermott is surely no surprise.
Ole nutjob is not very smart. If his speech had been chiefly Bush bashing, he would have been the darling of the liberals. But he had to speak negatively about gays. That’s what did it.
I say Amen and amen, although I feel some didn’t vote against it because of upcoming elections, and to help bring up the Congress overall ratings.
You KNOW how they feel about the way the wind blows.
Ellison. That figures....
Of course his wife, Moronica, who sits on the Detroit City Council proposed legislation making Detroit a sanctuary city for illegal aliens. It passed. Detroit continues its slide into 4th world status.
‘The House passed, by a 397-16 vote, a proposal by Lantos, D-Calif., aimed at blocking foreign investment in Iran, in particular its lucrative energy sector. The bill would specifically bar the president from waiving U.S. sanctions. ‘
Without looking further, I’ll take a stab and say Ron Paul voted against....
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