Posted on 06/19/2009 10:24:56 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON (AP) - In the strongest message yet from the U.S. government, the House voted 405-1 Friday to condemn Tehran's crackdown on demonstrators and the government's interference with Internet and cell phone communications.
The resolution was initiated by Republicans as a veiled criticism of President Barack Obama, who has been reluctant to criticize Tehran's handling of disputed elections that left hard-liner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.
Rep. Mike Pence, who co-sponsored the resolution, said he disagrees with the administration that it must not meddle in Iran's affairs.
"When Ronald Reagan went before the Brandenburg Gate, he did not say Mr. (Mikhail) Gorbachev, that wall is none of our business," said Pence, R-Ind., of President Reagan's famous exhortation to the Soviet leader to "tear down that wall."
Democrats, who are quick to voice their support for Israel anytime the Jewish state is seen as under siege, easily agreed to push through the mildly worded resolution.
Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-sponsor of the resolution, said "it is not for us to decide who should run Iran, much less determine the real winner of the June 12 election.
"But we must reaffirm our strong belief that the Iranian people have a fundamental right to express their views about the future of their country freely and without intimidation," added Berman, D-Calif.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., have proposed a similar measure in the Senate, although a vote was not certain.
The policy statement expresses support for "all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and rule of law" and affirms "the importance of democratic and fair elections."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
The intent of the Constitution didn’t include nuclear weapons, crazy Islamic leaders and followers who are all of 12 hours away by airplane from delivering such weapons.
I can’t believe I’m seeing what I’m seeing in this thread, but isolationism is the SUREST way to get people IN THE UNITED STATES killed.
You have yet to explain how the second event would have the same outcome as the first. Hypocrisy has nothing to do with the situation. We are not the same country we were in the 1950’s, supporting a bad leader in effort to stave off communism and believing the ends would justify the means. When we stand in support of our principles, the outcome will not be the same as when we stand in defiance of our principles.
A resolution is a declaration. A war is a conflict using force between nations.
Read the resolution then read the Constitution.
It's a declaration of war.
You have no idea.
You are crazy. It is just a resolution not an invasion of Iran. Dopes like you give libertarians a bad name. You are beyond the fringe
But your cat still likes you
I just read my history. The growth of tyranical big government programs, both with the welfare AND warfare states, often begins in incremental, seemingly harmless, ways. A resolution that officially picks sides (in this case in favor of a slightly less ISLAMIST faction that lost an election) and will probably lead to other policies. There are repeated examples of such incremental change. I suggest you read the Federalist Papers if this a new concept to you. The founders were well aware of it.
Dope? Crazy? Do you use that kind of invective and name-calling with people you know on a daily basis or do you just pound your chest and turn red when they disagree with you?
Who do you intend to pay for all this?
I meant to say “how do you intend to pay for this?”
We all know how this will end. Negotiations, signed agreement, 1 Billion aid from US and a promise not to do it until the next President is elected.
Did you ever stop to think that if it were really as clear as you say it is, we would be hearing this from the troops themselves? They understand what's going on. We're fighting an ideology that transcend geo-political boundaries. It can not be contained by conventional mechanisms, and it can not be defended against with conventional mechanisms.Their ideology is not worn as a uniform so they can walk amongst us. They do not fight their way in; they destroy from the inside out. The one point that you, Ron Paul, and everyone else who share your view fail to realize is that they have already declared war on us, and your failure to realize this, or give it credibility, is because you don't understand the nature of the enemy. Because you can't correlate it with a uniform or country, you simply dismiss it as unimportant.
Just as they fight from within, so must we, and it *is* in defense of the security of this Nation, and I think that your suggestion that it isn't, borders on dishonoring our men and women in uniform.
Ron Paul is a mullah-loving bleeeeeeeep.
Admit it dude. Your goal is to smear libertarians by going to the extreme here. Make people think libertarians are wacked
Words of encouragement do not make an invasion of Iran
This is about our foreign policy as it applies to the constitution.
This is not about ideology. Who are we to dictate THEIR ideology anyhow.
We went there with a purpose “supposedly” to disarm the regime, free the people from tyranny and enforce the U.N. resolutions (which I still can't figure out our relationship with the U.N. and why it's pertinent to our country.)
I believe this may have been our purpose, but secretly there is yet another agenda. This is why we are still there.
It is up to the Iraqis and or the Afghans to rise up and take back their own freedom.
Is it our fault they may be a weak people?
Look at the South Vietnamese for instance. We had the same issues getting these guys to muster up the umph to fight for their own freedom.
Think of it this way. The U.N. perceived Texans as oppressing the poor immigrant population from Mexico.
We here in Texas feel that we have been invaded illegally and all attempts to get them to go home peacefully have failed.
So, We Texans begin rounding up these illegals and forcibly return them to their home across the border and then average citizens take up arms to guard the border.
Well the U.N. passes a resolution condemning such actions and votes to send a force into Texas to stop forced deportations.
One thing leads to another, lots of violence and now we find 40 thousand blue helmets on our soil.
They've effectively halted all forced deportations, disarmed the citizens of Texas and are in dialog with Rick Perry to change our ideology so we can incorporate millions of illegals on to this land which was once there's.
Now, Ideology? Foreign troops? Policy influenced by entities other than our own?
My point is, unless a foreign state directly threatens the security of our nation (and I'm not talking about cave dwellers), we should not intervene.
If we do see a threat, deal with it with overwhelming force....then get out.
Playing beat cop, civilization re-builder and meals on wheels is just an expensive proposition and is not the mission of our fighting force.
Give all that over to the U.N., there just dying to gain relevance.
Agree or not, we are broke as a nation!!! As much as we'd like to just keep on doing what we do, sending billions around the world to change folks opinions and ideologies, we can't afford it.
All this spending around the world is ultimately going to rest on my shoulders and yours and your kids and kids kids.
Currently, total national debt is approx. 11 TRILLION dollars. We are so damn in debt, foreign countries are afraid to buy our debt any longer.
If that's not an eye opener, I don't know what is.
Talk of dumping the dollar for a new world reserve currency...does this not spook you guys?
What about your investments, what about our standard of living as Americans?
We should return to dealing with the world on a strict constitutional basis. If you threaten us, we will put you down, otherwise play nice, trade nice.
The founding fathers wouldn’t be hiding behind the Federalist papers.
Internal strife within a nation such as Iran is something we should only wish for. Given the current conditions over there, this could potentially go on for a long time with several benefits to the safety of the U.S.
The biggest benefit is the large amount of people who are standing opposed to a recent election, the supposed winner of that election, and now possibly to entire leadership system. Until the government can get their internal conditions stabilized, they really can't afford to spend much time on the outside world.
I say we keep our heads down, and don't give the Iranian regime a target to point their fingers at as a potential cause of any election problems. Let the unrest play out. The longer it goes on, the better the chance that there may be a more positive in their politics.
Let's just open up the ol national checkbook and write another billion dollar HOT CHECK.
If it were you or I....we'd be in jail for such financial mismanagement.
Talk about a threat to national security!
Talk about destruction from within!
These bozos up in government are killing our nation all the while were all glued to the television marveled at the purple fingers of newly liberated Iraqi's.
Do any of y'all think for a New York second that the world is gonna come help America?
We have issues here on our own soil that threaten the very existence of our nation. It's time to take care of America.
Otherwise this ol world lifeboat is gonna sink.
Wacked? Crazy? Dope? You must have a lot of friends.
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