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.
I should, having it seen the movie more than a few times! ;-)
Hey, dude. Check out the time stamps on posts #348 & 349. Do you really believe they could have been pounded out by one individual using two usernames within 14 seconds.
Do ya? Huh?
Sounds like a GREAT congress member then!
I question his sanity.
That makes question of his capabilities and worthiness of support....
He sounds like Count Dracula.
When he said, “I don’t buy it”, it sounded like he said, “I don’t bite.”
Laura Ingraham keeps playing the soundbite (no pun intended). It still cracks me up.
There, I fixed it for us literate folks.
You are a real jerk, you know that?
Nope...
Keep it up, I’m out for a bit...
Daa....yea....daaaaa......but only a super hacker could have two ISP's, daaaaaa.....you sure know a lot for a hippy disrupter.....daaa.....us dumb ass conservatives never thought about that.......duh.......except I'm logged into work on a different ISP.....duh
D@mn, I'm just cursed with not forgetting pleasant people and times.
Where ya' been? /blushing
You want facts about what a Ron Paul administration would do. Whan and if there ever are any I’ll get right back to you. Feel free to sit there and make up your own while you wait.
Oh, just keeping busy — and out of trouble. How are you doing?
You are one nut job for sure. Believe what you want. I couldn’t care less.
And you jump on our bones about debating? Yeah, right. Go to he[[.
Paul is beginning to make Colmes seem reasonable. (brrrrr)
Semantics,exactly what realm are you occupying? Is it denying reality of our present day threat or some WW1 Ideal.
We can sit back and think they can't get to us but in reality it is something else.
Try waking up to reality, Ron Paul is probably a bigger loser then her tighness.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted to through down....let me go re-read your posts to me.......
Now who, pray tell, has disputed that fact!
Concerning minds are eagerly awaiting your response. ; )
That is scary. The day that gitwort Colmes makes sense I am turning off the tv.
The L. Ron Perot’s trying to get himself throw out of the party. Then he can cry foul in front of the TV cameras for days, whip the mujahadeen into a frenzy... then triumphantly announce he’s running for president on the Libertarian ticket with Chuck Hagel.
Ron's not taking any chances with that guy hiding in the well or the other guy hiding in the mother ship.
95% busy which leaves me only 5% of trouble time.
That's a good thing, I guess. : )
Life is good!
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