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've just arrived and reading through the thread, SF looks like the one provoking, and name calling.
Yeah, but he sucked in bcsco, boss nailed them both, but screamin really went after bcsco and me. Bcsco doesn’t blow them off like like I do. Look at the posts...
You seem to forget that our founders didn’t want any entangling alliances.
Entangling alliances are what started WW I. One guy got killed by anarchists and millions of soldiers died because of that. Do you really think the arch duke Ferdinand was worth all that?
In the Western Hemisphere, we have had very little of the wars that have plagued the Eastern Hemisphere for 1,000’s of years. Yeah, the Aztec’s and Inca’s had empires, but not to the extent of the Eastern Hemisphere. We’ve had a war or so with Mexico and Canada, but the western hemisphere has been on the whole rather peaceful. Of course, the US pretty much wiped out the indians, in north America. In the late 1800’s we could have easily defeated Mexico and probably Canada, but we didn’t.
If we were a belligerent nation, we could easily have controlled all of North America. Now our foreign policy seems to be that we can control all the world.
I don’t think that is in our best interests.
You mean the Barbary Pirates weren’t attacking American ships in the 1780s because of our support for the state of Israel?
:-} I like your style.
Well, that sure seems like a short hour.
Thanks for the help, but it’s OK. I just don’t believe anyone has the right to denigrate one’s time in service. That’s just not right. And if I have to take a suspension for it, or leave FR entirely, then, so be it. But I will not stand back when someone becomes so disrespectful.
Impeach him NOW.
You too, we may but heads over Fred, but you are a class act in my book G-
Blow ‘em off, not worth anything but a snarky remarky...
Well short of an hour. After discussion and review of this thread, your suspension was reversed.
Guenevere’s on my Ablaze! ping list. She sends me a lot of interesting threads to ping. And, yeah, she is a class act. Just like you, buddy.
I hadn't thought of that, thank you for reminding me.
I appreciate that. And I apologize for getting suckered in and carried away. But I will never allow anyone to denigrate my time in service.
But I did go overboard on some of my remarks and for that I'm sorry.
His other personality thanks you ;-)
Hey all you Ron Paul idiots here at FR, you must be very proud of you traitor candidate. He never had a chance anyway at the presidency and now it’s move clean out of sight. To think that you Libertarians would vote for this complete loser just so you can smoke a joint in the future. Pathetic.
Multiple personality disorder is tough...
Oh, good grief, let's not get back into that again. I'm tired of writing to myself :)
Are we sure about that?
I dunno. Let's discuss it over one drink :)
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