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.
DUDE! That’s harsh, are so not true!
There’s also LSD, Heroin, Crack...
*****This is of course nonsense belied by history. Saddam gave sanctuary to jihadists, both Shia and Sunni variety. He also allowed ANsar al Islam to roam freely in Northern Iraq
The notiont that Saddam was a secularist with no ties to radical Muslims is fantasy usually reserved for use by left wing nuts.*****
Well, all you have to do is look at his country. Women were not forced to wear a burka. His personal actions were not in line with radical Islam.
****Abu Abbas killed your fellow American. Abu Abbas was a Shia Muslim whackadoo given sanctuary bu Hussein. Abu Zarqawi and Abu Nidal Sunni Muslim whackjobs givern sanctuary by Hussein. Kind of blows up your whole thesis, no?****
No, because they were individuals.
Not really as there is very little evidence that Saddam was training radical, fundamentalist Muslims. Saudi Arabia is the biggest supporter of Wahabism. Almost all of the 9/11 people were from S.A. and none or almost none from Iraq or Iran.
Thanks....You are gracious.
Thank-you :)
Thank-you bcsco!
I took 4 hours off yesterday afternoon and winterized my bike while cooking on the grill.
I know that makes me a degenerate and I hope that what I did doesn't get back to my boss.
I can be sneaky however with my 5%. ; ) LOL!
No, thank you for your support; both here and on the ping list. It means a lot.
Your understanding gives you a future with hope my FRiend.
Oh, and thank you for your service!
It's greatly appreciated.
He made a good president, didn’t he?****
No, Jimmy Carter was more of a religious person, but he had lust in his heart. While his religious convictions were pretty strong, it really got me when he said he asked his teenage daughter what she thought. He was not a constitutionalists and I don’t think he had the moral courage to take unpopular positions, like RP. He was better than most politicians, but not on the level of Ron Paul.
We all need to learn from our mistakes. That's part of life. I need to back off when I'm being suckered in. That's what I have to work on :)
Thanks for your kind words.
Don't take it personally! ; )
I like to think of them as pragmatic words not kind words however I appreciate your reply in total.
Damn treasonous paper wants to blame Israel.
***Okay, so Ron Paul is going to be our next POTUS, right?***
I hope
***We are a country lacking corruption and inhabited by 300,000,000 wanton of no corruption people so what’s the worry?***
No, I said we have the least corruption of any government in the world, but it is still pretty corrupt. Duke Cunningham showed that.
****He’s got it in the bag!
Trust me.../evil grin****
No, but even though he has a very marginal chance it is enough for me to support him.
I see all of the socialists/communists voted nay, plus “Blame America For 9-11”, our very own nutjob, Ron Paul! If I recall correctly, in the debate in North Carolina, Paul also accused our military of torture.
IMPEACH is a word that has lost it's meaning and credibility anymore thanks to the directives of the DNC and "Der Schlickmiester" via their followers.
***A couple of other points.
Saddam Hussein paid bounty to Islamic Jihad for Israeli and American scalps.****
Yes, he did pay money to the families of suicide bombers. And in that way, he encouraged suicide bombers, but none of them were from Iraq. The, $50,000 he paid to suicide bombers was chump change to him and endeared him to the rest of the Muslim world.
***And finally, Saddam Hussein was a Muslim, the cutting off of heads variety and for the occasional chuckle the gassing of Iraqi Kurds which puts him smack in the middle of the muslim terrorist camp.***
Turkey hates Kurds too. Turks also hate Armenians. We don’t need to be in the middle of all this crap.
***Secular? Very funny!***
Compared to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iraq was very secular.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.