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GOP Opposition to Top Defense Pick Grows
freebeacon ^ | MARCH 2, 2021 | Alana Goodman

Posted on 03/02/2021 9:32:41 AM PST by MarvinStinson

Colin Kahl opposed sanctions on IRGC, condemned killing of Iranian terror chief

Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee are meeting privately on Tuesday morning to discuss their growing policy concerns about Colin Kahl, President Joe Biden's nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon, according to sources close to the committee.

Kahl, a former Obama State Department official, was a key architect of the Iran deal and has been at the forefront of a number of controversial moves, including, reportedly, the decision to remove a statement affirming Jerusalem as Israel's capital from the 2012 Democratic National Convention platform.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) was the first member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to publicly oppose Kahl's appointment on Monday, according to Politico, citing serious disagreements on policy.

But other Republicans have privately voiced similar objections and are looking to plan out their next steps ahead of Kahl's scheduled confirmation hearing on Thursday.

"Republicans have concerns about Kahl and want to discuss amongst themselves the seriousness" of the issues at the closed-door 11 a.m. meeting, one source told the Washington Free Beacon.

Republicans are closely eying Kahl's background and expect to raise a number of their disagreements during his hearing, which "is going to be sporty, to say the least," according to the source.

Kahl, who has also served as Biden's longtime foreign policy adviser, was one of the Obama administration's most vocal advocates for the Iran deal and a staunch opponent of tougher U.S. sanctions on Tehran. He wrote a policy proposal for containing a nuclear Iran in 2013, arguing that the United States "would likely be forced to shift toward containment regardless of current preferences" if Iran obtained nuclear weapons.

In 2017, Kahl opposed a bill to sanction the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which carries out Iran's global terrorism operations, arguing that the United States already had the ability to sanction individual IRGC members. The legislation was "gratuitous" and "a symbolic gesture to basically rub it in the nose of the IRGC," he said.

Kahl also criticized the Trump administration's targeted strike on Iranian terror chief Qassem Soleimani last year, calling it "an overt act against perhaps the second-most-prominent official in Iran."

"From an Iranian perspective, the assassination is the equivalent of another country taking out the director of the CIA, secretary of defense, and shadow secretary of state all rolled into one," Kahl said, arguing that the attack was likely to prompt reprisals from Tehran.

Kahl has spoken at numerous events hosted by the National Iranian American Council, a group that has been accused of lobbying for policies supportive of the Iranian government and has attempted to broker meetings between Iranian regime officials and U.S. lawmakers.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Israel; US: California; US: Delaware; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2013; 2017; california; colinkahl; containment; delaware; iran; irandeal; iranlobby; irgc; israel; jamalabdi; jerusalem; kahl; mousavian; moussavian; niac; palestinianlobby; pmf; presidentjarrett; presidentrice; proliferation; qassemsoleimani; revolutionaryguard; sanctions; soleimani; traitor; tritaparsi; waronterror

1 posted on 03/02/2021 9:32:41 AM PST by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

It’s cute when the GOP acts like it has any ability to do anything.


2 posted on 03/02/2021 9:40:19 AM PST by brownsfan (Term limits! Without term limits, we are doomed.)
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GOP WORKING HARD FOR U


3 posted on 03/02/2021 9:50:40 AM PST by proust (All posts made under this ip are, for the intents and purposes of the author, considered satire.)
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To: MarvinStinson
GOP Opposition to Top Defense Pick Grows

Don't understand why, Biden couldn't pick someone more qualified than Colin Kahl to Defend Marxist Socialism.

4 posted on 03/02/2021 10:07:48 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Celebrate Decivilization)
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To: MarvinStinson

One more piece in the Biden plan to curry favor with the Mullahs.


5 posted on 03/02/2021 10:26:52 AM PST by RAldrich
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To: MarvinStinson

containment=life insurance for dictators


6 posted on 03/02/2021 11:19:16 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: MarvinStinson

Says he is for “containment” of Iran but opposes all means of doing so including sanctions.

Idiocy.


7 posted on 03/02/2021 11:23:19 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: RAldrich

And with Palestinians.


8 posted on 03/02/2021 11:25:03 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: MarvinStinson

Biden Bundler Is Head of Pro-Iran Organizations GOP Senators Believe Is Foreign Lobbyist Group
11/3/2020, 3:10:04 AM · by knighthawk · 2 replies
Breitbart ^ | November 2 2020 | KRISTINA WONG
The Biden campaign over Halloween weekend released a list of bundlers who have raised at least $100,000 for the campaign, and the list includes the head of pro-Iranian organizations that Republican senators say should be investigated as foreign lobbyist groups. The list of campaign bundlers included Jamal Abdi, who is the president of the D.C.-based National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and executive director of its sister organization, NIAC Action. NIAC describes itself on its website as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002 to give voice to the Iranian-American community.” The group worked to get the Joint Comprehensive Plan of...


9 posted on 03/02/2021 11:27:28 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: MarvinStinson

Pass this along to any friends who STILL don’t believe that we’re in serious trouble. Read just enough of the Pentagon BS to get the idea. The SCARY stuff is in the COMMENTS FROM THE FORMER MILITARY GUYS AT THE END.
https://oldnfo.org/2021/03/01/this-is-just-chilling/


10 posted on 03/02/2021 12:07:25 PM PST by Dick Bachert (THE DEEP STATE HATES US! IT DETESTS TRUMP!!)
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To: Dick Bachert

Dan on 2021/03/01 at 07:00 said:

During Obama’s infestation of the White House, he….at the direction of his handlers…..conducted a purge of the command staff that would have made Stalin blush.

Now that the commies have restolen the White House they are going to extend that purge to ALL the ranks as part of their plan to insure they will NEVER EVER be removed from power again.


11 posted on 03/02/2021 5:53:40 PM PST by MarvinStinson
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