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Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment

by Steven D
Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 02:57:33 PM EST

By a vote of 76-22. While modified in some of its language (the resolution no longer includes language that called for Bush to use military force against Iran if necessary), it still says that Iran's Revolutionary Guard should be designated a terrorist organization. The resolution relies almost entirely on recent testimony made by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker (which of course we know was filled with inaccuracies) to support its conclusions. You can read the entire resolution as passed here (caution: pdf file).

Among the 76 Senators who voted for this piece of crap were the following Democrats:

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Whitehouse (D-RI)

Note in particular, Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer voted for the resolution which Bush will invariably use as justifying any attack he wants to make on Iran. Lieberman's not on the list above since I don't count him as a Democrat anymore. The only Republicans who voted against the resolution were Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar. McCain and Obama abstained.

Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (4.00 / 2)

McCain and Obama abstained! Chickenshits!

by Sandy on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:15:09 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

I'm actually impressed that they didn't vote for it. No snark intended.

From a strategic point of view, all Obama had to do was vote more in keeping with America's interests than Hillary. Since she voted for, it was not necessary for him to vote against.

The Clintons represent the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

by Alexander on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:45:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

My guess is that they were out campaigning knowing that the thing would pass whichever way they were planning to vote. Iterating that you single out the 2 who abstained rather than the 76 asswipes who think that saber rattling is going to help deal with Iran.

What gets me is that these folks are idiots, all either the Iranians or the Bush administration want on this issue is attention. There is no one left who has the creditability to convince me that Iran is a threat, these folks have pretty much used theirs up. Booman is right the only way that Iran is a threat is if we invade them, although we have already done them the favour of putting our troops within reach.

BTW I see two surprise ayes in that list, Whitehouse and Durbin, I don't really think any of the other votes are a surprise. Can anyone explain those to me?

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington- Obama
Philly for Obama

by Luam (LuamDK at gmail.com) on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:24:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

I can't explain Whitehouse...this is about who feels they cans endure very tough 30 second spots..and who just doesn't feel like enduring them.

by BooMan on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:28:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

It was not uncommon for Obama to AWOL for controversial votes when he was in the Illinois Senate which is one reason I can't support him.

If you want things to get better, be prepared to deal with change.

by Kahli on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:59:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (4.00 / 2)

So what do ya think Steven- will the Heads start the full scale war push today or will they wait?
Me- by late this afternoon. Full blown - no holds barred by tomorrow at the latest. What abloody joke.

by billjpa (billjpa@aol.com) on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:30:13 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

I think they started a while ago, frankly. This was just part of the push.

Obama is a Patriot

by Steven D on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:35:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

I still don't understand why the international bond market doesn't put a stop to this. Why would anyone lend us money to attack Iran?

by AliceDem on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:19:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Loaning Money to the US (none / 0)

This is the point of Naomi Klein's new book, that wars and disasters create a lot of profit. the US taxpayers, we suckers, we stupid, compliant suckers, will be paying off this debt for a very long time. Great stream of income, no?

The payroll tax is the ticket to hell for this country. We'll not have any kind of massive tax strike or work strike in this country, we are complicit in the demise of all the lives dead and to become dead in Iraq and Iran.

What a deep and heavy karma this country is accumulating!

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org

by Isis on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 11:21:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

It's underway already, but the real push seems to be starting this week.

The Fox News network is now in full drumbeat mode, trying to promote a war against Iran.
Last night, armchair General Sean Hannity did his part to beat the Iran war drums. On Hannity and Colmes, the bellicose host devoted half the show to previewing "what a U.S. strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would look like":

HANNITY: Mission: Iran Showdown. The objective: destroy and disable Iran's top nuclear facilities, impact its ability to process and enrich uranium, delay its ability to manufacture and deploy nuclear weapons, all while crippling the ruling regime.
The network also announced that this Saturday at 9 pm, it will air a "Fox News investigative piece" entitled Iran: Ticking Bomb. The show will be hosted by Dan Senor, the former spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The Long War marches on.

by Zandar1 on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 05:22:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (4.00 / 3)

when 3/4's of the senate goes this far astray from the desires of 70% of the populace, l think it's safe to posit, that with this vote, as with all the previous votes re: AUMF 1 and 2, the previous lieberman resolution, war funding, et al, plus the impeachment off the table declaration, that the democrats and the republicans in congress have embraced franklin's admonition to the patriots at the signing of the declaration of independence:

"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."

for all the wrong reasons. but they surely will if the truth behind all this ever becomes out.

we are well and truly fucked.

lTMF'sA

lTMF'sA...the revolution will not be televised...Peace

by dada on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:51:07 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

Senators are millionaires and more. They love spending and killing. They love it. The wealth entrenches them even more, and will quickly return a feudal system in this nation.

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org

by Isis on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 11:22:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (4.00 / 3)

Yep, the last election really changed things. Now there's a D after the names of the spineless and not an R.

Fear will keep the local systems in line. -Grand Moff Tarkin Survivor Left Blogistan

by boran2 (blogistan@yahoo.com) on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:21:27 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

For the most part, Israel has dictated to the US State Department who is and who is not a world terrorist organization. Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations which developed in response to Israeli military occupations of Palestine and Lebanon, and have nothing whatsoever to do with the War on Terrorism or Al Qaeda, are considered terrorist groups at Israel's request. It is all part of the role reversal we have witnessed in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel no longer occupies the West Bank in order to continue its inexorable process of colonizing Palestinian lands, but does so in order to keep terrorists at bay. Israel is now a partner in the War on Terrorism.

And so the bullshit continues, and is now supports Israel's provocations to get the US to attack Iran. I will write my Senator and congratulate him immediately.

by shergald on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:14:29 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

Hamas and Hezbollah [...] have nothing whatsoever to do with the War on Terrorism

They have everything to do with the War on Terror. That is because the War on Terror is a completely Zionist concept. All it amounts to is America behaving in the whole world the way Israel behaves in its part of the world.

The Clintons represent the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

by Alexander on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:50:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

In some indirect way, perhaps, since Al Qaeda has used Israel's occupation and colonization of Palestine, as a recruiting tool, as another reason to spite the devil, America. But it goes a little too far to suggest that Israel solely sponsored OBL's rationale and the subsequent war on terrorism.

I can agree that the war on terrorism was overblown by the Bush administration as it is not by any means a war. It is just what Kerry suggested during his 2004 campaign: a police action involving numerous intelligence agencies. He was of course criticized for telling the truth, and never diminished the war on terrorism as such again.

by shergald on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:19:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

OBL was just a pretext. "Terror" is anything that the US sees as being against its own interests. The way the word is used by our government, "terrorist" doesn't mean anything any more. But the whole PNAC strategy, which is the basis for the "war on terror", is modeled after Israel's relations with its neighbors: "pre-emptive" war, don't let another major power emerge, etc. In the same way that Israel does not see itself as an equal with its neighbors, the US no longer sees itself as an equal among other nations.

The "war on terror" is nothing but one euphemism for American imperialism. It is a pure propaganda construct. So even saying that it is "a police action involving numerous intelligence agencies" as Kerry did is misleading.

The Clintons represent the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

by Alexander on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:50:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

"The "war on terror" is nothing but one euphemism for American imperialism."

This statement cannot be disagreed with. 9/11 was elaborated into a pretext for a wider "war" with all its underlying implications. But without 9/11 and OBL, Bush would still be cutting away brush on the ranch or learning how to read from second graders. In other words, BushCo did not create OBL or engineer 9/11.

by shergald on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 10:39:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

BushCo did not create OBL or engineer 9/11.

BushCo are responsible for 9/11 in that, had they not stolen the 2000 election, a Gore administration probably would have been able to prevent the 9/11 attacks.

The Clintons represent the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

by Alexander on Thu Sep 27th, 2007 at 02:14:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

It's a thought. And history might have been entirely different from what it is.

by shergald on Fri Sep 28th, 2007 at 08:08:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: History might have been different (none / 1)

Of course history would have been different. In the same way that history would have been different if the Bolsheviks hadn't taken over Russia, or the Nazis hadn't taken over Germany.

The Clintons represent the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

by Alexander on Fri Sep 28th, 2007 at 01:41:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

I think Terry Anderson and some others would disagree with you concerning Hezbollah.

by AliceDem on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:15:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

Hezbollah developed in response to Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in which 20,000 Shiite and Palestinian Arabs, mostly innocent civilians, were killed. Sharon demonstrated that a modern American supplied military force can decimate a civilian population without difficulty. He was wanted by the Hague ever since.

So what do you have to provide that Hezbollah is more than a defensive organization? Taking on US forces who landed in Lebanon, outsiders who were there to fight them, does not make them a terrorist organization.

That would be like saying that the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank are there to fight terrorism, as if the 40 year military occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands counted for nothing.

Have you bought into hasbara, the propaganda?

by shergald on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:26:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

http://www.antiwar.com/scheuer/?articleid=11670
September 26, 2007

Why Does Norman Podhoretz Hate America?
by Michael Scheuer

World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism
Norman Podhoretz
Doubleday, 2007 240 pp.

Norman Podhoretz's new book, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism, is a hate-filled, anti-American book of the first order. Podhoretz hates every American who does not support the neoconservatives' views, the foreign policy they have devised, and the military and national security disasters to which they are leading America. Patrick Buchanan, Andrew J. Bacevich, Sir John Keegan, Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, and many others are all targets of Podhoretz. These men are variously characterized as anti-Semites, isolationists, recanters from the true creed, or simply as small men who fear the neoconservative utopia is about to arrive, discredit their views, and cost them their jobs or prestige. Podhoretz is particularly vicious toward Buchanan because he knows that Buchanan sees through the neoconservative fantasy with the most unrelenting acuity. Buchanan's frank voice and non-interventionism - not isolationism - are genuinely American characteristics, so Podhoretz must go all out to discredit Buchanan as an anti-Semite, lest Americans listen to Buchanan's advice not to get their children killed fighting other peoples' wars, be they wars for Israelis or Muslims or anyone else.

And who are the heroes of the story?

Why, Podhoretz and the familiar roster of the only real Americans and Israel-firsters, of course:
Paul Wolfowitz,
R. James Woolsey,
Charles Krauthammer,
Douglas Feith,
Victor Davis Hanson,
John R. Bolton,
Joseph Lieberman,
Richard Perle,
Robert Kagan,
Max Boot,
Steve Emerson,
Daniel Pipes,
Michael Rubin,
MICHAEL LEDEEN,
Kenneth Adelman,
Frank Gaffney,
and a few others who have battled so long and hard to ensure that America fights an endless war against Muslims in Israel's defense.

Podhoretz and his chums are the men responsible for the lethal mess America now faces in the Muslim world, and they have also done more than any other group - Hamas and Hezbollah included - to undermine Israel's long-term security. In short, the influence and arrogance of this gang has been an unmitigated and accelerating disaster for the two nations they claim to love most....." (clip)

by Sandy on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:19:59 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

Illustrious Americans? Reminds one of the gang of four in China following Mao's death.

by shergald on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:29:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

And yesterday the House passed the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007 (Lantos).

by rba (nearnight12@yahoo.com) on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:39:16 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

And soon we will be hearing from our Democratic representatives: I voted but I didn't vote for this bombing of Iran (Reid). Clinton will demure: well I didn't vote for it but since it is a done deed, well... I will never let Iran get a nuclear bomb. Only Israel deserves to have these weapons.

by shergald on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:31:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

How about HRC!

No way in hell I'm going to vote for her in a primary.

And if she gets the nom, I'll probably have to wear a clothespin into the polling place on election day.

Maybe Hillary thinks this is something you can fix in the mix.
Well you can't.
Suppose we do get into a war with Iran sometime in the near future--like within the next 6-9 months--and suppose the Iranians don't follow the neocon script and start waving white flags the moment we drop bombs on them?
Suppose the war is still going on a year from now when you have to explain to the voters why you voted for it? No matter what the answer, you won't be going to the White House on 1/20/09.
Hillary screwed the pooch on this one.

"That's funny. That plane's dustin' crops where there ain't no crops"

by Bourgeois Liberal (Jrclio@aol.com) on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:39:25 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

And if she gets the nom, I'll probably have to wear a clothespin into the polling place on election day.

Even after all this, you'd still vote for her? All that would do is just help perpetuate the system.

If Hillary gets the nomination, progressives must either stay home on election day or vote for a third-party candidate. But I don't think she'll get it.

The Clintons represent the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

by Alexander on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 03:55:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

Schumer is a jerk.

by AliceDem on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 04:13:18 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

hmm..I guess they didn't learn the lesson from 2002, that Iraqi thing they voted on.

by americanforliberty on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 05:36:09 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 1)

Authorization for mass murder. Some good it did getting a Dem majority.

by mikefromtexas on Wed Sep 26th, 2007 at 09:14:10 PM EST

Re: Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment (none / 0)

BushCo did not create OBL or engineer 9/11.

by Alexander on Thu Sep 27th, 2007 at 02:13:02 PM EST

Senate Passes Lieberman-Kyl Amendment | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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