New Senate Push to Pledge Unconditional Support for Israeli Preventive War on Iran

[moobu2]

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is planning to press the Senate next month to pledge U.S. troops, money, and political support to Israel should Bibi Netanyahu launch a preventive war on Iran.

Graham claims his effort would merely make explicit that the U.S. has Israel's back. But when your friend is drunk, you don't hand them the keys. If Graham has his way, he will hand Bibi the keys and lend him our car, while the rest of us ride shotgun.

Graham's planned measure would outsource the decision about whether the U.S. goes to war to the Israeli prime minister, pledging that if Bibi decides to act -- regardless of the consequences and our own calculations -- the U.S. will provide money, troops, and political leverage (presumably at the UN and IAEA where there will be a push to shred the sanctions and the Non-Proliferation Treaty).

Those who support the measure will likely claim that a "credible threat" of war must be issued in order to prevent an actual war. But U.S. military leaders understand the difference between a credible threat, which is already very much on the table given the U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf, and outsourcing the decision of whether the U.S. goes to war to Bibi Netanyahu.

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey pointedly said just weeks ago about potential Israeli strikes on Iran, "I don't want to be complicit if they decide to do it." Graham's resolution is about as clear a signal of complicity as you can get.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-abdi/israel-iran_b_1959607.html

[aquart]

1. That ass.

Lindsey, tell the Mormons to unbaptize Anne Frank.

[Swede Atlanta]

2. Sorry, Israel...

If you want our support you will

(1) Stop building settlements in areas designated for Palestinians
(2) Engage in honest, sincere negotiations on a two-state solution including resolution of the Jerusalem question
(3) Not initiate military action against Iran without consensus from the U.S.

If they want to forego all their military and other support from the U.S. then let them fly free. But if they want our money then there are conditions.

I support a free and independent Israel but not at the expense of Palestinians and other interests in the region

[King_David]

3. Where do those conditions come from?

Did Obama say that?

[azurnoir]

4. Has Obama pledged to expend American lives and money on Israel's war?

because that is what Graham is attempting to do or perhaps you would like Israel being able to make such decisions for the US? Is your 'support' of Obama predicated on his willingness to take the US into war on Israel's say so?

[King_David]

6. Not sure what your saying in your post

I asked where those conditions came from (Obama) ?


And I'm not really sure what you answered .

[azurnoir]

7. i did not answer anything as IMO no answer was required of me I asked questions

I'll accept your non-reply as an answer in itself

[oberliner]

5. This whole article is a lie

There is nothing of what is described in this article actually happening. No bill, no "Senate push", no commitment of US troops, nothing. You will notice the complete lack of links to anything credible to support these claims. It's because they are fictitious.

[bemildred]

8. Sounds like bullshit to me.

Guess who wrote it:

Jamal Abdi
Policy Director, National Iranian American Council

[oberliner]

9. What is that group's true agenda?

Do you know anything beyond the surface?

[bemildred]

10. I think they would like us to replace the government of Iran with them and their friends?

What do you think?

[oberliner]

11. I don't know anything about them to be honest

I've just started looking at their website and the like since you pointed it out.

[bemildred]

12. I confess I'm guessing, those groups pop up like mushrooms.

It seems unlikely in the context that they are minions of the current government, and that likely makes them an exile group, and it seems pretty clear they don't object to war on Iran.

[azurnoir]

13. Here's more about the group and a feature from their website

Support Diplomacy, Not War with Iran

On one side, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) has introduced important legislation that would:

1) Lift the "no contact policy" that bars US diplomats from communicating with their Iranian counterparts.

2) Make clear there is no authorization for war and no taxpayer money may be used for war against Iran.

3) Support sustained, bilateral talks with Iran by appointing a special diplomatic envoy.

NIAC strongly supports the Lee bill (H.R.4173) because direct talks are the only way to prevent war, resolve the nuclear standoff, and put mechanisms in place to effectively address human rights abuses in Iran and create space for Iran’s pro-democracy movement.

https://secure3.convio.net/niac/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=201&JServSessionIdr004=bkubqzb1w5.app331b

and the main page to the site

http://www.niacouncil.org/site/PageServer?pagename=NIAC_index

[bemildred]

14. That doesn't sound so bad, but the OP is pushing "unconditional support for preventive war".

Wherein, as usual, "preventive war" is a euphemism for aggressive war. He may or may not be suffering under the illusion that this will result in pressure on Iran resulting in a happy resolution to the dispute, but I will accept no such twaddle.

This is more of Bibi's meddling in US politics to serve his own agenda.

[Mosby]

16. what is "aggressive war"?

How is that different than "regular war"?

[bemildred]

17. What is "preventive war" then?

Is that a distinction without a difference too?

I usually think of "aggressive war" as being the opposite of "defensive war", and "preventive war" as being where you are not actually engaged in defensive war and are getting in the first lick, but you don't want to admit that.

[Mosby]

19. my inital reaction is that these adjectives are just being used for spin

I was thinking about how to reply to your reply so I googled "types of war" and found a wiki page on the topic (yeah I know). Turns out there is such a thing called a defensive/aggressive and preventive war.

So, nevermind.

[bemildred]

20. Oh there are lots of names.

But they are all political cant.

I like Wiki. No pretense of authority, but a pretty good idea of the current consensus view, if there is one.

"Preventive war" generally means you want to start it while still hanging onto the rhetorical position of innocent defense. I live in the USA, and we have never had an aggressive war, we was always defending ourselves from "outrages" or whatnot, but somehow we have just got bigger and bigger and bigger. It's like other countries just want to give us land or something.

One rarely sees in modern times overt and unapologetic aggression, because generally democratic governments must cajole support from the citizenry for their little experiments.

[oberliner]

18. They also really don't like MEK

MEK Delisting is a Gift to the Regime, a Disaster for the Iranian People and the U.S.

Washington, DC - The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) deplores the decision to remove the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. The decision opens the door to Congressional funding of the MEK to conduct terrorist attacks in Iran, makes war with Iran far more likely, and will seriously damage Iran’s peaceful pro-democracy movement as well as America’s standing among ordinary Iranians.

"The biggest winner today is the Iranian regime, which has claimed for a long time that the U.S. is out to destroy Iran and is the enemy of the Iranian people. This decision will be portrayed as proof that the U.S. is cozying up with a reviled terrorist group and will create greater receptivity for that false argument,” said NIAC Policy Director Jamal Abdi.

http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8597

[bemildred]

21. And what could show more clearly that "terrorist" means whatever the government says today. nt

[LeftishBrit]

15. 'Policy Director, National Iranian American Council'. I'll wait for a less biased source before

deciding that the sky is falling by order from Israel!