Left Side of the Aisle #45 - Part 2

Stampeded to war on Iran

I talked last week about how we are being lied, manipulated, and stampeded into a war with - or, more exactly, a war on - Iran. Well, here we go again.

On February 16, Senators Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and Robert Casey introduced a resolution that would give us big shove down road to war. It is a "Sense of the Senate" resolution that would move the goalposts on what would justify a war.

The "red line" is the informal reference to the line which, if crossed by Iran, could trigger a US military strike. The Obama administration has said that what's unacceptable - where the "red line" is - is for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. This resolution wants the "red line" to be at Iran having "a nuclear weapons capability." That is, Iran doesn't have to develop nuclear weapons in order to provoke US attack, it doesn't even have to be trying to build one, it merely has to have the hypothetical ability to build one if it ever chose to do so - an ability by some accounts it already has.

This resolution has 36 co-sponsors, including 15 Democrats - and among the GOPpers is our own Scott Brown, our supposed "moderate" senator.

A Sense of the Senate resolution is in effect an expression of opinion; it is not legally binding. But such resolutions, especially when pushed, as this one was, by the notorious and powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, often return as binding legislation - and Senators usually find it difficult to vote against what you already said should be done.

Sources:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/aipacs-push-toward-war/253358/