Senate Placates Lobbyists While Risking a Disastrous War

(JAMESTOWN, RI) - The US Senate is playing a dangerous game that has already cost consumers money at the gas pump, and now is putting the US in a very dangerous position.

A good part of the rising price of gas is due to sanctions that prohibit nations from buying Iranian oil and gas, thus creating an artificial shortage which oil companies have exploited. AIPAC has also successfully pressured Congress to pass a series of devastating resolutions against Iran to satisfy Israel’s right wing desire for a war.

The latest Senate Resolution (S. Res. 380) has 44 co-signers and sadly Oregon’s Senator Wyden is among them. This resolution moves the goal posts dramatically towards war by now stating the US should prevent the government of Iran from acquiring “nuclear weapons capability”, which is a brand new restriction.

Any country with a peaceful nuclear-energy program such as Japan, Brazil or Argentina, has the capability to produce nuclear weapons however S. Res. 380 only applies to Iran; why not the others?

The drive towards war continues, with tremendous pressure by Israel to get the US into a war with Iran, and very sadly Senator Wyden has become one of many prostitutes in Congress who have sold themselves to AIPAC while sacrificing your interests.

All this despite the fact there is not one shred of evidence that Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon, not one bit of uranium has been diverted to a nuclear weapons program, and US intelligence concludes Iran has not even made the decision to make a bomb.

You cannot make a nuclear weapon without “enriched uranium” and the IAEA has monitored closely every bit of Iran’s uranium and not one bit has been diverted.

The concept of a Nuclear Free Zone for the entire Middle East has been proposed many times over the past 10-15 years. Everyone in the world, including Iran has agreed. The US and Israel are opposed to this idea and have nixed it. Why?

Salem-News.com Writer Joe Clifford, lives in historic Jamestown, Rhode Island, and has contributed a number of articles relating to foreign policy to newspapers in the Rhode Island area for years.

He graduated from Providence College where he earned an undergraduate and graduate degree. After a lengthy career as a high school teacher he turned to the study of US foreign policy, and then to writing, as a means of expressing an alternative perspective. His reading and research on foreign policy is broad and extensive, especially as the policy relates to the Middle East. His interest in foreign policy was inspired by the American misadventure in Vietnam. You can write to Joe at this address: jc21131@gmail.com

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kafantaris March 4, 2012 9:38 pm (Pacific time)

Has Netanyahu talked with the fathers, mothers, wives, brothers and sisters of the soldiers who may die in the contest with Iran? Has he visited their homes to see what emptiness will be there when they are gone? Has Netanyahu recently visited cities reduced to piles of rubble by sustained air strikes? To be sure, Iran will sustain far worse devastation, not only from Israel, but also from the U.S. This does not change the likelihood, however, that both countries will also sustain damage in one form or another. When Abe Lincoln advised his clients to settle whenever possible, he did so not only because it ends the dispute and uncertainty, but also because in a public trial a client often loses even when he wins the underlying case. BP understood this well last week, which is why it settled. It thus put the loss behind it and is now moving forward. In the same way, Israel, as a modern nation should think of smart ways to deal with Iran. Indeed, keen understanding of human nature has been the great asset of the Jews, which has helped them finesse through predominately Christian or Muslim countries. Why then has war now become the only option? Even when you become good at it, any battle entails losses. And here is another point. Just as in time Iran might acquire nuclear weapons, it might also abandon them. Libya did, and so did South Africa. Perhaps North Korea would also, though no one is holding his breath. Not these guys, you say. Perhaps. But was it not in Iran where Arab Spring had its roots -- in the protests that followed the 2009 disputed election. Yes, the hardliners have put out all those flames. The hot coals are still there, however, smoldering in the ashes. Such is the resiliency of the human spirit, and as we see it now in Syria. Let's assume, however, that Iran, as expected, becomes an insufferable bully. Surely, we have dealt with bullies before -- and the Jews have dealt with them throughout the centuries. Recent history shows that bullies do not last forever, and have an unkind end lately. Thus if Iran was to become an insufferable bully with its nuclear knowledge, it will only be pushed further into isolation in an increasingly interconnected world. If none of this convinces us to put aside our war drums, maybe we should recall the story of the captain and his mate who were about to be executed by the pirates. “Let us live for six months,” the captain told them boldly,” and we will train your dog to talk." "How we're gonna do that," the mate whispered? The captain replied: "In six months we may die. The pirates may die. Or the dog may talk."

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Senate Placates Lobbyists While Risking a Disastrous War

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