- If George W. Bush launches a preemptive war on Iran,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bear full moral responsibility for that
war.
-
- For it was Pelosi who quietly agreed to strip out of
the $100 billion funding bill for Iraq a provision that would have required
President Bush to seek congressional approval before launching any new
war on Iran.
-
- Pelosi's capitulation came in the Appropriations Committee.
-
- What went down, and why?
-
- "Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned
about the possible impact on Israel had argued for the change in strategy,"
wrote
The Associated Press' David Espo and Matthew Lee.
-
- "Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in an interview
there is a widespread fear in Israel about Iran, which has expressed unremitting
hostility to the Jewish state.
- "'It would take away perhaps the most important
tool the U.S. has when it comes to Iran,' she said of the now-abandoned
provision.
- "'I don't think it was a very wise idea to take
things off the table if you're trying to get people to modify their behavior
and normalize in a civilized way,' said Gary Ackerman of New York."
-
- According to John Nichols of The Nation, Pelosi's decision
to strip the provision barring Bush from attacking Iran without Congress'
approval "sends the worst possible signal to the White House."
-
- "The speaker has erred dangerously and dramatically,"
writes
Nichols. Her "disastrous misstep could haunt her and the Congress
for years to come."
- Nichols does not exaggerate.
-
- If Bush now launches war on Iran, he can credibly say
Congress and the Democrats gave him a green light. For Pelosi, by removing
a provision saying Bush does not have the authority, de facto concedes
he does have the authority.
-
- Bush and Cheney need now not worry about Congress.
-
- They have been flashed the go sign for war on Iran.
-
- Pelosi & Co. thus aborted a bipartisan effort to
ensure that if we do go to war again, we do it the constitutional way,
and we do it together.
- Nothing in the provision would have prevented Bush, as
commander in chief, from responding to an Iranian attack or engaging in
hot pursuit of an enemy found in Iraq. Nor would the provision have prevented
Bush from threatening Iran. It would simply have required him to come to
Congress before launching all-out war.
-
- Now Pelosi has, in effect, ceded Bush carte blanche to
take out Iran's nuclear facilities. It's all up to him and Cheney.
-
- For this the nation elected a Democratic Congress?
-
- Why did Pelosi capitulate? Answer: She was "under
pressure from some conservative members of her caucus, and from lobbyists
associated with neoconservative groups that want war with Iran and the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)," writes Nichols.
-
- The Washington Times agrees as to who bully-ragged Nancy
into scuttling any requirement that Bush come to the Hill before unleashing
the B-2s on Arak, Natanz, and Bushehr:
-
- "Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi received
a smattering of boos when she badmouthed the war effort during a speech
to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the Democratic leadership,
responding to concerns from pro-Israel lawmakers, was forced to strip from
a military appropriations measure a provision meant to weaken President
Bush's ability to respond to threats from Iran."
-
- This episode, wherein liberal Democrats scuttled a bipartisan
effort to require Bush to abide by the Constitution before taking us into
a third war in the Middle East, speaks volumes about who has the whip hand
on Capitol Hill, when it comes to the Middle East.
-
- Pelosi gets booed by the Israeli lobby, then runs back
to the Hill and gives Bush a blank check for war on Iran, because that
is what the lobby demands. A real candidate for Profiles in Courage.
-
- As for the presidential candidates, it is hard to find
a single one willing to stand up and say: If Bush plans to take us into
another war in the Mideast, he must first come to Congress for authorization.
And if he goes to war without authorization, that will be impeachable.
-
- All retreat into the "all-options-are-on-the-table"
mantra, which is another way of saying, "It's Bush's call."
-
- The corruption of both parties is astonishing. Republicans
used to be the party of the Constitution: "No more undeclared wars!
No more presidential wars!"
-
- Democrats used to be the party of the people. The people
don't want this war. They don't want another. The Jewish community voted
88 percent for Democrats in November, and 77 percent oppose the war in
Iraq.
-
- So says Gallup. Yet, just because the Israeli lobby jerked
her chain, the leader of the Peoples' House has decided she and her party
will leave the next war up to Bush.
-
- Sam Rayburn must be turning over in his grave.
-
-
- c. 2007 Creators Syndicate
|
