Anti-Iran hawks win partial victory

[lovuian]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II29Ak01.html

n a 76-22 vote on Wednesday, senators approved a non-binding amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill that called for the administration of President George W Bush to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "a foreign terrorist organization".

Among those voting for the measure was the Democratic front-runner for the 2008 presidential election, Senator Hillary Clinton.

At the same time, the House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously - 408-6 - for another measure, the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act, which would force Bush to impose sweeping sanctions against foreign companies that invest more than US$20 million in Iran's energy sector.

That bill, which is opposed by the Bush administration itself because of strong pressure from Washington's European and Asian allies and key US multinational companies, is considered likely to stall in the Senate through the remainder of this year.
snip..
In fact, the first call for cross-border attacks on Iranian targets was made by the Senate's "independent" Democrat, Joseph Lieberman, who is regarded as particularly close to the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Indeed, it was Lieberman and Republican Senator John Kyl - an honorary co-chair of the pro-Likud Committee on the Present Danger - who co-sponsored the Senate amendment naming the IRGC as a terrorist group in an effort clearly designed to help tilt the internal balance within the administration.

As introduced, the amendment, which according to several Capitol Hill sources was drafted by AIPAC, actually went considerably further, deploying language that some senators argued could be interpreted as authorizing war against Iran.
more...

I loved Jim Web's statement
Among other provisions, it called for the US to "combat, contain and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ... and its indigenous Iraqi proxies" and "the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including ... military instruments, in support of policy".

But those paragraphs were deleted after Democratic Senator Jim Webb delivered a passionate speech in which he charged that the amendment "is Dick Cheney's fondest pipe dream" and "could be read as tantamount to a declaration of war".

I'm proud of the House and ashamed of the Senate