44 Senators, including many Democrats, sign AIPAC letter to Obama against Iran negotiations

Obama Letter P5+1 Final

A terrifying letter, signed by nearly half the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, pushing Obama toward war with Iran– and let’s see who is telling us about it.

MJ Rosenberg a few days ago:

AIPAC is still worried that there might be a breakthrough in the P5+1 negotiations with Iran. Accordingly, its staff drafted a letter to President Obama that will be circulated by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Roy Blunt (R-MO). Its goal is to have the entire Senate endorse the hardest possible line to kill the next round of negotiations which is slated to convene in Moscow next week.

The letter demands the following as “the absolute minimum steps” which Iran “must take immediately.”

1. Shutting down the Fordow facility

2. Freezing enrichment above 5%

3.Shipping all uranium enriched above 5% out of the country.

In return the AIPAC/Senate letter tells the President to offer NOTHING except the continuation of negotiations. In other words, AIPAC proposes a negotiating framework under which Iran makes tangible concessions in return for our agreeing to… more negotiations. Any easing of sanctions is specifically ruled out.

Foreign Policy yesterday, with no reference to the Israel lobby:

Nearly half the Senate told President Barack Obama today that unless Iran gives three specific concessions at this weekend’s talks with world powers in Moscow, he should abandon the ongoing negotiations over the country’s nuclear program.

“It is past time for the Iranians to take the concrete steps that would reassure the world that their nuclear program is, as they claim, exclusively peaceful,” wrote 44 senators in a Friday bipartisan letter organized by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Roy Blunt (R-MO). “Absent these steps, we must conclude that Tehran is using the talks as a cover to buy time as it continues to advance toward nuclear weapons capability. We know that you share our conviction that allowing Iran to gain this capability is unacceptable.”..

The letter is also signed by Charles Schumer (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), James Risch (R-ID), Ron Wyden (D-OR), David Vitter (R-LA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Mark Pryor (D-AR), John Cornyn (R-TX), Robert Casey Jr. (D-PA), John Boozman (R-AR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Scott Brown (R-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Jeff Merkeley (D-OR), Daniel Coats (R-IN), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Patrick Toomey (R-PA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Rob Portman (R-OH), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Dean Heller (R-NV), Jon Tester (D-MT), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Mark Begich (D-AK).

“The message of this letter is that Congress’ patience is running out when it comes to meetings that don’t yield results,” said a senior Senate aide. “The Iranians have been given every last opportunity to demonstrate their good faith and step back from the brink. Instead, they keep pushing forward with their nuclear program, and we keep asking for yet another round of talks. This is not sustainable.”

Trita Parsi, in the New York Times, deploring the Congress’s role, but with scant reference to the Israel connection:

For three years, Congress has prevented a sensible American policy on Iran. It was largely Congressional pressure that turned Mr. Obama’s Iran policy in 2009 into “a gamble on a single roll of the dice,” in the words of one senior State Department official. Diplomacy had to work right away or not at all.

Then, in 2010, it was again domestic politics and the activities of Congress that ultimately caused the Obama administration to reject a nuclear breakthrough brokered by Brazil and Turkey, which would have cut Iran’s uranium stockpile in half and deprived it of any pretext for enriching uranium to higher levels.

In Baghdad, Congress succeeded in depriving American negotiators of the political space necessary to reciprocate Iranian concessions. The Iranians focused on what they could get. Mr. Obama had to focus on what he wouldn’t give.

For the sake of peace, Congressional obstructionism must end.

Eli Lake on MSNBC, some weeks back, explains what’s going on:

The one place where there’s less criticism of Israel is in the United States Congress, and that’s because there is a very strong lobby that lobbies Congress–and this is not true for the executive branch– that’s pro-Israel.

Thanks to Alex Kane.

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Carl Levin from Michigan has signed this letter drafted by AIPAC. He at one time wanted to explore,bring charges,and indict the Iraq war architects . Now I see why. He, an equally Iraq hater saw that Iraq war was done deal and any amount of hand wringing, real or pseudo will not put the horses back again.He saw a pseudo hand wringing will help him to position as an anti war, genuine American,a follower of ethical,honest,and just foreign policy advocate. He can hide his hatred against Iranain people behind this pseudo truth seeking agenda. he has done it.He has gained mass media driven cultural endorsement of being a “liberal,anti-war”.For the great unwashed uneducated American , this will count as evidence of ongoing Iranain threat to US pointed by AIPAC. How can’t that be so,when a guy like Levin supports the effort of AIPAC?
For AIPAC it works in a different way. They cant use Feith, Pearle,Wurmser,Kagan,and Adelman,Wolfowitz any more .They have been linked irreversibly to the anticipated calamities that would follow Iraq war as the chief anti-American architect of that war. So they need new faces. The new faces are ample in Israeli closet.

Absolutely ridiculous. These people aren’t US senators, but Israeli senators. Their letter is utterly misinformed, boilerplate propaganda straight from AIPAC, with zero knowledge or understanding of the situation. It is a parrot squawk from people who are clueless about politics outside Israel and the US, and have no qualms whatsoever about yet another useless, endless war which will have no benefit for the US, exept billions of dollars wasted and more lives needlessly lost. They should be ashamed of their feeble gullibility and their willingness to be used in exchange for ‘contributions’, but they have no shame, just a craven desire to appease Israel.

Very frustrating, these guys are like old inert, comfy crappy Roman senators who fiddle while Rome is burning. I see my Senator on there–he’s up for reelection. I will definitely vote against him even though I despise the GOP contender(s).

It’s a de facto declaration of war. It is also a usurpation of congressional power by Israel.

If I had to decide between A) a nuclear-armed Iran or B) Israel/AIPAC being in charge of the US government — “A” wins by a factor of 50.

It raises an interesting Constitutional question. Only Congress can declare war, and the historical problem has been a president wanting to wage war and Congress dragging its feet. But what if the situation is reversed? Can Congress/AIPAC declare war w/out the Commander-in-Chief’s cooperation? Who’s gonna’ send the troops in?

Other than the circumstantial evidence evident in its tenor, what do we have connecting the letter to AIPAC? Who actually wrote it? My first guess would be not AIPAC, but Michael Oren.

When this whole thing blows up in America’s face b/c Israel drags more US troops to their deaths, at least we have a written record, with signatures, of the responsible senators.

How about billboards in each of the states so badly represented by these 44 senators? The message carried could go something like —

New Yorkers (Pennsylvanians, etc. etc.)
Israel threatens to attack iran
Iran poses no threat to America
yet your U.S. Senator ____ backs Israel’s warmongering
which nation does he/she represent?