This is tragic. “Democrats, AIPAC jeopardize Iran talks,” reports Foreign Policy. Much of the opposition to lifting sanctions comes from liberals: Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Patty Murray of Washington (fifth most liberal Senator, according to National Journal rankings in 2012). But then Murray is the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Some of FP’s report, by Yochi Dreazen and John Hudson:
The White House has already signaled a potential openness to that kind of deal, but a wide array of powerful Democrats — including the top members of both the Senate and House foreign affairs committees — strongly oppose lifting any of the existing sanctions on Iran unless Tehran offers concessions that go far beyond anything Zarif has talked about in Geneva. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, has also promised to do everything in its power to keep the punitive measures in place….
“If the president were to ask for a lifting of existing sanctions it would be extremely difficult in the House and Senate to support that,” Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Cable. “I’m willing to listen but I think that asking Congress to weaken and diminish current sanctions is not hospitable on Capitol Hill.”
“I’d say no,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) when asked if he’d accept a presidential plea to lift sanctions….
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey said the U.S. “should not relax the sanctions one inch while Iran’s intentions are still unknown.”…Still, lawmakers like [New Jersey Democrat] Menendez, Murray and [Illinois Republican] Kirk show no signs of softening their positions. Their demands to maintain the current measures reflect, in part, the success of a concerted lobbying campaign by AIPAC. The pro-Israel group has sat out some recent potential fights over large-scale U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in order to focus all of its energy on Iran. During its annual conference in March, AIPAC sent hundreds of volunteers to Capitol Hill to personally lobby lawmakers from their home states to support tough measures on Iran. It has also drafted templates of letters lawmakers could send the White House under their own names calling for continued sanctions on Iran.
Iran is one of the few issues that bind Democrats and Republicans, so AIPAC is in some ways preaching to the choir. [Representative Steve] Israel said he hadn’t been lobbied by the group, but he said it had no reason to.
The piece states that House supporters of the president’s opening to Iran have been quiet because they’re working on the gov’t shutdown deal. More than a quarter of House members signed a bipartisan letter urging talks with Iran last July.
No one opposes talking. Let them talk, and if there is concrete gain, I’m sure there will be a softening of this position. We’ve been down the talk road before. The Iranians are coming to table because they’re looking for relief from the sanctions.
The sensitivity to Palestinian suffering has not yet reached the halls of Congress (which has little sensitivity for people generally, of course). It will be the LAST bastion to fall. Get SNL and the Daily Show to “out” the Congress on its continuing support for the unsupportable (and insufferable) Israel.
The way to the hearts-and-minds of Congress is through laughter among the voters.
Well, it used to be said that politics stops at the border: that party difference are put aside for the US’s best interests in international affairs. Now it seems that politics stops at the AIPAC offices.
This reminds me of the North Korea debacle, then agreements put in place by the Clinton administration whereby North Korea would receive 500,000 tons of heavy oil per year and 2 light water reactors to replace the graphite-moderated ones under construction and the lifting of sanctions. When the Republicans took over congress they did not support the agreement, they regarded it as appeasement, so the oil supplies were delivered late and the economic sanctions were kept in place. Because of this North Korea warned that they would resume nuclear research unless the US kept its part of the bargain. Because the US played hard ball, negotiations broke down, and now North Korea is a nuclear weapons state, immune from attack. There is a lesson here somewhere, somehow I do not think the “exceptional nation” will pay any heed to it.
It is well known that our representatives in the congress and senate lose their connection to those who elected them in a shortest time and start serving mannon.
These two congresspersons just joined the ranks of those who already sold their souls to the highest bidder, in most cases the AIPAC and similar other groups or persons. They don´t serve their people anymore, but first comes their own interests, in second place is their party and after that they may just think what can they do for their country.
A good example is the Speaker Boehner. Although he had enough bipartisan votes in the house to pass the necessary laws to lift this blockade of passing the new federal budget, he refuses to do it, because those 40 or so fanatical Tea Baggers who want to bring down the government, regardless of the costs. For him it is more important to keep his Speaker position that he surely would lose if he calls a vote.
So never mind the hundreds of millions of dollars lost every week, the lost prestige of this once great land, the millions of federal employees not getting paid, he serves only himself and his own group of traitors.
One could ask; the people who sent him to Washington, will they do it again? After this fiasco? If one looks at the history of how the voters keep sending the same persons back to DC, we can guess that he will have another turn to serve himself!!