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House Passes Iran Resolution

By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | June 19, 2009 | +

The U.S. House of Representatives today overwhelmingly passed a resolution 405-1, with two voting present, criticizing Iran for its recent crack down on protestors and communication lines in the wake of last week’s contested election. Ron Raul was the lone dissenter.

The House of Representatives expresses its support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law; condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the government of Iran and pro-government militias, as well as the ongoing government suppression of independent electronic communication through interference with the Internet and cellphones; and affirms the universality of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections.

The measure started as a Republican push to criticize President Obama’s somewhat lukewarm remarks on the protests thus far but drew bipartisan support after the Administration spent much of yesterday negotiating watered down language (though, oddly, if you believe this AP story Dems supported the resolution because they apparently can’t resist voicing immediate support for Israel at every turn). The GOP cast the vote as a rebuke of Obama. “The Administration should take a stronger stand against the Iranian regime, and that starts with sending the Iranian people the same message of support Congress sent them today,” House Minority Leader John Boehner said in a statement.

The resolution is typical of House or Senate resolutions on foreign policy that can go far beyond anything the White House or State Department can say publically – sorry Boehner, there’s zero chance that Obama sends the Iranian people that same message. But the resolution stops short at declaring support for the Iranian opposition’s demands for a recount – something the Obama Administration has said would be counter productive as it could be seen as meddling in the domestic affairs of a sovereign nation. Though, U.S. meddling in Iranian affairs in the past has looked more like CIA-sponsored coups than House resolutions.

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  • http://derekg.wordpress.com/ Derek

    We just can’t keep our nose out of other people’s business which explains why America is hated the world over.

  • spob

    “But the resolution stops short at declaring support for the Iranian opposition’s demands for a recount – something the Obama Administration has said would be counter productive as it could be seen as meddling in the domestic affairs of a sovereign nation.”
    .
    But the Obama Administration will poke a finger in the eye of France’s “no hijab” policy in public schools . . . .
    .
    Additionally, Obama has made it clear that no matter what these animals who run Iran do, he will talk to them. Nice.

  • Art Pepper

    I’m so glad that Republicans view any crisis as a chance to play domestic politics.
    .
    I can’t phrase it better than this comment at Washington Monthly:
    .
    “Self-indulgence taken to a whole new level: Making anyone you care about in the world, American or Iranian, worse off so that you can feel good about yourself and pretend that you are tougher than the president.”
    .
    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018686.php#1522194

  • spob

    If we’re so hated, why does everyone in the world want to come here.

  • spob

    Hey Art, that’s a bit rich. Remember, your President, when he was a Senator, yapped about how the surge would make things worse. He’s got no business whatsoever complaining about whatever the GOP does. None.

  • Art Pepper

    spob: ha ha! You’re funny. Now go away.

  • spob

    Art, you’re an idiot, keep proving it.
    .
    Funny how no one in here can seem to mention how Ronald Reagan dealt with the Solidarity crackdown . . . . .

  • southernbell49

    My temper is short today, I’m very overworked and I only have a moment.

    What a stupid post, Jay. “Lukewarm”? I see you’re quite happy to spread the Republican meme. Prudent is a better adjetive.

    Jay, are you really so ignorant of Iran that you don’t know that any criticism from US officials becomes a weapon of the regime? I’m sure Khameini is rubbing his hands in glee that he can offer another example of the Great Satan interferring with Iran as the state-run network shows again and again how the protesters have been stirred up by the Great Satan.

  • stuartzechman

    Morons…

  • queencersei

    I doubt this resolution will be widely noticed anyway.

  • spob

    As I am sure you’ve noticed, southernbell49, they are rubbing Obama’s nose in it–they’ve accused him of meddling.

  • http://derekg.wordpress.com/ Derek

    After Iraq, and the refusal of the nation to deal with it’s own war criminals, I’m amazed we still have the nerve to pretend we have any moral high ground in the world.

  • Cliff

    President Obama’s somewhat lukewarm remarks on the protests thus far
    .
    Well, go f@ck yourself, JNS.

  • afguy

    I’m amazed we still have the nerve to pretend we have any moral high ground in the world.
    .
    Doesn’t take nerve, Derek. Just an astounding lack of self-awareness on the part of our political leadership.

  • pafro

    Republicans last week: Obama is nothing but pretty words coming out of a teleprompter and no one really listens to him.
    -
    Republicans this week: It is very important that Obama speak toughly about Iran because his words mean a whole lot to us, the world, and especially the mullahs who will quake in their boots once our great leader speaks sterly at them.

  • spob
  • nathan7777

    @spob:
    .
    Reagan and the Pope were covertly supporting and supplying Solidarity with funds and supplies when the resistance movement was underground. The protests in Iran are neither a long running resistance movement nor underground.
    .
    Reagan did not undermine the communist government in Poland with public statements of support. It wouldn’t have helped then, and it won’t help now. How does a public display of support change the ground game in Iran?
    .
    Furthermore, the Holy Alliance was a cladestine agreement. No one knew Reagan and the Pope had allied to subvert the Polish communist government. How do you know that Obama has not already approved something similar in Iran?
    .
    Think beyond the bluster for a moment, spob. Public statements are an ineffective gesture at this point and could do more harm than good.

  • spob

    nathan, Obama has made public statements–basically that there’s nothing these bozos can do that will make him deviate from his policy of engagement . . . . that affects facts on the ground. Moreover, these clowns are rubbing Barack’s nose in it–calling him a meddler.
    .
    All Obama has to do is say that as a matter of course, the US supports peoples right to be free and to peacefully protest and that a government that beats and kills people for protest is a tyranny.

  • spob
  • stuartzechman

    spob:
    .
    All Obama has to do is say that as a matter of course, the US supports peoples right to be free and to peacefully protest and that a government that beats and kills people for protest is a tyranny.
    .

    I am deeply troubled by the violence that I’ve been seeing on television. I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent.. all those are universal values and need to be respected. And whenever I see violence perpetrated on people who are peacefully dissenting, and whenever the American people see that, I think they’re rightfully troubled.
    ~~President Barack Obama, Monday, June 15, 2009

  • spob

    “troubled”?? That’s different from “tyranny”. Moreover, SZ (and I wasn’t clear on this, my apologies), “all” means, in this context, say no more. Obama has told these tyrants that he’s ready to talk once they got these protests sorted (I have mentioned that in earlier posts). Conveying the “business as usual” message is crapola, and I think all of you know it. I understand that it’s difficult to stop trying to figure out what Saint Barack had for dinner last night, but come on, people are getting killed.

  • southernbell49

    I myself am wearing green in support of the protesters. I think it’s wonderful that the citizens of the world are saying “I am an Iranian”.

    But Western governments need to tread cafefully, so as not to look as if they’re meddling.

  • nathan7777

    spob:
    .
    What stuart said. I was going to paste that exact quote.
    .
    Also, Reagan held talks (read: engaged…) with EE communist governments and the Soviet Union while he was actively working to undermine them. Why hold Obama to a different standard? Are you just afraid of engagement with Iran?

  • nathan7777

    Oh give me a break, spob. If that was a statement from a conservative president you would have been 100% satisfied.

  • spob

    Because RR didn’t refer to tyrants as “Supreme Leader”, nor did he convey the “business as usual” message that Obama is. Obama has already pretty much rolled to these bozos–if Iran develops nukes, it’s cool with BHO. (Despite his campaign rhetoric.)

  • http://derekg.wordpress.com/ Derek

    “I understand that it’s difficult to stop trying to figure out what Saint Barack had for dinner last night, but come on, people are getting killed.”
    .
    People are also sitting in prison charged with nothing, who are not allowed to defend themselves. We are also probably still running a secret network of torture prisons, around the globe, aided by some of the most repressive regimes in the world.
    .
    How come we never see you complain about that. You know what you suffer from, the white man’s burden, inherited from previous imperialists, and as someone put it above, a complete lack of self awareness. If you want to see America continue to play the role of moral dictator don’t you think we should display some morals ourself?

  • spob

    nathan, actually not. One of my big disappointments with Bush is that he let these mullahs get away with supplying the weapons used by terrorists to kill American troops. I would have responded. When you help the killing of American troops, you gotta pay a price. And that price is heavy.

  • spob

    Gimme a break Derek, that governments have to sometimes resort to unsavory acts doesn’t make us the equivalent of these animals that run Iran.

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    I would have responded.
    .
    So how many of today’s protesters would you have taken out with your response?

  • nathan7777

    Please provide me a link where Obama says he thinks it’s ok if Iran develops nuclear weapons. You won’t find one. You are picking at sematics and putting words in Obama’s mouth. You can not agree with Obama’s method without trying to paint his motives as something completely different than what they are.
    .
    Supreme Leader is his title. If a Soviet leader had the same title, Reagan would have refered to him as Supreme Leader as well.
    .
    Tough talk, spob. Jingoistic tough talk. What price would that be?

  • FlownOver

    $20 says the Iranian theocracy will cite this resolution as evidence of U.S. interference while it sends the tanks out to disperse the demonstrators. The fact that this will be a falsehood will be little comfort to the additional dead Iranians.
    .
    Thanks a pantload, Congress – was it good for you too?

  • nathan7777

    Want to ensure than no Iranian ever supports the US or feels any affinity towards the US ever again? Attack the country…

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Obama to wait and see on Iran’s mullahs, will not jump to conclusions on thugs that chant Death To America breakfast, lunch, and Moyers.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Iranian students shot dead on street by mullah mobsters, Obama sits on hands doing and saying NOTHING of merit, Rev Wright says STALIN ACCOMPLISHED.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Ron Paul joins Dennis Kookooseeniche, Charlie Shiite, Martin Shiite, Cindy Shiite, Jackson Browne, Bruce Stringstuck in Hall Of Lib Wankers.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • jcapan

    For once, I can’t blame JNS for reporting on the “morons” populating cap-hill. Perhaps unintentional but could the juxtaposition be any more depressing: they’re unified in opposing oppression abroad while in the states, they have no compunction about bending Americans over day in and day out. Iran has clerics, America has corporations. Plus, her closing link to the NYT’s piece regarding CIA history in Iran (coming on the heels of JK’s earlier piece) absolves her in my book. I’m swooning.

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Crip FDR to be exhumed, cloned, tried for war crimes for meddling in internal European and Far East affairs says ACLU, ACORN, CBS Rape Show.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    I can’t blame JNS for reporting
    .
    I sorta liked the swipe at AP, myself…..

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Mullahs miss Cairo speech from The Once, continue to replace ballots with bullets, Time-CNN-Jazeera blames Bush, Nixon, Eisenhower, Jesus.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Cold War lost on (and almost by) Team Vichy, yet Obamites continue to deny utility of free elections in face of evil? CARTER ACCOMPLISHED.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Carter Lite determined to stay out of Iran discussion, does not want to be accused of meddling in possible freedom of another 50 million.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Iranian secret police continue to disappear student dissidents, President Peacock demands that someone please find him a map of Irania.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://derekg.wordpress.com/ Derek

    Maybe if someone gives the child a soother he may stop his tantrum.

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Where is JIMMY FRIGGIN CARTER, lib wits?

    AWOL, as usual.

    At the latest Habitat For Hamas grand opening, likely.

  • jcapan

    So, someone with tech. knowhow, is QH simultaneously submitting to his twats with his twaddle here?

  • pintortwo

    One of my big disappointments with Bush is that he let these mullahs get away with supplying the weapons used by terrorists to kill American troops. -Sbob 5:27
    .
    .
    Please stop repeating this propaganda masquerading as fact.
    .
    .
    Per US Navy Commander Jeff Huber:
    .
    …US military was all ready to show the American press in Iraq the big cache of Iranian arms that Iraqi security forces had captured from Moqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army during the recent fighting in the Iraqi cities.
    .
    The arms, in theory, would have proven once and for all the administration’s assertions that Iran is arming Sadr’s Shiite militiamen. There was just one glitch; when U.S. inspectors went in to inspect the captured arms, they said that none of the weapons or ammunition could be reliably traced to Iran.
    .
    (snip)
    .
    Two wrenches intruded the cogs of Petraeus’s propaganda machinery. After an Iraqi delegation returned from meetings in Iran with evidence Iran had not armed Iraqi militias, al-Maliki formed his own committee to investigate U.S. claims about Iran.
    On top of that, when American arms inspectors took a look at the “Iranian” arms captured in Karbala, they determined than none of them had come from Iran. The U.S. military told reporters there had been a “misunderstanding” and cancelled the demonstration.

    .
    (snip)
    .
    This recent “misunderstanding” about the Iranian weapons that weren’t from Iran and the refusal of the administration’s lap dog Maliki to go along with the administration’s grim fairy tale should have shut the trash talk on Iran down for good, and it might well have if Big Media had reported it.
    .

  • apollyon07

    Hula- FDR was a Crip? Man, I never knew he was a stone cold gangster. How many Bloods did he kill in his day?

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    Obama to retroactively declare 60′s Freedom Riders meddlers, tasks Holder to move all known Birmingham protesters to back of historical bus.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • http://www.hulagate.org hulagate

    President Peacock invokes DNC’s stellar Rwanda Doctrine on Iran, says none of our business who mullahs decide to shoot or lynch or nuke.

    …

    http://twitter.com/HULAgate

  • Cliff

    pintortwo – thanks for that, I hadn’t seen that before.

  • pintortwo

    Cliff- you’re welcome.

  • neorationalist86

    Bravo Mr. Paul!

  • Mr. Nice Guy

    I posted something similar, earlier, but aren’t the Repugs the ones that sang choruses of “Bomb bomb bomb Iran”? And now they’re saying, “We are Iranians and Iranians are us”? How do they handle the chasm in logic?
    ‘
    I don’t object if they’re mindlessly ideological in their hatred of Iranians – as long as they’re not holding the launch button for missiles – because we’re all entitled to an opinion, right or wrong. But this inconsistency – nay, hypocrisy – irks me to the point where I want to smack the stoopid right off their faces, which, of course, would take a while.

  • jcapan
  • Mr. Nice Guy
  • Ohg Rea Tone

    Civil Disobedience is a staple of American evolution – but Tehran, Iran, is not Birmingham, Alabama. ……….

    http://thefiresidepost.com/2009/06/20/tehran-iran-is-not-birmingham-alabama/

  • cfukara

    This is terrible. A (phony) tear for the protesters, please.

    ” .. A demonstration … turned violent this morning when .. Police opened fire with wooden dowels, “sting balls,” … grendades, tear gas and other …. weapons when protesters at the gates of two shipping lines refused an order to disperse.”

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0407-07.htm

    .

    And in another show of force: A (phonier) tear for the protesters, please.
    ” … Police in riot gear fired tear gas clashed with demonstrators .. and arrested at least 50 protesters … Authorities have deployed riot police and secret service officers ..and also set up temporary jail cells to detain .. protesters. ”

    http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-08/2008-08-26-voa40.cfm

    .

    After such very serious incidents, the USA’s House of Representatives took action: (It) expresses its support for all .. citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law; condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the government .. and pro-government militias.. The House also insisted that the Administration should take a stronger stand against the (offending) regime …

    And in response to any ambiguous support from cfukara: THERE is not HERE.
    What is OK in the civilized world is not necessarily OK for THEM barbarians. The empire holds the barbarians to a different standard (of the damned – which is, “You are either with us or you are wrong, by definition, and hence you are subject to invasion, torture and carnage of “regime change”".)

    Ohg Rea Tone, June 20, 2009 at 12:36 pm ” Civil Disobedience is a staple of American evolution – but Tehran, Iran, is not Birmingham, Alabama.

    http://thefiresidepost.com/2009/06/20/tehran-iran-is-not-birmingham-alabama/

    Duplicity? Who cares?

  • 53_3

    The odd priorities of the GOP are certainly not a mystery to the rest of the world.
    .
    They saw an ample demonstration of their priorities when the US response to Katrina was contrasted by the US response to the Indonesia Megaquake.
    .
    The only ones to whom it remains a mystery to are, well, the GOPers themselves…

  • cfukara

    ” .. Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said he was “ready for martyrdom,” according to an ally … Defeated candidate Mousavi, a product of the Islamic establishment himself and a former prime minister, made clear he would not back down. “
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090620/ts_nm/us_iran_election

    Candidates win elections. Candidates lose elections.
    This Mousavi creep’s protests do not have the compelling arguments of Al Gore ofter the USA’s presidential elections 2000.
    Nor does it command the level of symphathy of Odinga’s grievances after Kenya’s presidential elections of 2007?
    Why do we listen to his rantings? [Hint: ]
    Does Mousavi then expect to be remembered in the same category of martyrdom as Patrice Lumumba of Congo? Hardly. Allende of Chile? [Saddam of Iraq?]

    I suggest that he is an anti-social rabble rouser and sore loser, a psychopath, who should NOT have been in a ‘democratic’ election in any country where the “rule of law” prevails. Do we want such insolent, incitement-prone creeps in USA or its elections? Our support of him may suggest that he will be welcome in USA [and conversely that we hold in contempt the "rule of law" adherent Al Gore who meekly let his 'victory' in 2000 slip away.]
    Perhaps Iran needs to revamp its vetting process of would-be candidates.

  • cfukara

    ” .. All Obama has to do is say that as a matter of course, the US supports peoples right to be free and to peacefully protest and that a government that beats and kills people for protest is a tyranny. ..”

    “peacefully”! What do you know?
    So, are we to understand that the Mousavi goons who are lighting fires, destroying property, throwing missiles and generally terrifying the population are ‘peaceful’?
    Is that the kind of ‘peace’ we yearned for in USA from Al Gore’s supporters soon after the elections in 2000?

    And Mousavi who is inciting violence and calling for insurrection, apparently, USA’s hero.
    So why do we suggest that the security forces in Iran are violent? Are security forces in USA, UK, Germany any less assertive in the pursuit of peace and in the course of maintaining the “rule of law”?

    I hate to think that a propensity toward incitement and insurrection is a trait highlighted to our kids in their social classes on “good citizenship and patriotism”.

    What happened to the “peaceful change” methods (a la MLK and Gandhi) highlighted by Pres Obama in his siren song in Cairo?

    ” that a government that beats and kills people for protest is a tyranny. ..”

    Will you remind our POTUS to come out strongly against Israel next time Israel’s state murder goons beat up or and/kill demonstrating Palestinians? Of course not: I suppose that you will have duplicitous rationalizations galore.

    .

    ” .. Gimme a break Derek, that (our governments) have to sometimes resort to unsavory acts doesn’t make us the equivalent of these animals that run Iran. ..”

    Some over there and elsewhere in this world would suggest that we are worse. It is a case of your word against theirs.

    .

    Duplicity galore.
    .

  • cfukara

    Ways of “peaceful” demonstrators:

    ” .. Thousands of protesters defied Iran’s highest authority Saturday and marched on waiting security forces that fought back with baton charges, tear gas and water cannons ..”

    Some commenters at Swamp would insist that such demonstrators – a handful of diehard vigilante who defy authority – are “peaceful” nice people.

    Some fast-talking (fast blogging?) conmen would propose to the unwary that USA’s security forces would lie back meekly and let such ‘peaceful’ demonstrators in an unlawful protest run all over them.

    Take form me, such conmen are cursed.

    .
    Duplicity galore

    .

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