Rubin: How to Stop War with Iran
Barnett Rubin gives us a thoughtful call to arms on how to prevent war with Iran at the Global Affairs blog.
After analyzing the way the Bushies would probably go to war if they can, Rubin writes:
' The immediate goal for Democratic presidential candidates and the Democrats (and sensible Republicans) in Congress should be to use the power of the legislative branch to prevent the administration from launching a war. I can think of two possible ways to do this:
* Pass an Act of Congress stating that the 2001 AUMF does not authorize a preemptive strike against Iran (or a strike in response to an alleged provocation – recall Tonkin Gulf). In this case, Congress would claim that war with Iran requires new authorization.
* Cut off funding for any war with Iran not specifically authorized by Congress in accordance with the law after September 30, when spending starts out of next year’s budget. Presumably they won’t be able to start the war by then and rely on the “support the troops” argument.
In coordination with this immediate response, responsible leaders in both parties should articulate an alternative policy toward Iran starting with the same principle as the Helsinki Accords of 1975 – no regime change. '
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Iran
posted by Juan Cole @ 9/06/2007 06:25:00 AM
5 Comments:
Call me naive, but I don't think the US is going to attack, much less invade Iran. To all the ususal reasons (vulnerability of supply lines to Iraq, world opinion and Republican election jitters), I would also add the market jitters (housing debacle) to that equation. With a recession a possibility, does Bush want to make it a done deal?
By the way, Riverbend has resurfaced in Syria.
Has it started?
Israeli Airstrike in NE Syria
Barbara Lee (D-Ca, my district) has a bill in foreign affairs committee - HR 770 - banning funding for any covert or overt military action against Iran. Rubin's suggestions take this idea further.
Maybe your congresspersons need to hear from you - if you care to pick up the phone or write a letter. Snail mail gets more attention than an email.
The defense authorization bills for 2007 and 2008 both had amendments introduced forbidding the use of funds against Iran. All three amendments (Hinchey 07, DeFazio, Andrews 08) failed; despite getting a good number of Republican votes, far more Democrats voted against these amendments. I wouldn't hold out much hope for Ms. Lee's bill going anywhere.
Col. Dan Smith wrote about the 2007 vote for Counterpunch.
Rubin: "The immediate goal for Democratic presidential candidates and the Democrats (and sensible Republicans) in Congress should be to use the power of the legislative branch to prevent the administration from launching a war."
This argument suffers from the fatal flaw of assuming that the Democrats WANT to stop an attack on Iran -- or would be willing to buck powerful domestic constituencies in order to prevent one. Outside of the liberal fringe in the House Democratic Caucus, I've seen absolutely no evidence that this is true.
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