97 - 0
From Wake Up Americans
Joe Lieberman along with McCain, Kyl, Graham, and Coleman, offered up an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, confronting the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran over its proxy attacks on American soldiers in Iraq, and it passed with a vote of 97-0.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roll call can be found here.
Statement of purpose: To require a report on support provided by the Government of Iran for attacks against coalition forces in Iraq.
Liebermans statement from his site (linked above)WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Lieberman, McCain, Kyl, Graham, and Coleman today introduced a bipartisan amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, confronting the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran over its proxy attacks on American soldiers in Iraq.The text of the actual amendment should be here, when they actually get it up on the site. (That link will be changed if it ends up being put up at a different URL)
The amendment details the publicly available evidence put forward over the past year by General David Petraeus, commanding general of Multi-National Force Iraq, and others about Iran’s violent and destabilizing activities in Iraq.
The amendment states that “the murder of members of the United States Armed Forces by a foreign government or its agents is an intolerable act of hostility against the United States,” and demands the government of Iran “take immediate action” to end all forms of support it is providing to Iraqi militias and insurgents. The amendment also mandates a regular report on Iran’s anti-coalition activity in Iraq.
“For many months, our military commanders and diplomats have warned us that the Iranian government has been training, equipping, arming, and funding proxies in Iraq who are murdering our troops,” said Senator Lieberman. “This amendment is a common sense, common ground statement of the Senate to Tehran: we know what you are doing, and you must stop.”
“American officials attest that the government in Teheran seeks to bleed the United States and render unsuccessful our efforts to bring about a stable and self-governing in Iraq,” said Senator McCain. “This amendment will send a clear signal: Iran’s activities in Iraq are wrong, and they must end immediately.”
“The Iranians are attempting to thwart our policies in the Middle East by actively supporting terrorists who are killing our troops in Iraq,” said Senator Kyl. “It is time we acknowledge this hostility against us, and this amendment tells the Iranians we will not tolerate any actions which threaten our troops or allies.”
“The evidence is increasingly clear the Iranian government is working to destabilize the Iraqi government,” said Senator Graham. “It is long past time for Congress to speak out about this destructive behavior by Iran. We need one voice, and I expect it will be a unified bipartisan voice, speaking out and condemning these actions by the Iranian government.”
“The United States will not tolerate Iran’s hostile attempts to sabotage our efforts in the Middle East region,” said Senator Coleman. “On my last trip to Iraq, our Minnesota troops in Southern Iraq showed me Iranian-made explosives that were used against them on convoy missions. This crucial amendment makes it clear to the Iranian government, and any other government in the region that seeks to harm our soldiers, that providing any form of support to Iraqi insurgents will not be tolerated and must cease immediately.”
Michael Goldfarb reports:
Iran Amendment Passes 97-0
The Lieberman amendment--confronting Iran on its proxy attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq--just passed the Senate unanimously, 97-0.
So let's look at the scorecard this week so far: The Webb amendment on trying to limit Iraq deployments went down to defeat. The Lieberman amendment confronting Iran passed unanimously. So much for the long-predicted collapse--at least so far. There will be some tough votes in the days ahead. Let's hope the Senate Republicans continue to hold the line.
Meanwhile, Senator Lieberman had this to say of the Senate's unanimous vote, confronting Iran:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Today's unanimous vote sends a strong, clear message from the entire Senate to the Iranians that we know what they are doing in Iraq, and they must stop...This is a warning to the Iranians that whatever differences divide us politically here in Washington, we stand united against these outrageous attacks."
What does it mean? For one thing, take a stroll to Spree's place and read some comments from the far-left moonbat blogs. They are upset. Good. Maybe they will just end it all and do the world a favor.
97 - 0. If 97 Senators are all on the same page when it comes to Iran killing our people, why then do they support AQI from killing our people? I don't get it. Oh. Wait. Politics. OK. Never mind.
The Hill
According to sources, Boehner and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) were urging solidarity among House Republicans, explaining that they must distinguish themselves from their Senate colleagues.
A spokesman for Boehner said his comments were in no way meant to trivialize the war or the senators’ decisions. Rather, they were meant to emphasize the importance of allowing the troop surge to work and to urge GOP lawmakers to reserve their judgment on the situation until September, when Gen. David Petraeus is scheduled to brief Congress fully on the progress in Iraq.
President Bush's Iraq "surge" strategy is not dead and should be given a chance to succeed, according to two security analysts who met at the American Enterprise Institute Monday to discuss military policy and politics.WSJ
AEI resident scholar Frederick Kagan and former acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Jack Keane spoke out with rare voices of approval for the president's policy as part of an AEI panel called "Assessing the Surge in Iraq."
Kagan was critical of the surge's detractors, saying they had jumped to attack a policy that had only recently begun. He expressed incredulity at the idea that the surge was somehow not working.
"The current strategy has not failed. It just began June 15th," Kagan said.
Keane agreed, adding that the strategy needed more time. He also stressed that the situation was generally improving in Iraq and that coalition forces were gaining momentum in their efforts.
"All the Iraqis that I spoke to, numbering in the hundreds, believed the security situation was getting better," he said.
The "surge" is working. Will Washington allow the current progress to continue?In Washington perception is often mistaken for reality. And as Congress prepares for a fresh debate on Iraq, the perception many members have is that the new strategy has already failed.
This isn't an accurate reflection of what is happening on the ground, as I saw during my visit to Iraq in May. Reports from the field show that remarkable progress is being made. Violence in Baghdad and Anbar Province is down dramatically, grassroots political movements have begun in the Sunni Arab community, and American and Iraqi forces are clearing al Qaeda fighters and Shiite militias out of long-established bases around the country.
This is remarkable because the military operation that is making these changes possible only began in full strength on June 15. To say that the surge is failing is absurd. Instead Congress should be asking this question: Can the current progress continue?
One should be wondering why it is that the folks with the lowest approval ratings in history want to once again get shown the door. Reid and Pelosi cannot scrape enough votes together to override GWB's veto pen and those of us in the New Media won't allow them to win this round either. We trounced the ILLEGAL Alien Shamnesty bill into the dirt and we will do the same this time around as well.
We are strongly united in defeating the Leftinistra.
Be fair warned. We are watching.
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