House approves Iran Freedom Support Act

[sabra]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/15631024.htm

House approves Iran Freedom Support Act
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran's weapons programs. The vote came as U.S diplomats continued to press the U.N. Security Council to penalize Tehran if it fails to end its uranium enrichment program.

House sponsors of the Iran Freedom Support Act said they expected the Senate to act quickly on the measure, sending it to President Bush for his signature this week.

The bill, passed by a voice vote, sanctions any entity that contributes to Iran's ability to acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The president has the authority to waive those sanctions, but only when he can show that it is in the vital national interest.

"It would be a critical mistake to allow a regime with a track record as bloody and as dangerous as Iran to obtain nuclear weapons," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., sponsor of the measure. "Enough with the carrots. It's time for the stick."

[Systematic Chaos]

1. Hmmm... "Freedom Support Act"

And basically it will lead to the destruction of the Iranian economy and infrastructure through sanctions.

:think:

Hey, I know! To get * impeached, let's create the "Bush Is a Saint and You Just Can't Wait to Bear His Love Child Act". Whaddya think?

:grr::nuke::grr:

[otohara]

6. Shameful Play On Words

when peoples lives are at stake.

[kath]

34. Orwellian.

[Violet_Crumble]

63. It's the language of impending war...

They tend to get chubbies from thinking up names for things that cast a nice fuzzy friendly glow over it for those who never bother themselves with anything more than what something's called. Kind of like calling missiles Peacemakers :)

[acmavm]

2. They got Russian and Chinese backing. This isn't going to

hurt them one bit.

The Iranian government will sit over there laughing and pointing their finger at this country. And the Iranian people will hate us just like the Iraqis, Syrians, Lebanese, ...

Everyone that we've harmed one way or another will just sit and wait for this country to get the great big cosmic payback that its got coming.

[Cobalt-60]

3. when the check arrives

We need to see that the responsible parties pick it up.
Slide that nasty thing right over to the Bushco war profiteers,

[ShortnFiery]

7. After the trials, liquidate all of Dear Leader's, Darth Cheney's and

Halliburton's assets and give them back to The People of The United States.

Put these Neo-Conservative criminals in a penitentiary and throw away the key. :grr:

Their children can snag seasonal jobs picking fruit and vegetables along the USA / Mexican border. :P

[Vincardog]

36. What ShortnFiery said.

[VegasWolf]

41. Second what ShortnFiery said!!!! nt

[acmejack]

44. Their children shall be in St Kitt's laughing at us.

[saigon68]

50. LIKE THIS ASSCLOWN AND HIS 2 TROLLOPS

PIERCE BUSH ----- NEPHEW OF THE CHIMP AND MAN ABOUT TOWN

[Judi Lynn]

59. Hideous! Exactly as you would imagine a Bush male offspring!

Almost triggers a gag reflex.

[Tempest]

4. Can we get Iran to support a Free America From Bush Support Act?

We need it as much as Iran does.

[libodem]

5. I was listening to talk radio last night

The guy being interviewed said that GWB had promised Israel that they would have an oil pipeline from Afghanistan to Israel. That pipeline needs to go through Iran. This is why we are getting the swagger and posturing. Kinda makes sense?

[Moderator]

8. kick

[chill_wind]

9. House Passes "Iran Freedom Support Act" tonite- *Voice Vote*

House approves Iran Freedom Support Act
JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press
Sep. 28, 2006

WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran's weapons programs. The vote came as U.S diplomats continued to press the U.N. Security Council to penalize Tehran if it fails to end its uranium enrichment program.

House sponsors of the Iran Freedom Support Act said they had hoped for Senate action as early as Thursday night, sending it to President Bush for his signature. But they said there was resistance from Senate Democrats to passing it without a debate.

The bill, passed by a voice vote, sanctions any entity that contributes to Iran's ability to acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The president has the authority to waive those sanctions, but only when he can show that it is in the vital national interest.

"It would be a critical mistake to allow a regime with a track record as bloody and as dangerous as Iran to obtain nuclear weapons," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., sponsor of the measure. "Enough with the carrots. It's time for the stick."


More: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/15631024.htm

[Donnachaidh]

10. So how are we going to Sanction ourselves?

Wasn't it Reagan and Rumsfeld who helped them build that facility that they do all their nuclear testing in?

[Xipe Totec]

11. Thus speaks the voice of experience

"It would be a critical mistake to allow a regime with a track record as bloody and as dangerous as Iran to obtain nuclear weapons,"

Indeed.

It was a critical mistake to allow a regime with a track record as bloody and as dangerous as the United States to create nuclear weapons in the first place.

So we, of all people, should know...

[chill_wind]

12. One step closer tonite to yet another NeoCon wet dream

and the rest of the America sleeping through it all, like everything else that traspired today.


Busy busy busy little fekkers today and tonite.

"If we fail to use the economic and diplomatic tools available to us, the world will face a nightmare that knows no end," said Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif.

But others warned that language in the bill supporting democratic change in Iran would only antagonize people in Iran who might see parallels to U.S. regime change objectives in neighboring Iraq. It's time, said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, "to give assurance to Iran that we are not going to attack them."

[WCGreen]

31. But Survivor was on tonight.....

[rodeodance]

13. what an utterly stupid title for the name of this Act

[kath]

25. Orwell would be proud...

[Marie26]

14. Busy busy Congress

Regime change, torture, and warrantless wiretaps all in one day.

[chill_wind]

15. Here's the HR 282 version from April 2006.

Portion of the introduction:

109th CONGRESS
2d Session

H. R. 282

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 27, 2006

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

AN ACT

To hold the current regime in Iran accountable for its threatening behavior and to support a transition to democracy in Iran.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Iran Freedom Support Act'.

SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title.

Sec. 2. Table of contents.

TITLE I--CODIFICATION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN

Sec. 101. Codification of sanctions.

Sec. 102. Liability of parent companies for violations of sanctions by foreign entities.

TITLE II--AMENDMENTS TO THE IRAN AND LIBYA SANCTIONS ACT OF 1996 AND OTHER PROVISIONS RELATED TO INVESTMENT IN IRAN

Sec. 201. Multilateral regime.

Sec. 202. Imposition of sanctions.

Sec. 203. Termination of sanctions.

Sec. 204. Sunset.

Sec. 205. Clarification and expansion of definitions.

Sec. 206. United States pension plans.

Sec. 207. Technical and conforming amendments.

TITLE III--DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS TO CURTAIL IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION AND SPONSORSHIP OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

Sec. 301. Diplomatic efforts.

Sec. 302. Strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

TITLE IV--DEMOCRACY IN IRAN

Sec. 401. Declaration of Congress regarding United States policy toward Iran.

Sec. 402. Assistance to support democracy in Iran.

Sec. 403. Waiver of certain export license requirements.

see: http://www.theorator.com/bills109/hr282.html



The new bill is H.R. 6198. Per the A.P article:

"The revised version takes out one section that would have cut off aid to countries, such as Russia, investing in projects in Iran that could be linked to weapons proliferation. The legislation also in effect alters the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 10 years ago by taking away restrictions on Libya, which is now cooperating with the West in eliminating weapons of mass destruction."

[Rose Siding]

16. The only "support" for freedom that can be expected from this Congress:

[Vidar]

17. A pity they can't hit the Capital Building.

[leesa]

18. I'm beginning to really hate the brutishness of this country. It's

people are ugly.

[Solly Mack]

19. oh, great...more freedom marching

[Toucano]

20. The president has the authority...

The president has the authority...
The president has the authority...

Isn't that the refrain of a song sung in the beer halls of Munich circa 1932?

[sutz12]

39. No shit....

The president has the authority to waive those sanctions, but only when he can show that it is in the vital national interest.

I assume that Halliburton profits will always be in the "vital national interest."

Didn't they sell them the original equipment they are using or working from now?

[Justice Is Comin]

21. Mahmoud, great news for you today.

You can torture at will. The rules have been cancelled.

We have a whole contingent of CIA operatives sniffing around your nuclear energy sites there.

When you capture them, tell them to wave hello to bush from the waterboard between drownings.

[chill_wind]

23. Yes , but think of all the money Bush's Congress saved them on those

expensive torture insurance policies they were going to have to buy.

Isn't that what Lindsey Geico Graham came right out and said at one point today? "The purpose of this legislation..." was to protect them from "expensive" liability?

Yes, and "at least we don't behead people" all the freepers and Bush neo's cried.

But I'm pretty sure our adversaries still do.....

[chill_wind]

22. Senate vote comes up-- when? Please K&R this and help get this seen!

[chill_wind]

24. Kicking! Dammit!! nt

[Draill]

26. .

[BelgianMadCow]

27. . and 5th rec

beyond scary

[chill_wind]

33. Thanks folks. All we need is one more rec (mods combined threads). nt

[countryjake]

65. another kick

[EFerrari]

28. "Iran Freedom Support"? Here we go again.

K&R

[Jack Rabbit]

29. I really don't want to hear talk about a bloody and dangerous regime

from the likes of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who voted to enable a bloody and dangerous regime today to torture POWs and try them before kangaroo courts.

[BelgianMadCow]

30. Didn't find the text of the bill H.R 6198 on thomas.loc as linked in your

OP link.

I'm curious what "language in the bill supporting democratic change in Iran" exactly means.

[saigon68]

32. "Enough with the carrots. It's time for the stick."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla REALLY WANTS A WAR

THE BROWN PEOPLE THERE, WILL CERTAINLY GIVE IT TO THE RUSTICS WHO JOIN UP TO KILL GUYS "IN DRESSES"

[acmejack]

45. She likes to visit the troops and fly around.

I watched her in a C-span special which followed her and a group of Congressmen around Iraq (safe facilities only, of course. Ileana was positively radiant. These people love killing and war, just as long as they and their children and social group don't have to engage in it. Remember the lady that said it best on the news, after going on and on how she supported the pResident, the war, and the troops; "Oh no, the military isn't for people like us."

[lala_rawraw]

35. shit... this is the go ahead:(

[mmonk]

61. But I bet if it's unpopular, they won't admit it

or they will say they were misled. From your sourcing, if the attack goes ahead, do you think it will be bunker busters or tactical nukes?

[BlueEyedSon]

37. Oh brother, here we go again.....

[Straight Shooter]

38. This in fact is the type of "Freedom" they hate us for.

This lie couched in a phrase which means nothing to Iranians.

The bloody and dangerous track record of Iran wouldn't have anything to do with installing the Shah or maybe the Iran-Contra debacle, would it?

*crickets* from the Florida bloodlust Repub.

[chill_wind]

40. "The End of Summer Diplomacy".

Not a comforting analysis..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2258585

[hootinholler]

42. "mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran's

Weapons pregrams"

Good! This means all Halliburton's contracts are revoked when this is signed.

-Hoot

[chill_wind]

43. Found it. HR 6198. Passed by voice vote and without debate

per Talking Points Memo

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.6198:

(edited to fix link)or just go to http://thomas.loc.gov and type in bill in the search box: H.R.6198

or text: Iran Freedom Support Act

[Akoto]

46. Here's my theory, far-fetched though it may be ...

The Republicans are not stupid. Perverse, maniacal, twisted? Absolutely. Stupid? No.

I find it hard to believe that they don't foresee the consequences of their continued actions. They consistently go out of their way to leave the law in a wreck, to pursue conflict above all else. They've had their chances to stop and turn the ship around, but they haven't.

I think they know they're about to lose their asses in the elections, and they're doing their best to push every disaster they can through official channels. They may end up giving the country back to us, but they're going to sabotage it and leave us with as big a mess as they can.

[chill_wind]

47. George seems to have a rather messianic view about this

and the contractors just love that about George.
And Congress just loves the contractors-- who give ever so generously to both parties..

I've always maintained that Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld didn't build all those new permanent bases (the existence of which they denied for a long time) and the world's largest embassy over there for nothing.

In the meantime..... the recent Gardiner paper "The End of Summer Diplomacy" (link above) is an interesting read.

And so is this report:

War Signals
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2006-09-21 23:29. Iran
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=taxonomy/term/51

By DAVE LINDORFF
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061009/lindorff

As reports circulate of a sharp debate within the White House over possible US military action against Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities, The Nation has learned that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have issued orders for a major "strike group" of ships, including the nuclear aircraft carrier Eisenhower as well as a cruiser, destroyer, frigate, submarine escort and supply ship, to head for the Persian Gulf, just off Iran's western coast. This information follows a report in the current issue of Time magazine, both online and in print, that a group of ships capable of mining harbors has received orders to be ready to sail for the Persian Gulf by October 1.

[kimmerspixelated]

54. Oct 1, Huh?

There was a rumor floating around that some kind of MIHOP was set to happen Oct.-6-9 or thereabouts on the east coast somewhere, whether it be dirty bombs or whatnots, and then the finger pointing would be at -Iran, of course. I hope to hell this isn't true!

[KoKo]

48. Makes sense to me... Ram through everything they can

knowning it will take years to undo it all. Going for Broke...literally...

.

[chill_wind]

49. Yes, going for broke. TWOT is quite literally all they have to campaign

on. Everything else is imploding on them. They have to keep the terror shell game going at all costs, have to keep their base galvanized, and in their Straussian Rovian neo-theo-fascist worlds, the ends *always* justify the means.

[mom cat]

51. What carrots?

[Superman Returns]

52. question

Where can I find the list of people who voted for this bill?

[Moderator]

53. Kick

[leesa]

55. We've got far more blood on our hands than Iran does. Far more.

[saigon68]

62. The Chimp has killed lots of islamics

[skids]

56. Is this bad news for Halliburton stock?

:eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

57. The Israel Lobby paid money to get these "Acts" passed as they did before

Considering Israel's vicious bombing of Lebanon, and our Congress silence, these Acts are the height of hypocrisy:

Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003

HR 1828 IH

108th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1828

To halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop its development of Weapons of Mass Destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil and illegal shipments of weapons and other military items to Iraq, and by so doing hold Syria accountable for the serious international security problems it has caused in the Middle East, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 12, 2003

http://www.2la.org/lebanon/syriaac2003.htm

Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)

--H.R.4655--

H.R.4655

One Hundred Fifth Congress of the United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight

An Act to establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Iraq Liberation Act of 1998'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) On September 22, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, starting an 8 year war in which Iraq employed chemical weapons against Iranian troops and ballistic missiles against Iranian cities.

(2) In February 1988, Iraq forcibly relocated Kurdish civilians from their home villages in the Anfal campaign, killing an estimated 50,000 to 180,000 Kurds.

(3) On March 16, 1988, Iraq used chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurdish civilian opponents in the town of Halabja, killing an estimated 5,000 Kurds and causing numerous birth defects that affect the town today.

(4) On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded and began a 7 month occupation of Kuwait, killing and committing numerous abuses against Kuwaiti civilians, and setting Kuwait's oil wells ablaze upon retreat.

(5) Hostilities in Operation Desert Storm ended on February 28, 1991, and Iraq subsequently accepted the ceasefire conditions specified in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 (April 3, 1991) requiring Iraq, among other things, to disclose fully and permit the dismantlement of its weapons of mass destruction programs and submit to long-term monitoring and verification of such dismantlement.

(6) In April 1993, Iraq orchestrated a failed plot to assassinate former President George Bush during his April 14-16, 1993, visit to Kuwait.

(7) In October 1994, Iraq moved 80,000 troops to areas near the border with Kuwait, posing an imminent threat of a renewed invasion of or attack against Kuwait.

(8) On August 31, 1996, Iraq suppressed many of its opponents by helping one Kurdish faction capture Irbil, the seat of the Kurdish regional government.

(9) Since March 1996, Iraq has systematically sought to deny weapons inspectors from the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) access to key facilities and documents, has on several occasions endangered the safe operation of UNSCOM helicopters transporting UNSCOM personnel in Iraq, and has persisted in a pattern of deception and concealment regarding the history of its weapons of mass destruction programs.

(10) On August 5, 1998, Iraq ceased all cooperation with UNSCOM, and subsequently threatened to end long-term monitoring activities by the International Atomic Energy Agency and UNSCOM.

(11) On August 14, 1998, President Clinton signed Public Law 105-235, which declared that `the Government of Iraq is in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations' and urged the President `to take appropriate action, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations.'.

(12) On May 1, 1998, President Clinton signed Public Law 105-174, which made $5,000,000 available for assistance to the Iraqi democratic opposition for such activities as organization, training, communication and dissemination of information, developing and implementing agreements among opposition groups, compiling information to support the indictment of Iraqi officials for war crimes, and for related purposes.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.4655.ENR:

[patrick t. cakes]

58. question

hi du been a big fan... finally logged on. help me out here. what wxactly is irans bloody track record?

[bamacrat]

60. Why do I feel like Indiana Jones, when the big rock is rolling ...

toward me about to crush us all.

[chill_wind]

64. And just for the record- REID caved. Had a Hold on the bill

and dropped it at the last minute without public explanation.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2290323
http://www.niacouncil.org/pressreleases/press459.asp

No one seems to want to notice or comment on this little factoid.