Casey Tries Explaining Iran Vote

Senator Robert P. Casey is trying to explain his vote on the Lieberman/Kyl Amendment granting George W. Bush the authority to begin military combat operations against Iran.  He sounds a lot like Hillary Clinton meaning our most esteemed representatives in Washington are completely susceptible to brainwashing and are utterly incapable of reading an actual text before voting.

Here are the salient points in the Amendment they SHOULD have read:

(3)  that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and [stop] the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies.

Notice the word "combat" in there?  Think it was used precisely for what it means in a military context?  The Amendment is an authorization for the use of military force against Iran.  The idiots who claim they were fooled by Bush about Iraq just got the wool pulled over their eyes again.  Here is Casey's response to some of our readers who contacted him about his vote:

Dear Mr. XXXXXX:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the Kyl-Lieberman amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Act. I appreciate hearing from all Pennsylvanians about the issues that matter most to them.

I voted in favor of the Kyl-Lieberman amendment expressing the sense of the Senate on United States policy regarding Iran and its support for sectarian militias in Iraq. Reasonable experts differ on the degree and level of Iranian involvement in the violence that plagues Iraq, but nobody can deny that Iran has engaged in troubling activities that help destabilize Iraq today. I voted for this amendment to send a strong message to Iran that it must cease such activities immediately. Iran has no right to destabilize the legitimate Iraqi government, especially by smuggling munitions and explosive materials to Iraqi insurgents.

I realize that many were concerned that this amendment could have implicitly endorsed the use of force against Iran. Due to such concerns, the amendment was modified prior to the Senate vote to remove sections calling upon the United States to halt Iranian activities in Iraq and supporting the use of all instruments of United States national power to implement that policy. As a result, the amended resolution cannot be interpreted to allow President Bush to unilaterally authorize military action against Iran without Congressional approval.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.

If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to frequently visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov.  In the months ahead, I will continue to develop the site in order to allow you to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington.



Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator

If interference within Iraq, importing arms, supporting sectarian militias, fomenting violence and destabilizing the country are excuses for initiating war against the country that commits these actions why hasn't the entire world declared war against the United States?  Do we think we can really be this hypocritical?  We can be the only country doing these things inside Iraq?

The complete absurdity of this argument is that we're basing an argument for going to war with Iran based on exactly what we're doing in Iraq.  Many thousands of times more egregiously than Iran is, yet this is going to be the basis for attacking Iran next?

What sort of idiots are Casey and Clinton and the others who voted for this Amendment?

Now Clinton is all upset that voters are questioning her judgment and qualifications to be President based on this vote.  She's so upset by actual people standing up against it she's accusing them of being plants from other campaigns.  It never occurred to her that people are very upset by her show of poor judgment and are exercising their right to challenge her on the issue.  Wake up Hillary you showed incredibly poor decision making on a very, very critical foreign policy issue.  I certainly don't want to hear her lecture Obama or anyone else from now on about her superior national security credentials.  She has none based on this vote.

Comments

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

Are most people required to take a stupid pill before going off to DC? Has Casey been asleep these past few years? Ugh!!

[John Morgan]

"Has Casey been asleep these past few years? Ugh!!"

Maybe he was forced to listen to himself speak.