There has been a major clarifying development concerning the ‘End Iranian Peace Talks Bill’, S-1881. And the bringer of focus to this pathetic mishegas is non other than Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California. She stood on the floor of the Senate yesterday (Tuesday, Jan 14, 2014 Mark your calendars-this is big!) and gave a definitive account of the folly and nonsense involved in thwarting peace with Iran. This is very significant. DiFi has always been identified as the MIC/NSA’s gal in the Senate. We hear about “no daylight” between a certain ally and the US but we can certainly say there was never daylight between DiFi and the Pentagon. She really is the Big Mama Bear of the government. (I know, I know, Hillary, also). So what this means is that the Real, Raw American Power has decided to continue to turn away from military campaigns where we are increasingly guaranteed to come up short and impoverished. This is the dynamic that I have been calling the Peace Train.
I first saw it at Mondoweiss.net, who picked it up from Lobelog.com…..
Feinstein’s Denunciation of Kirk-Menendez Iran Act May Be Decisive…
Tuesday’s floor speech by Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein could bury AIPAC’s hopes of winning passage of what I have called the Kirk-Menendez Wag the Dog Act of 2013…at least for the next month or so. The speech, which was remarkably comprehensive in rebutting virtually every argument made by AIPAC and the 59 co-sponsors in favor of the bill, comes amid a surprising spate of newspaper editorials against the bill, particularly given the dearth of actual news coverage about it. Newspapers that have taken position against the legislation in just the last few days include the Minneapolis Star Tribune, USA Today, the New York Times, and the often-neoconservative-leaning Washington Post. As cash-poor as they are, newspapers are still less susceptible to the kind of pressure exerted by AIPAC and its associated PACs that are able to provide — or deny — substantial cash for political campaigns.
While the speech is worth reading in full — precisely because it is so thorough — it’s worth highlighting its explicit concern about the possibility of a “wag the dog” scenario. “While I recognize and share Israel’s concern,” she said, “we cannot let Israel determine when and where the U.S. goes to war. By stating that the U.S. should provide military support to Israel should it attack Iran, I fear that is exactly what this bill will do.” This is a remarkable and courageous statement. So is her characterization of the bill’s likely impact of undermining negotiations as a “march to war.”
My Bold Above
Both those links above have the CSPAN video and the transcribed remarks. It really is worth it to hear her words, this is the real American Mama Bear saying enough of this nonsense to her fractious charges. The comments in the Mondoweiss coverage point to how big a speech this was. They live to chronicle the unfolding of the hasbara web of lies. Mondoweiss has more involving the backpedaling that has begun now that folks who had made it to the AIPAC list of supporters are starting to talk a little differently now that people are noticing. At the first link above.
Really, check it out. This is a case where ‘Stateswoman’ is a moniker well deserved, imo.
