"Who Killed the Iran Provision?" (UPDATED)

UPDATE: John Nichols calls it "Pelosi's Disastrous Misstep on Iran."

The Young Turks:

I want names. Which so-called conservative Democrats and Israeli-lobby suck-ups killed the provision to stop war with Iran?

The Associated Press explains:

"Top House Democrats retreated Monday from an attempt to limit President Bush's authority for taking military action against Iran as the leadership concentrated on a looming confrontation with the White House over the Iraq war."

"Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned about the possible impact on Israel had argued for the change in strategy."

Will these lawmakers hide or are they proud of their handy work? We worked so hard to get one provision in a bill that says that President Bush must get Congressional approval before he launches an attack against Iran. And they killed it in secret -- within the Democratic caucus! And it looks like they're going to get away with it.

The provision didn't say we could never attack Iran. Or that we would be taking that option off the table in negotiations. It said the president must get congressional approval. You know, like it says in the constitution.

What, that was too much for conservative Democrats? Do they really believe the president - especially this president - should have the unilateral authority to attack Iran (or any country for that matter) without getting Congressional approval? Are they nuts?

I get the "conservative" part of "conservative Democrats." Because conservatives bow down to authority without regard to reason or law. But I don't get the "Democrat" part. What part of giving President Bush complete authority to start a new, disastrous war makes you a Democrat?

Please don't waste your breath arguing that taking the provision out doesn't give him the authority, it just doesn't outright prevent it. Do you really believe that this president won't take this action as a green light to move forward? Really?

And how about the sycophants of the Israeli lobby? How does the Israeli lobby kill all these sensible laws, provisions and actions and never leave a footprint? I thought we lived in a democracy. If you love the Israeli lobby so much that you are willing to do whatever they command, be a man and own up to it.

One important clarification before we move on. These days the Israeli lobby no longer lobbies for Israel. They lobby for the most right-wing, war-mongering part of the Israeli government. They don't represent the Israeli people or the whole government. They certainly don't represent what's in Israel's best interest. They only represent hard right-wing, Likud politics.

If they represented what was in Israel's best interest, why on God's green earth would they have lobbied for the Iraq War? All that war has done is destabilize the region, created more Sunni and Shiite extremists - both of whom hate Israel, and strengthened Iran. The Iraq War has been an utter disaster for Israel. And yet the so-called Israeli lobby lobbied for it.

Now, they are doing the same with Iran. And if you thought the Iraq War turned out badly for Israel, wait till you get a load of the Iran War.

So, which US legislators are helping the Israeli lobby do tremendous damage to Israel's national interests? Either own up to it or stop killing sensible laws in the middle of the night because you are too scared to take responsibility for your actions.

Killing this provision isn't right for Israel. And it isn't right for the United States. We listen to the right-wing of this country way too much already. The last thing we need is to listen to the right-wing of another country.

Howie P.S.: To his credit, Jim McDermott made this provision a "must have" for his support for this legislation.