Kly/Lieberman Amendment on Iran. How they voted -
I was just reminded of the Kly/Lieberman Amendment vote that two of the Democratic Presidential candidates took part in.
For those with short memories, Kly/Lieberman was an amendment that, among other things, declared Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp as “a foreign terrorist organization” at a time that Bush & Co. had a huge hard-on to invade Iran and was looking for any excuse. This amendment was so controversial that it even freaked-out Jim "UberHawk" Webb, who was so alarmed he took to the floor to denounce it.
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"On the Senate floor today, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) made an impassioned appeal to his fellow senators, declaring that the Lieberman-Kyl amendment on Iran should be 'withdrawn' because the 'proposal is Dick Cheney’s fondest pipe dream.' Webb cautioned that the cleverly-worded sense of the Congress' could be 'interpreted' to 'declare war' on Iran. He continued:
'Those who regret their vote five years ago to authorize military action in Iraq should think hard before supporting this approach. Because, in my view, it has the same potential to do harm where many are seeking to do good.'
'At best, it’s a deliberate attempt to divert attention from a failed diplomatic policy,' said Webb. 'At worst, it could be read as a backdoor method of gaining Congressional validation for military action, without one hearing and without serious debate.'
Webb said that amendment’s attempt to categorize the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as 'a foreign terrorist organization' would, for all practical purposes, 'mandate' the military option against Iran. 'It could be read as tantamount to a declaration of war. What do we do with terrorist organizations? If they are involved against us, we attack them.
He also slammed the lack of debate and examination that was accompanying the amendment, saying 'this is not the way to make foreign policy."
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At the time, we were all thinking IWR v.2. Many of us here on DU lobbied hard to make sure Democrats did everything they could do to keep this from passing.
It did pass, and with the help of Democrats. Here is a list of Senators voting against it. Please note whose name is missing:
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Feingold (D-WI)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Leahy (D-VT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Sanders (I-VT)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)
Wyden (D-OR)
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2007/09/25/16501/webb-kyl-lieb-iran/Iran’s Islamic
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/09/26/16530/breaking-lieberman-kyls-iran-amendment-passes/
