Even
as American and international negotiators were finalizing the interim
agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, both houses of Congress
were moving to tie President Obama's hands in the future. While a
bipartisan bill mandating harsh new sanctions nears a veto-proof
majority in the Senate, House repugicans announced they would take up
the legislation championed by Senators Mark Kirk (r-IL) and Robert
Menendez (D-NJ).
.
But the "Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act" doesn't
just risk fracturing the multinational coalition and scuttle its efforts
to reach a final deal to control Tehran's nuclear program. It makes an
American conflict with Iran much more likely. For starters, the text
essentially commits the U.S. to come to Israel's defense even in a
preventive war it chooses to initiate. South Carolina Senator Lindsey
Graham (r-SC) among others has been threatening to bring the needed
authorization for the use of military of force (AUMF) to the floor for
months. All that's missing for hawks like Kirk warning of a repeat of
Munich is the tax revenue to pay for the war they seem on a path to
start.
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If the United States learned anything from its preventive
war in Iraq, it should have been that such misadventures are
unpredictable, bloody and very, very costly. (Paul Wolfowitz's promises
notwithstanding, the $1 trillion-plus price tag for the invasion and
occupation was not paid for by "a country that could really finance its
own reconstruction, and relatively soon.") In that regard, an American
conflict with Iran would likely be little different.
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