The March to War with Iran

The Lieberman-Kyl amendment passed, 76-22. Though the language was revised, it still says this:

"the United States should designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization...and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists."

TPM has the complete amendment document.

It is obviously a backdoor way to declare war on Iran. Joshua Micah Marshall and Matthew Yglesias outline how the same warhawks are using the very same tactics with this resolution that they did to push for the invasion of Iraq.

In spite of warnings from the likes of Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) who called it Dick Cheney's pipe dream, several Democrats voted for this amendment. Among them: Hillary Clinton, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin who previously called the original amendment a dangerous effort to support military force in Iran. Other notable votes: Biden and Dodd voted against it, as did Webb, Kerry, Feingold and Boxer. Republicans Hagel and Lugar jumped the fence and also voted against. Obama and McCain missed the vote. The complete roll call is here.

Hillary and the other Democrats don't seem to have learned the lesson from their Iraq resolution vote, i.e. that they're providing cover for war, again. Will somebody please ask Hillary to explain herself at the next debate? This time the excuse "if I knew then what I know now" ain't gonna cut it.

As for Reid and Durbin, I don't understand how the removal of a couple of sentences convinced them to vote for this. Designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group is the most dangerous language in the whole amendment, language which Gareth Porter thoroughly explains was based on findings that are fundamentally false.

Chris Dodd was among the few who weren't fooled:

I cannot support the Kyl-Lieberman amendment on Iran. To do so could give this President a green light to act recklessly and endanger US national security. We learned in the run up to the Iraq war that seemingly nonbinding language passed by this Senate can have profound consequences. We need the president to use robust diplomacy to address concerns with Iran, not the language in this amendment that the president can point to if he decides to draw this country into another disastrous war of choice...We shouldn’t repeat our mistakes and enable this President again.

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