Today, 367 members of Congress, led by hawkish Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (CA-39) and hawkish ranking member Eliot Engel (NY-16), sent a letter to Obama to meddle with the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran. The letter is less hardline than the letter 47 Republican Senators sent to Tehran in order to win bipartisan support. However, that does not mean that the letter is good.
The core part of the letter is the conclusion:
The United States has had a longstanding interest in preventing Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capability. Over the last twenty years, Congress has passed numerous pieces of legislation, imposing sanctions on Iran to prevent that outcome, ultimately forcing Iran into negotiations. Should an agreement with Iran be reached, permanent sanctions relief from congressionally-mandated sanctions would require new legislation. In reviewing such an agreement, Congress must be convinced that its terms foreclose any pathway to a bomb, and only then will Congress be able to consider permanent sanctions relief.
Resolving the nuclear crisis with Iran remains of grave importance to our nation’s security. As the Administration continues to negotiate with Iran, we are prepared to evaluate any agreement to determine its long-term impact on the United States and our allies. We remain hopeful that a diplomatic solution preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon may yet be reached, and we want to work with you to assure such a result.
By "allies," of course, they mean Israel--and perhaps Saudi Arabia as well.
The letter undermines Obama by casting doubt on whether Congress would lift sanctions--a key part of any deal. Last summer, 26 peace and progressive groups wrote to Engel and Royce to criticize such language in a prior letter.
Reading the current letter in full, one finds it difficult not to laugh at the hypocrisy.
The letter reads, "Iran’s record of clandestine activity and intransigence prevents any trust in Iran." This said by politicians from the country that funded and led a coup (via the CIA) against the democratic, reformist Prime Minister of Iran 62 years ago and installed a dictator in his stead.
The letter later notes Iran's "destabilizing role in the region," i.e., the Middle East. While Iran is contributing to the destabilization of the region, so is the United States. They are just on opposite sides in some cases. (With regard to ISIS, they are on the same side, however.)
Given that the US is the only country to use a nuclear weapon and has over 7,000 nuclear weapons in its arsenal, it continues to lack any moral authority when it comes to nuclear non-proliferation. The US's secrecy around Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal further saps away any moral authority that could even exist.
Iran should have no nuclear weapons for the same reason that the US, Israel, and every other country shouldn't.
But back to the letter....
I went through the list of signers to determine who was not there, and I found 59 Democrats and 6 Republicans.
Here are the 59 Democrats:
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
Jared Huffman (CA-02)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Mike Thompson (CA-05)
Nancy Pelosi (CA-12)
Barbara Lee (CA-13)
Jackie Speier (CA-14)
Mike Honda (CA-17)
Anna Eshoo (CA-18)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Sam Farr (CA-20)
Lois Capps (CA-24)
Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
John Larson (CT-01)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Elizabeth Esty (CT-05)
Hank Johnson (GA-04)
Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
Danny Davis (IL-07)
Pete Visclosky (IN-01)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
John Yarmuth (KY-03)
Cedric Richmond (LA-02)
Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Donna Edwards (MD-04)
Jim McGovern (MA-02)
Niki Tsongas (MA-03)
Mike Capuano (MA-07)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Sander Levin (MI-09)
Debbie Dingell (MI-12)
John Conyers (MI-13)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
Betty McCollum (MN-04)
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Donald Norcross (NJ-01)
Bill Pascrell (NJ-09)
Donald Pane (NJ-10)
G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
David Price (NC-04)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Bob Brady (PA-01)
Jim Clyburn (SC-06)
Steve Cohen (TN-09)
Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
Eddie B. Johnson (TX-30)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-35)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
Don Beyer (VA-08)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Adam Smith (WA-09)
Mark Pocan (WI-02)
Gwen Moore (WI-04)
I would note the fact that Pelosi did not sign.
Here are the 6 Republicans:
Tom Massie (KY-04)
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Jeff Fortenberry (NE-01)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
John Duncan (TN-02)
Louie Gohmert (TX-01)