Archive for September 12th, 2009
Iran War Drums Begin To Beat In Washington – WWIII In The Making
Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe / Anti War – September 12, 2009
As nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West continue to move slowly, U.S. President Barack Obama is coming under growing pressure from what appears to be a concerted lobbying and media campaign urging him to act more aggressively to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
Obama has given Tehran an end-of-September deadline to respond substantively to his offer of diplomatic engagement. But already hawks in the U.S. – backed by hardline pro-Israel organizations – have pressed him to quickly impose “crippling” economic sanctions against Tehran, and some are arguing that he should make preparations for a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The pressure campaign kicked off in earnest this week. On Thursday, hundreds of leaders and activists from the U.S. Jewish community descended on Washington to lobby for harsher sanctions, while widely-publicized media reports suggested that Iran is already nearing the verge of a nuclear capability.
Leaders from Jewish groups came for a national “Advocacy Day on Iran,” during which they met with key Congressional figures.
Rep. Howard Berman, a California Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested that the clock “has almost run out” on Iran’s nuclear program, and indicated that he would move ahead next month with a bill imposing sanctions on Iran’s refined petroleum imports “absent some compelling evidence why I should do otherwise.”
The bill, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), has for months been the top lobbying priority of hawkish pro-Israel lobbying groups led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). To their frustration, Berman has held up consideration of the bill for most of the past year.
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9/11 – New York City Street Action And March: September 11, 2009
We Are Change: New York
Hope And Change: Obama Extends Bush’s National Emergencies Act
Cryptogon – September 11, 2009
Via: whitehouse.gov:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release September 10, 2009
NOTICE
- – – – – – -
CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT
TO CERTAIN TERRORIST ATTACKS
Consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, in Proclamation 7463, with respect to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.
Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, and the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2009. Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency the former President declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 10, 2009.
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