JIMMY CARTER IN CUBA…and his Legacy of Harm and Misdeeds

CAMRADE CARTER GOES TO CUBA…AGAIN Jimmy Carter on Meeting Castro: We Welcomed Each Other Like Old Friends! (AP) — Carter arrived Monday with his wife Rosalynn for a three-day stay on the island. Carter also visited Cuba in 2002, and is the only former U.S. president to do so since the 1959 revolution.
Jimmy Carter very happy to see his friend Marxist Cuban dictator Raul Castro in Havana, Cuba (March 29, 2011)	Raul Castro, Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn at Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba (March 29, 2011, AP)
- Carter did not demand freedom for the 11-million Cubans currently enslaved on the island, Carter instead demanded that the U.S. release the 5 Cuban spies: “Those are the same five convicted Cuban spies who are serving prison time for espionage and the murder of four innocent American pilots who were shot down over international waters by Castro MiGs.” - Democrat Jimmy Carter called for the end of the embargo

CARTER’S EVIL LEGACY Many believe Jimmy Carter is a naive farmer who became the global useful idiot. However, for decades Carter has been consistent in his support and love for leftist despots and islamic dictators. We need to realize that, despite appearances, Carter is not an idiot — he is evil. How many lives have been lost or negatively impacted by Carter’s misdeeds? Jimmy Carter’s damage:
	Carter cut off aid to El Salvador, which was fighting a Communist insurgency, but gave more than $90 million in aid to the Marxist Nicaraguan Sandinistas. He soon halted diplomatic recognition of U.S. allies in Taiwan and recognized Beijing in their place. Though he declared that “human rights is the soul of our foreign policy,” he showered accolades upon Tito, Ceausescu, Ortega, and Kim il-Sung (the last, after his presidency). Meanwhile, Carter’s brother Billy tried to open trade relations with Libya in 1978 after depositing a generous $220,000 “loan” from Mu’ammar Qadhafi. Billy Carter registered as an agent of a foreign government two years later. [...] In 2004 Carter certified the dubious election of pro-Castro strongman Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
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	[Carter] who, during his presidency, abandoned two key strategic allies of the Western world (Nicaragua and Iran) and left them prey to the anti-American sharks who devoured them. In the name of some vague and obscure “human rights” doctrine, Carter withdrew support from the Somoza regime in Nicaragua and facilitated the coming to power of the Marxist Sandinistas there in 1979. With the backing of Castro’s Cuba and the Soviet regime, the Sandinistas posed a significant threat to their Central American neighbors and to U.S. security interests throughout the 1980s. Carter also chastised the Shah of Iran for his human rights record and withdrew American support. This led to the U.S. losing a priceless pro-Western ally in the Middle East – an ally that was replaced by the deranged anti-Western Islamic theocracy of the Ayatollah Khomeini. …Somoza and the Shah…regimes were like a Sunday school class in comparison to the ruthless dictatorships that took their place. The Sandinistas in Nicaragua by far surpassed their predecessor in human rights violations. The Khomeini theocracy, meanwhile, was a whole other story: Khomeini killed more innocent Iranians (20,000) in a two-week reign of terror than the Shah could have even dreamed of killing throughout his 38 years in power (1941-1979). …The Soviets saw him to be so gullible, weak and inept that they did not even hesitate to invade Afghanistan under his watch in 1979. Imagine the Soviets even contemplating invading Afghanistan under Reagan’s watch. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan also played a large role in nurturing the future Islamic terror that would so badly wound America. The Taliban, after all, were the backlash to the Soviet terror in Afghanistan. They took power in 1996 because they were strengthened by their rebellion against Soviet injustice. Thus, when all is said and done, it is Jimmy Carter who helped pave the road to the rise of Islamic fanaticism and, therefore, to 9/11. But Carter still thinks he has something to teach the world.
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	Carter is giving Marxist dictator Fidel Castro the same loving kiss of comradeship and support that then-President Carter once stood on tiptoe to give to Soviet dictator Leonid I. Brezhnev. Why does Jimmy Carter, arguably the smallest, meanest and most incompetent soul ever to be President, hold such views? One answer may be greed. Carter’s motive in attacking Israel becomes clear the instant one sees how many millions of dollars his Carter Center in Atlanta has pocketed from Arab leaders and interests. Many wealthy multinational corporations are eager to profit from the end of America’s trade embargo against Castro, and it would be fascinating to follow their money and see how much is going to the Carter Center and related groups and individuals. But Mr. Carter…also seems possessed by other demons, including Leftist ideology and loony idealism… Among those in whose service Jimmy Carter has put his lips, as noted by National Review’s Jay Nordlinger and Frank Gaffney, Jr., of the Center for Security Policy, are these: the Marxist dictator Ceausescu of Romania (of whom Carter said “Our goals are the same….”); Syrian mass murderer and Soviet ally Hafez al-Assad; Ethiopian mass murderer Mengistu; and North Korean Marxist madman Kim Il Sung [of whose totalitarian state with which we fought the Korean War, Carter said "I don’t see that they are an outlaw nation."]. Jimmy Carter was a relentless supporter of the Castro-aligned Marxist Sandinistas of Nicaragua, doing all in his power to keep their leader Daniel Ortega in power and undermine President Ronald Reagan’s attempts to restore freedom to this Central America nation. And both as President and since, Carter has befriended Fidel Castro and sought to end the bipartisan trade embargo against this country (the same kind of embargo Carter eagerly supported against non-Communist white-ruled Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa). Carter has always claimed to favor “human rights.” In the name of such rights he as President withdrew U.S. support for the Shah of Iran because the Shah had imprisoned (and in some cases tortured) about 3,000 people, many of them agents of the Soviet Union bordering his nation. Because of Carter, this pro-Western leader was replaced by the fanatic anti-Western Muslim theocracy of the Ayatollah Khomeni. The Ayatollah’s dictatorship immediately put more than 20,000 pro-Western Iranians before firing squads. It reversed the Shah’s opening to Western culture and rolled back the equal rights he had extended to women. And it promptly plunged Iran into war with neighboring Iraq, a war that never would have happened with the Shah in power – a war that killed more than 500,000 people. It also created the regional instabilities that led to Iraq’s later invasion of Kuwait and to Operation Desert Storm, which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands more. And the Ayatollah’s overthrow of a major American-aligned leader on the Persian Gulf inspired many thousands of Muslim fanatics to destabilize their own modernizing nations in hopes of likewise creating medieval theocracies and making women again submissive. Jimmy Carter is therefore part of the reason why Osama bin Laden operatives slammed airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon last September 11th. —-
And if you can stomach more misdeeds from Carter, check these articles.

LIBYA & MARXISTS: Libya to be Represented by Nicaraguan Sandinista at the United Nations (Biography of Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann)

MERCENARIES AND MURDERERS BEST-FRIENDS-FOREVER Marxist Sandinista Miguel d'Escoto Bloomberg reports that “Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, a former foreign minister of Nicaragua’s socialist Sandinista government and one-time president of the United Nations General Assembly, has been named by Muammar Qaddafi’s regime as Libya’s ambassador to the UN.” “D’Escoto is a mercenary,” said former Libyan deputy ambassador at the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi. (Dabbashi broke with Qaddafi to support the U.S. no-fly zone and other sanctions against Libya and is representing the rebel-led Transitional National Council.) QUICK BIOGRAPHY OF MIGUEL D’ESCOTO Miguel d’Escoto, 78, is the Jimmy Carter of Nicaragua but instead of pretending to be the “silly old farmer,” d’Escoto hides behind the ecumenical label of “priest” to go around the world legitimizing and helping dictators.
Miguel d’Escoto is actually an anti-Semitic and unindicted Marxist: ● Was ordained a Catholic priest of the Maryknoll Missionaries in the early 1960s. ● Embraced the left-wing liberation theology movement. ● Continued being a “priest” while being a secret Sandinista member. (Many communists infiltrated the Catholic Church in Latin America to destroy the church from within.) ● Was an official of the World Council of Churches, a group that has funded Marxist insurgent groups throughout the world. ● Formed part of El Grupo de los Doce (Group of Twelve) who helped the Sandinista terrorists (FSLN) hijack Nicaragua and take away the freedoms of the Nicaraguan people. ● Served as foreign minister from 1979 to 1990 for the butchers of Nicaragua: the Sandinista government. ● Forged close relationships with the Soviet bloc and Arab countries when he was the Sandinista foreign minister: The Sandinista regime gave refuge and citizenship to a number of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) members. Pope admonishes Marxist priest Ernesto Cardenal (1983, Nicaragua) ● Was suspended by the Vatican in the 1980s together with two other priests, Ernesto and Fernando Cardenal, for actively participating in the Sandinista revolution. They are known as the “false priests.” ● Was admonished by Pope John Paul II for being part of the Marxist terrorist group of the Sandinistas while being a Catholic priest. ● Hated Ronald Reagan for trying to save Nicaraguans from the Sandinista dictatorship. ● Served as president of the United Nations General Assembly president in 2008 and 2009. ● Proclaimed dictator Fidel Castro “World Hero of Solidarity” and Marxist Evo Morales “World Hero of Mother Earth.” As if that wasn’t enough, Miguel D’Escoto added: “They embody virtues and values worth of emulation by all of us.” ● Accused Israel of “crucifying our Palestinian brothers and sisters” and labeled Israel an “apartheid state.” Of course, the Left loves Miguel d’Escoto.

WHAT WILL THE DEMOCRATS DO?…DEMOCRATS LOVE THE SANDINISTAS Flashback: Democrats helped the Marxist Sandinistas to enslave the Nicaraguan people From L to R: Democrat John Kerry, Democrat Tom Harkin, Harkin's wife, Marxist Nicaraguan Dictator Daniel Ortega (1980s)

Democrat Sen. Schumer Caught on Tape Urging Dems to call Tea Party “extreme” (Audio)

LEFTIST PROPAGANDA TO SUBVERT THE WILL OF AMERICANS Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was caught on tape on a conference call urging other Democrats to politicize the budget negotiations and claim Tea Party people and Republicans are “extreme.” Democrats’ goal is to blame Tea Partiers and Republicans for a possible government shutdown and to put Republican House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a corner. Schumer also indicates this is a strategy authorized by the Dems caucus: “I always use the word extreme, that is what the caucus instructed me to use the other week.”

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “I always use the word extreme, that is what the caucus instructed me to do the other week. Extreme cuts and all these riders and Boehner is in a box. But if he supports the tea party there will inevitably be a shutdown. What we are trying to do here –” [Call is interrupted as Schumer realizes reporters are also on the conference call] According to RealClearPolitics, on the conference call were reporters and Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Carper (D-Delaware) and Dick Blumenthal (D-CT). Last November, Americans sent to Washington legislators to cut government’s excessive spending. Democrats continue to disregard the will of the people. They just care about their agenda.

CONTEXT

Obama to Illegal Alien Student: I Want You to Succeed (Video)

LIBERALS USING HISPANICS Yesterday at a Washington, DC town hall, Obama assured an illegal alien student that he wanted people like her to succeed and did not want to deport them. The illegal alien student (Karen Maldonado) confronted Obama showing him a deportation letter and asking him why illegals continue to receive such notices. The event was held at the Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C., and was sponsored and televised by UNIVISION, the Spanish-language television network and illegal immigration promoter.

QUESTION BY ILLEGAL ALIEN STUDENT: “My question for the president is, why [is the government] saying that deportations have stopped or the detention of many students like me, why is it that we are still receiving deportation letters like this one?” OBAMA: “…And for a young person like that young woman that we just spoke to who’s going to school, doing all the right things, we want them to succeed.”

HMMM?	Video mark 0:20 — The Univision moderator, communist reporter Jorge Ramos, identified the illegal alien as Karen Maldonado. Video mark 2:24 — Obama blamed Republicans for not passing the Dream Act. He did not tell the audience that Democrats were majority in the House and Senate during his first 2 years as president and they failed to pass an amnesty bill or the Dream Act which is a foot-in-the-door amnesty bill. He then urged the audience and students to put pressure on Congress to pass the Dream Act.

Here is the video in Spanish:

NOTES TO PONDER ● If Univision knows the name and whereabouts of the illegal alien student Karen Maldonado, aren’t they accomplice of a crime if they don’t report her to the authorities? Doesn’t Univision want to comply with the law of the land? Wouldn’t they call the authorities if someone entered the Univision premises or their homes without their permission? ● Shouldn’t the U.S. president urge illegals to go back and use their energies to improve their own countries? How would these people feel if millions of illegal aliens invaded their own countries, demanded citizenship and more money for education and health care, confronted their president on national TV for being deported…and, on top of that, called them racists if they did not comply with the aliens’ demands? ● Obama is telling people worldwide that they can become U.S. citizens as long as they come here, ignore U.S. immigration law, and work/study. ● If Obama believes in family reunification, he can send illegals back home so they can reunite with their families. If the parents brought their children illegally into the U.S., they are responsible for making their own kids complicit in the violation of U.S. immigration law. Minors are innocent but they must be with their parents (unless there is a life-threatening situation in their own country, i.e., Cuba where deported migrants can face persecution by the Marxist dictatorship for daring to leave the jail-island.) ● Leftists like Univision and Obama are promoting the wrong idea that U.S. citizenship is a global human right — that everyone around the world is entitled to. ● Professor Obama should learn to distinguish between legal immigration and illegal immigration. ● Professor Obama and Univision should inform people that the word “alien” is not a pejorative. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, alien is someone who belongs or owes allegiance to another country or government: FOREIGNER. ● If the U.S. is a mean and racist country where immigrants are mistreated, why so many people want to come here and stay? Leftists will go to any length to obtain their goals. Obama panders to Hispanics to increase the Democrats’ voter rolls. Univision for ratings. They don’t care if they have to lie, to demagogue or to feed anger, divide and resentment. They don’t care if they have to destroy Americans and Hispanics.

OBESITY: Hugo Chavez and Michelle Obama Want You to Lose Weight

MARXISTS TELLING US HOW TO LIVE OUR LIVES Power Grab Masquerading as Public Health Care

Following Michelle Obama’s footsteps, Marxist dictator Hugo Chavez said that he will launch a campaign to promote healthy food. On Sunday, Chavez told Venezuelans to eat less fatty food and reduce their calories to avoid obesity. “Be careful with your weight!” Chavez warned Venezuelans during one of his infamous long ramblings on TV. “Watch out for obesity, which is quite noticeable and if not careful it can become chronic.” Chavez blames capitalism for alcoholism, violent television programs, breast implants… and for destroying life on Mars. Of course, Chavez doesn’t talk about the evils of socialism, i.e., Communism killed 100 million people! [Sources: Chron (English), Doug Powers, WeaselZipper]

CHAVEZ ATTACKS OBESE PEOPLE Video: Oct 25, 2009	Hugo Chavez criticizes obese people in his program Aló Presidente. “There are a lot of fat people in Venezuela.” “Fats, beware: You have to lose weight. You have to diet. You have to exercise.” Reviewing a nutritional study, Chavez stated that the obesity rate has risen from 6.3 to 14.5%. [Source: http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/noticia/105508/chavez-dice-que-hay-muchos-gordos-en-venezuela-y-los-manda-a-rebajar/]

BEHIND MICHELLE OBAMA’S WAR ON OBESITY
- Michelle Obama to Restaurants: Cut butter, cream, french fries (video, transcript, photos) - Michelle Obama profited from the very same processed food industry she now demonizes - SEIU union fatcats behind Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign - Michelle Obama threatens food advertisers’ speech - Michelle Obama brow-beats restaurants over portion sizes

WILL HUGO CHAVEZ’S FRIEND TELL HIM HE IS THE FAT ONE?

RELATED - NJ Gov. Christie too fat to be President; smells like bacon says leftist (video) - Fat Miami politicians want people to lose weight - Miami-Dade gets $14.7 Million to “fight obesity” - OBAMA-ERA FOOD POLICE: Then they came for McDonald’s Happy Meals http://www.elmundo.es/america/2009/11/17/noticias/1258452771.html

Earth Hour is for Fools: Why I Will Leave My Lights On Today

Here is a great article from Ross McKitrick, Professor of Economics, University of Guelph (Ontario Canada):
	EARTH HOUR: A DISSENT I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the proliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity. Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic chores. Getting children out of menial labour and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading. Development and provision of modern health care without electricity is absolutely impossible. The expansion of our food supply, and the promotion of hygiene and nutrition, depended on being able to irrigate fields, cook and refrigerate foods, and have a steady indoor supply of hot water. Many of the world’s poor suffer brutal environmental conditions in their own homes because of the necessity of cooking over indoor fires that burn twigs and dung. This causes local deforestation and the proliferation of smoke- and parasite-related lung diseases. Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. After all, that’s how the west developed. The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity. Earth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it becomes an hour devoted to anti-humanism. It encourages the sanctimonious gesture of turning off trivial appliances for a trivial amount of time, in deference to some ill-defined abstraction called “the Earth,” all the while hypocritically retaining the real benefits of continuous, reliable electricity. People who see virtue in doing without electricity should shut off their fridge, stove, microwave, computer, water heater, lights, TV and all other appliances for a month, not an hour. And pop down to the cardiac unit at the hospital and shut the power off there too. I don’t want to go back to nature. Travel to a zone hit by earthquakes, floods and hurricanes to see what it’s like to go back to nature. For humans, living in “nature” meant a short life span marked by violence, disease and ignorance. People who work for the end of poverty and relief from disease are fighting against nature. I hope they leave their lights on.
Read more or here. RELATED - Lighten Up for Earth Hour - Earth Hour: The pagan Bizzaro World “holiday” - EARTH DAY: Environmentalists’ Arrogance (video: Comedian George Carlin)

AMENDMENTS Proposed by Miami-Dade Commissioners…Ignored Voters’ Message After Historic Recall (March 24, 2011 Meeting)

COMMISSIONERS DISREGARD VOTERS AND INVENT NEW BENEFTIS FOR THEMSELVES Miami-Dade commissioners met today to supposedly respond to the wrath of the voters who are demanding fiscal responsibility and reform of county government and overwhelmingly voted last week to remove mayor Carlos Alvarez and commissioner Natacha Seijas for raising property taxes, for shenanigans with the unions, mismanagement, and other dictator-like conduct.
But the commissioners perverted the voters’ message and voted for items to benefit themselves. After almost 9 hours of ramblings debate, the 12 remaining county commissioners agreed on 6 amendments to the Miami-Dade charter (the county’s constitution) for citizens to vote on a special election set for Tuesday, May 24, 2011:
1) INCREASE SALARY & SET 12-YEAR TERM LIMIT: Increase commissioners’ base salaries from $6,000 to $92,097 a year in exchange for them not having outside employment and to set three consecutive four-year terms limits for county commissioners beginning after the 2012 election. (But each of the 13 commissioners already receives almost $1 million for their annual budgets which they use as they please — with few restrictions and no questions asked — plus $11,500 annual retirement contribution, unlimited free gas, $55,388 benefit package that includes an $800 monthly car allowance, etc. They will get great pensions and benefits for the rest of their lives…all paid by taxpayers. After all the mismanagement and abuses they want to increase their salaries and guarantee themselves 12 consecutive years as commissioners. The key word here is “consecutive.” After the first 12 years, will the commissioners run for re-election after a short resting period…securing for themselves another 12 years in power? When will it end? This sounds like lifetime dictators with vacation periods in between. Would a new pension kick in every time they temporarily retire?) 2) NO LOBBYING: Ban elected officials from lobbying the county for compensation for a period of 2 years after leaving office. (The keyword here is “compensation.” This would ban county officials from working as paid lobbyists. What happens if they get “gifts” for lobbying instead of compensation? Why only 2 years…how about 20 years after leaving office?) 3) TASK FORCE: Allow the Charter Review Task Force (an appointed board that reviews the county charter every five years) with super-majority vote (that is, approved by two thirds of the panel) to bring proposals directly to voters. (Currently only county commissioners or a difficult and expensive citizen’s petition initiative can propose amendments to voters.) 4) INSPECTOR: Put the Inspector General’s office in the county charter to supposedly bolster the office’s presence as a county watchdog and insulate it from commission intervention. (Will the commissioners appoint this “inspector”?) 5) NO STRONG MAYOR: Eliminate the strong-mayor and give back those powers to the commission. (In 2007, Miamians voted to amend the charter to put the county bureaucracy directly under the control of the executive office as a way to reduce the power of the commissioners. Now the commissioners want that power back?) 6) EASIER PETITIONS…not really Eliminate the requirement of having all signatures notarized for citizens’ ballot initiatives. (All the other onerous and ridiculous requirements imposed by the commission remain). May 24th will also be the election for a mayor and a commissioner for district 13, but the commissioners have to return on April 11th to formally schedule that vote. I hope that scheduling doesn’t take another 9-hour debate…some of us have a life to live.

UPDATE: Special Meeting of the Board of County Commission – March 24, 2011 Here are the video and agenda of the commissioners’ meeting.

HILLARY CLINTON 2007: The President Must Ask Congress for War Authority (Video, Full Transcript)

HILLARY CLINTON IN 2007: (Video mark 3:50) “In dealing with the threats posed by the Iranian regime, which has gained its expanding influence in Iraq and the region as a result of the administration’s policies, President Bush must not be allowed to act without the authority and oversight of Congress. It would be a mistake of historical proportion if the administration thought that the 2002 resolution authorizing force against Iraq was a blank check for the use of force against Iran without further congressional authorization. Nor should the President think that the 2001 resolution authorizing force after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in any way authorizes force against Iran . If the administration believes that any — any — use of force against Iran is necessary, the President must come to Congress to seek that authority.“ (Hat tip: Hapblog, WeaselZippers) FULL TRANSCRIPT OF HILLARY CLINTON’S SPEECH Via Congressional Record – Senate, February 14, 2007, Page S1935 (PDF 1 or PDF 2):
	The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York. Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks, Senator Brown of Ohio and Senator Chambliss of Georgia be recognized. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. IRANIAN THREAT Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, at this moment of challenge for our Nation, the vantage point of this august Chamber, we look onto a world filled with danger, deeply complex threats against our troops and our national interests abroad, and genuine risks to our security at home. Keeping our Nation strong and our people safe requires that we employ the best and smartest strategies available. In confronting enemies and threats we are fortunate to possess a great many assets, all of which we must wisely deploy, including our military, diplomatic, economic, and cultural assets. Our strongest asset remains the democracy that we are privileged to take part in as Members of the Senate and as representatives of our constituents. Our democratic institutions, under our Constitution, balance one another and check against excesses and concentrations of power that help us wrestle with difficult challenges in an open and forthright way. This constitutional framework is not an obstacle to pursuing our national security but the example that we should project to the world. Our democracy, with its tradition of accountable power and open debate, is America at its best. That is what we need, America at our best, as we deliberately and resolutely confront the threat posed by the Iranian regime. Make no mistake, Iran poses a threat to our allies and our interests in the region and beyond, including the United States. The Iranian President has held a conference denying the Holocaust and has issued bellicose statement after bellicose statement calling for Israel and the United States to be wiped off the map. His statements are even more disturbing and urgent when viewed in the context of the regime’s quest to acquire nuclear weapons. The regime also uses its influence and resources in the region to support terrorist elements that attack Israel. Hezbollah’s attack on Israel this summer, using Iranian weapons, clearly demonstrates Iran’s malevolent influence, even beyond its borders. We also have evidence, although it is by no means conclusive, of attacks using Iranian-supplied or manufactured weaponry against our own American soldiers. As I have long said, and will continue to say, U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal. We cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons. In dealing with this threat, as I have also said for a long time, no option can be taken off the table. But America must proceed deliberately and wisely, and we must proceed as a unified nation. The smartest and strongest policy will be one forged through the institutions of our democracy. That is the genius of our American system and our constitutional duty. We have witnessed these past 6 years, until the most recent election of a new Congress by the American people, the cost of congressional dereliction of its oversight duty–a vital role entrusted to Congress by our constituents and enshrined in and even required by our Constitution. So we are here today because the price that has been paid in blood and treasure through the rush to war in Iraq and the incompetence of its execution and managing the aftermath, in the excesses of military contracting abuses and the inadequate supply of body armor and armored vehicles on the ground, have led to a loss of confidence in this administration among our allies and the American people. Therefore, we cannot and we must not allow recent history to repeat itself. We continue to experience the consequences of unchecked Presidential action. Sunlight is the best disinfectant but this President was allowed, for too long, to commit blunder after blunder under cover of darkness provided by an allied Republican Congress. In dealing with the threats posed by the Iranian regime, which has gained its expanding influence in Iraq and the region as a result of the administration’s policies, President Bush must not be allowed to act without the authority and oversight of Congress. It would be a mistake of historical proportion if the administration thought that the 2002 resolution authorizing force against Iraq was a blank check for the use of force against Iran without further congressional authorization. Nor should the President think that the 2001 resolution authorizing force after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in any way authorizes force against Iran . If the administration believes that any–any–use of force against Iran is necessary, the President must come to Congress to seek that authority. I am deeply concerned by the recent statements coming out of the Bush administration. The administration has asserted evidence of the Iranian regime’s complicity at the highest levels for attacks within Iraq. Yet, at the same time, GEN Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, questions these assertions–in particular, the culpability and intentions of the Irani Government. In this delicate situation, while making disturbing comments, the administration has also announced it is sending a third aircraft carrier to the gulf. The President owes an ongoing consultation to this Congress and owes straight talk to the country. We have to get this right. The Congress should debate our current course, including the current silent-treatment policy toward our adversaries. I believe we can better understand how to deal with an adversary such as Iran if we have some direct contact with them. I think that can give us valuable information and better leverage to hold over the Iranian regime. And if we ever must, with congressional agreement, take drastic action, we should make clear to the world that we have exhausted every other possibility. I welcome the agreement announced yesterday between the United States and North Korea. It demonstrates the central value of using every tool in our arsenal to achieve our objectives. I only wish the administration had pursued this course 6 years ago when an agreement with North Korea was within reach. The wasted time has allowed North Korea to develop nuclear weapons in the interim. Failure to use diplomacy has damaged our national security interests. The important step forward our country has made with North Korea raises the obvious question: Why will the President refuse to have any kind of process involving Iran , as I and others have urged? The United States engaged in talks with North Korea within a multilateral process but also had ongoing bilateral discussions. We should have such a process of direct engagement with Iran as recommended by many, including the Iraq Study Group. We need friends and allies to stand with us in this long war against terrorism and extremism and to contain and alter the regimes that harbor and support those who would harm us. During the Cold War, we spoke to the Soviet Union while thousands of missiles were pointed at our cities, while its leaders threatened to bury us, while the regime sowed discord and military uprisings and actions against us and our allies. That was a smart strategy used by Republican and Democratic Presidents alike, even though it was often a difficult one. As we discuss potential evidence of Iranian complicity in supplying arms to insurgents along with the refusal to suspend their nuclear ambitions, we need to deliver a strong message to Iran that we will not stand by and tolerate this behavior. However, we need to deliver that message forcefully through direct talks. The lives of American soldiers are at risk, and we should not outsource our discussions with the Iranians on this and other issues. When I say no option should be taken off the table, I include diplomacy. Currently, our intelligence on Iran is of uncertain quality. We need to examine the facts closely and carefully. No action can or should be taken without explicit congressional authorization. And knowing what we know now, this body needs a steady stream of real, verifiable intelligence. We in the Congress cannot do our part in deciding what needs to be done if we do not know what is happening, and it does not appear that the administration has any real grasp on the facts on the ground, even after all these years. The public unclassified sections of the NIE recently issued made it very clear in their conclusions that sectarian violence would still exist in Iraq absent Iran . So we have a lot to sort out. We have all learned lessons from the conflict in Iraq, and we have to apply those lessons to any allegations that are being raised about Iran because what we are hearing has too familiar a ring, and we must be on guard that we never again make decisions on the basis of intelligence that turns out to be faulty. If we find evidence of potential Iranian complicity, we will take appropriate action, but that requires a partnership to defend and protect America’s national security interests between the Congress and the President. Oversight will also lead to a consensus approach that brings together the best judgment and strategies of our Nation and will examine the consequences of action, the reality of any perceived or alleged threat, and the consequences of taking action. I sometimes fear that the word “consequence” has been taken out of the vocabulary of this administration. We have to look over the horizon. We have to make hard choices among difficult options. So there are no easy answers to the complex situations we confront in the world today. But if we do face threats, the congressional consultation and authorization will bring the American people into the debate. Whatever steps, if any, may be required should be taken by our Nation, not just by our President. We must act as Americans, not as members of one party or another. Our Nation has been divided by a failed policy and the relentless pursuit of it. We are facing that again with the escalation policy the President is pursuing today. Mr. President, if we face up to our constitutional responsibilities as the Congress, if we conduct the oversight that is required, if we exercise our checks and balances, then we are likely to reach a better conclusion than we have thus far. We must be tough and smart, deliberative and wise, and we must look at all of our assets, not just the brave men and women who wear the uniform of our country. To implement the best policy, we should start by employing our best values: the democratic values that give strength to our Nation and our cause and that serve as an example and beacon to people who wish to live in peace and freedom and prosperity around the world. Mr. President, I yield the floor. ——