House Republicans Endorse Israeli Military Action On Iran

Expressing support for the State of Israel's right to defend Israeli sovereignty, to protect the lives and safety of the Israeli people, and to use all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the use of military force if no other peaceful solution can be found within reasonable time to protect against such an immediate and existential threat to the State of Israel.
House Resolution 271 via GovTrack

The Resolution was apparently first unveiled late last week before being introduced just yesterday by Texas Republican Louie Gohmert with 44 co-sponsors, all Republicans.

According to Foreign Policy Magazine, Resolution 271 may also be unprecedented:

Congress has never endorsed pre-emptive military strikes by a foreign country. What's more, this is the minority party signaling to Israel that they can count on Republican support should the President object to Israeli strikes on Iran -- as did George W. Bush in 2008. The resolution also explicitly endorses "any means necessary", a carte blanche for the use of nuclear bunker-busting bombs.

Under the headline The Republican back door to war with Iran, the magazine goes on to claim that the bill is an attempt to bypass Obama and go to war with Iran--and that sets the tone for the rest of the piece. Only at the end of the article do we find out that Jamal Abdi, who wrote the article, is the Policy Director at the National Iranian American Council.

In another article, one he wrote for niacInsight, Abdi writes that even the Mossad opposes the idea of bombing Iran:

At a time when former Mossad chiefs are saying bombing Iran would be “a stupid idea” and the Defense Minister is attempting to dial back hysteria and free Israel from its bomb Iran bluff, House Republicans seeking to look tough on Iran are prodding Israel in the other direction.

More likely, the bill is just a show of support for Israel.

Technorati Tag: Iran.