"Without naming George W. Bush, the President contrasted his own use of diplomacy with Bush's rush to war, noting that the Iraq adventure cost nearly a trillion dollars, took thousands of American lives, and left Iraq ripped apart by sectarian violence.
"Obama condemned the 'knee-jerk partisanship' in Washington, which renders every decision made to be a disaster, a surrender. 'You're aiding terrorists! You're damaging freedom!' He also went after lobbyists and pundits who had suddenly become 'arm-chair nuclear scientists.'"
California Republican Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, introduced language for the resolution of disapproval Tuesday.
"'The agreement gives Iran permanent sanctions relief, but in exchange only temporarily restrains Iran's nuclear program,' Royce said. 'If this agreement goes through, Iran gets a cash bonanza, a boost to its international standing, and a lighted path toward nuclear weapons.' The United States will be less able to challenge Iran 'across the board,' he said. 'As Iran grows stronger, we will be weaker to respond.'"
Among American Jews, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is lobbying hard against the agreement. The more liberal JStreet has supported it.
Democratic Jewish members of the House are especially important to the White House as it works to obtain a needed vote total to sustain an Obama veto.
Robin Wright reports on a setback for the White House, in which, "three Jewish Democrats -- Representatives Nita Lowey and Steve Israel, of New York, and Ted Deutch, of Florida -- announced Tuesday that they will vote against the deal.
"Lowey is the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. Deutch is the senior Democrat on the House Middle East subcommittee."
The only international opposition to the agreement is, of course, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, usually touted as "America's closest ally in the Middle East."
In a Webcast address to American Jewish organizations (and anyone else who turned in) on Tuesday, Netanyahu made his case that the deal "would give Iran two paths to a bomb: either by keeping to the terms of the deal over its limited time period -- after which it will be a "threshold nuclear-weapons power" -- or by violating it outright."
Playing his usual fear card, Netanyahu told his American Webcast audience, as he will no doubt tell his two congressional delegations who are, or will be, in Israel for their educational tour: "As a result of this deal, there will be more terrorism, there will be more attacks, and more people will die," Netanyahu warned.
To counter this fear campaign by Netanyahu, Robin Wright adds that in his speech:
"Obama ticked through the main arguments against the deal. To cheat, Iran would have to build a massive covert operation and many covert facilities. 'No nation in history has been able to pull off such subterfuge when subjected to such rigorous inspections,' he said.
"The prohibition against making a bomb is permanent -- not limited to any of the ten-to-twenty-five-year time frames for various aspects of a program. U.N. inspectors will be allowed daily access to nuclear sites, as well as the right to look at suspicious undeclared sites. 'This access can be with as little as twenty-four hours' notice,' Obama said. 'And while the process for resolving a dispute about access can take up to twenty-four days, once we've identified a site that raises suspicion, we will be watching it continuously until inspectors get in.'
"He argued that proposals to walk away from the deal and either maintain sanctions or try to get better terms were 'selling a fantasy.'"
Obama again "invoked Kennedy" when he appealed to Americans to contact their representatives in Congress during the final weeks of debate. Also in his speech, Obama said:
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