Anti Federalist
03-11-2010, 10:44 PM
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Washington’s strongest pro-Israel lobby, circulated a letter through Congress late Tuesday pressing for more vigorous implementation of sanctions laws involving Iran. The move came after Ingersoll-Rand PLC said it has barred its subsidiaries from selling products to customers in Iran – part of an accelerating trend among major Western companies to reduce their business exposure to Iran.
Here is the text of the letter AIPAC sent to Congress:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/03/09/aipac-letter-to-congress-members/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ. com%3A+Washington+Wire%29
Dear Congressman XXXX,
We are writing to every member of Congress to express outrage at the U.S. government’s continuing relationship with dozens of companies doing business with Iran. These ongoing financial dealings undermine longstanding American efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.
As the New York Times reported on Sunday, the federal government during the past decade has awarded $107 billion in contracts and grants to more than 70 companies that are doing business in Iran. More than two-thirds of these contracts have gone to companies involved in Iran’s energy industry despite American law to discourage such involvement.
The time has long since passed this policy to change. Unfortunately, as the Times points out, three successive American administrations have failed to enforce the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, which mandates U.S. sanctions on firms investing more than $20 million in Iran’s energy sector. While Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama may have discouraged some investment in Iran through their rhetoric, the United States has sent the American and international business community a contradictory message by failing to enforce the law.
Despite publicly acknowledged investments by several companies of hundreds of millions of dollars in Iran’s energy sector, the U.S. Government has inexplicably failed to make even one determination of an investment of $20 million during the course of the past decade. Yet, throughout this entire time, Iran has pursued a nuclear weapons capability, flouting its international obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and presenting the international community with a growing, and now urgent, threat.
As Iran continues to reject U.S.-European engagement efforts and to defy U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring that it halt its illicit uranium enrichment efforts, the United States must take action now.
We call on Congress to:
1. Investigate why successive administrations have failed to implement the law by failing to determine what companies have invested in the Iranian energy sector;
(AIPAC can demand an investigation into events almost 20 years old, but American citizens are "kooks" to demand one concerning a nation changing event less than ten years ago - AF)
2. Enact—without delay—the Iran sanctions legislation currently before Congress, which, inter alia, contains provisions barring federal contracts to companies which are investing in Iran’s energy sector or providing sensitive technology, and their parents or subsidiaries who are engaged in such activity;
3. Demand that the U.S. Government enforce existing sanctions law and impose crippling new sanctions on Iran.
(Who they fuck are they to demand anything, eh? Lobbyists of a foreign government demanding things be done on their behalf? The fuckin' nerve. - AF)
In addition to these actions, we hope you will join with us in urging the administration to impose tough new multilateral sanctions with like-minded states without delay while continuing to pursue the widest possible sanctions through the U.N. Security Council.
Sincerely,
David Victor
President
Howard Kohr
Executive Director
Here is the text of the letter AIPAC sent to Congress:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/03/09/aipac-letter-to-congress-members/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ. com%3A+Washington+Wire%29
Dear Congressman XXXX,
We are writing to every member of Congress to express outrage at the U.S. government’s continuing relationship with dozens of companies doing business with Iran. These ongoing financial dealings undermine longstanding American efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.
As the New York Times reported on Sunday, the federal government during the past decade has awarded $107 billion in contracts and grants to more than 70 companies that are doing business in Iran. More than two-thirds of these contracts have gone to companies involved in Iran’s energy industry despite American law to discourage such involvement.
The time has long since passed this policy to change. Unfortunately, as the Times points out, three successive American administrations have failed to enforce the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, which mandates U.S. sanctions on firms investing more than $20 million in Iran’s energy sector. While Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama may have discouraged some investment in Iran through their rhetoric, the United States has sent the American and international business community a contradictory message by failing to enforce the law.
Despite publicly acknowledged investments by several companies of hundreds of millions of dollars in Iran’s energy sector, the U.S. Government has inexplicably failed to make even one determination of an investment of $20 million during the course of the past decade. Yet, throughout this entire time, Iran has pursued a nuclear weapons capability, flouting its international obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and presenting the international community with a growing, and now urgent, threat.
As Iran continues to reject U.S.-European engagement efforts and to defy U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring that it halt its illicit uranium enrichment efforts, the United States must take action now.
We call on Congress to:
1. Investigate why successive administrations have failed to implement the law by failing to determine what companies have invested in the Iranian energy sector;
(AIPAC can demand an investigation into events almost 20 years old, but American citizens are "kooks" to demand one concerning a nation changing event less than ten years ago - AF)
2. Enact—without delay—the Iran sanctions legislation currently before Congress, which, inter alia, contains provisions barring federal contracts to companies which are investing in Iran’s energy sector or providing sensitive technology, and their parents or subsidiaries who are engaged in such activity;
3. Demand that the U.S. Government enforce existing sanctions law and impose crippling new sanctions on Iran.
(Who they fuck are they to demand anything, eh? Lobbyists of a foreign government demanding things be done on their behalf? The fuckin' nerve. - AF)
In addition to these actions, we hope you will join with us in urging the administration to impose tough new multilateral sanctions with like-minded states without delay while continuing to pursue the widest possible sanctions through the U.N. Security Council.
Sincerely,
David Victor
President
Howard Kohr
Executive Director