No War With Iran:

Hallo, Genossinnen und Genossen.

As you know, I've generally been a harsh critic of this administration's foreign policy as a needless continuation of Bush-era aggression, but the time has again come for me to say “Nice one, Barack”.

Obama's deal with Iran is a triumph, there are no two ways about it. The framework agreed to by both countries (no nukes (verified) in exchange for no more sanctions) will really improve things in the Middle East. We can show millions of people that the United States can negotiate in good faith, and that a country need not turn to nuclear weapons to keep the US from interfering militarily.

The Iraq war was one of the greatest mistakes this country will ever make: a war of choice, built on lies, with long running chaos and massive civilian casualties which may yet bankrupt our country both morally and financially. A war with Iran could be even worse on all of those counts, and this deal will preclude such a tragedy if Congress doesn't scuttle it.

As it stands, this will be a great opportunity to show the world that we can do business even with people we don't agree with, which will be the best thing for our future in the Middle East, our international goodwill, and containing Putin.

There's another, more personal reason for my enthusiasm here. In 2008, a majority of the electorate conclusively said “no” to war for the first time in decades, and I was proud to be a part of that movement. It was immediately ignored though- from supporting fascist coups in Venezuela and Honduras to expanding the bombing raids to ever increasing civilian deaths, there hasn't been much movement towards peacemaking for the last seven years. Now we can see our government finally catching up with that bright shining moment of reason and diplomacy- that beautiful moment in 2007-2008 when we all stood up and said- No more needless killing in our name.

Today I will be reading this at Congressman Clay's office. A resolution of censure scuttling the deal will likely pass Congress, but the Democrats can probably sustain a veto if more of them come out and support diplomacy with Iran.

Solidarität, Genossinnen und Genossen.

Genossin Elise