My talk with Senator Patty Murray

Recently I was able to meet with Senator Patty Murray on-campus as she came by to do a press conference and incidentally happened to talk to a few of us there.

I introduced myself as a student senator and I said that many students were growing concerned about the increasing sabre rattling towards Iran and what seems to be preparations for an attack. I told her it that's why we in the ASUW Senate passed a resolution -- R-13-22 -- opposing such a war and I was able to hand it to her, which she seemed interested to take.

While I was trying to convey my feelings that Bush and Cheney could and would indeed attack Iran, I urged the Senator to make a public statement akin to the one that Senator Obama recently made in Clinton Ohio:

We hear eerie echoes of the run-up to the war in Iraq in the way that the President and Vice President talk about Iran. They conflate Iran and al Qaeda. They issue veiled threats. They suggest that the time for diplomacy and pressure is running out when we haven't even tried direct diplomacy. Well George Bush and Dick Cheney must hear - loud and clear - from the American people and the Congress: you don't have our support, and you don't have our authorization for another war.

This is the first speech I have heard any of the Democratic front runners unequivocally state that the president doesn't have the authorization for a strike on Iran. I would imagine does not sit well with AIPAC and the other Likud oriented lobbying groups, very powerful entities who "hope and pray" that George Bush attacks Iran, as one commentator put it.

Senator Murray quickly and confidently assured me that the president would have to come back to Congress for another resolution before an attack, adding that the Congress has grown increasingly “cynical towards this administration” and their assertions of power.

We should remember that Senator Murray initially voted against the war, an action that certainly took courage, given the atmosphere at the time.

I then pressed further and said that according to professor Barnett Rubin and other respected Middle East specialists, under the Cheney-Addington interpretation of the Constitution, the administration would not need to come back to Congress before an attack.

Such an attack, if the State Dept were to designate the Revolutionary Guard of Iran a "terrorist organization" formally, would fall under the original Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001, which gave the president authority to attack to not only terrorist organizations themselves, but “those who harbor terrorists.”

Senator Murray responded to me, "we won't let that happen."

You will have to forgive me if her sentiment is not entirely convincing.

The Senator might very well be sincere in her opposition to an attack on Iran. But words alone without actions will not prevent said attack.

Some of Senator Murray's colleagues have indeed put forward such actions. Senator Jim Webb tried to insert language in a war supplemental that would've prohibited funding for an attack on Iran without congressional approval, with exceptions for emergencies.

But due to lobbying pressure from the aforementioned groups, the language was removed by leadership, leaving the president a carte blanche for an attack.

Compounding those facts, recent developments are even more worrying.

In a report titled "US Officials Began Crafting Iran Bombing Plan," James Rosen reports that, “… according to a well-placed Bush administration source, ‘everyone in town’ is now participating in a broad discussion about the costs and benefits of military action against Iran, with the likely timeframe for any such course of action being over the next eight to 10 months…”

Unfortunately I was not able to finish my conversation with her. Senator Murray politely wrapped up our conversation and proceeded with the press conference. Afterwards, she took a few moments to shake all of our hands and thank us for coming and when it came to my turn, she said "thank you and I'll remember what you said."

Later I was able to give her aide Francis a copy of the Rosen article and urged her to take a look at it. As to what happens now, I guess we all just keep working at it. This brings to mind an appropriate quote by Danillo Dolci,

It’s senseless to speak of optimism or
pessimism. The only important thing is to know that if one
works well in a potato field, the potatoes will grow. If one
works well among men, they will grow—that’s reality. The rest is smoke. It’s important to know that words don’t move mountains. Work, exacting work, moves mountains.