Michigan Republicans raise high the banner for peace/sanity in the Middle East
Letters to Congressman Trott from Dennis Marburger and David Lonier

Earlier in the week I received a note from my 14th District Congressman and Home Foreclosure King, David Trott, that he had “heard the people” at his recent town hall calling for an aggressive approach against Iran.[1] Which I take to mean to launch a war of conquest and aggression against Iran to satisfy the Israeli military and foreign policy establishment that runs Washington… and works seamlessly with the US neocon homeys of both parties for aggressive crimes against humanity. I, of course, as a radical libertarian preferring a Ron Paul Freedom Philosophy noninterventionist — and certainly NOT a continuation of the ‘Greater Israel Project‘ — policy… demurred. Indeed, I sent a note to Messrs. Marburger and Lonier expressing my hope that someone would step up and make a strong statement against these lunatic-fringe War Partiers who never seem to get the message.

Thankfully, both Dennis and David had presumably already launched solid responses. Dennis’s responses have been ongoing to officials in the Lakes Area Tea Party (Oakland County, Michigan) and on the Group’s Facebook incarnation. So I’ll just condense the main ones and let the reader follow up on other channels. I’ll follow with Dave Lonier’s excellent rebuttal email to the Trott insider warmongering mailing to his district.

Note the visuals and verbiage above are solely my own. — Brian Wright, Proprietor

Dennis Marburger: The Whole Story

Good afternoon, Congressman Trott.  Thank you for the time to speak with you and the other folks attending the Town Hall at Mr. Fisher’s Building last week. It was interesting to hear the various viewpoints of the attendees. Here’s some additional information that provides, as Paul Harvey would says “the rest of the story” regarding the Iran nuclear deal.

1) No, Iran is not allowed to inspect itself.

http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/251660-no-iran-is-not-allowed-to-inspect-itself

“…what’s being said and published in some quarters about how the Iran nuclear deal would be implemented has now spun out of control. A disinformation milestone was achieved in early August when opponents charged that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—responsible for verification under the Iran agreement—is making “secret side deals” with Iran. This was followed last week by wholly specious claims that the IAEA will put Iran in charge of an ongoing investigation of allegations that Iran conducted nuclear weapons-related work at a military base at Parchin.

Iran is a non-nuclear weapon state party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and, consequently, it has a so-called safeguards agreement with the IAEA. That agreement commits Iran to declare all its nuclear material and activities to the IAEA. The IAEA is required to verify that Iran’s declarations are correct and complete. In doing so, it is also required to protect the confidentiality of Iran’s data about its nuclear program….contrary to allegations printed beginning on August 19, Iran will not be allowed to inspect itself.

The IAEA’s standard procedures for obtaining and handling information from the field were developed to permit the IAEA to make unbiased and objective safeguards judgments. While IAEA inspectors are subject to some limitations, these will not prevent the IAEA from drawing independent conclusions which are free of manipulation or obfuscation. On the basis of what has been made known so far, there is no reason to suspect that the IAEA’s conclusions about Iran won’t be sound.”

2. How the AP Got the Iran Inspections Story Wrong

http://warontherocks.com/2015/08/how-the-ap-got-the-iran-inspections-story-wrong/
Last week’s Associated Press story on nuclear inspections of an Iranian military facility left out key details on how inspections work, creating a misleading picture and introducing new controversy into the already heated debate on the Iran deal.

3. “Manufactured Crisis”

By Gareth Porter: Must Read Refutation Of The War Party’s Lies About Iran’s Nukes
By Russ Wellen – http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/manufactured-crisis-by-gareth-porter-must-read-refutation-of-the-war-partys-lies-about-irans-nukes/

4. Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare
–   By Andrew Cockburn

http://harpers.org/blog/2014/05/manufactured-crisis-the-untold-story-of-the-iran-nuclear-scare/

5. Despite Deal, US Officials Still Talk Up Attacking Iran

USA Today Cites Military Planners Talking ‘Comprehensive Attack’

http://news.antiwar.com/2015/08/23/despite-deal-us-officials-still-talk-up-attacking-iran/

“…while the article treated this as pushing back Iran’s non-existent weapons program by two years, analysts and even some officials have warned that nothing would convince Iran of the need to have an active nuclear weapons program so much as a US attack on them.

It would also be a war crime of the highest order, as since Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapons program, a fact the US intelligence community has repeatedly attested to, means that attacking Iran’s nuclear program would mean attacking openly civilian infrastructure, things like power plants and the medical isotope reactor, simply to damage their infrastructure.”

Every American military intelligence agency agrees that Iran has not had an active nuclear weapons program, since at least 2003. This unanimous conclusion was first published in the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate. The unanimous NIE has been reiterated numerous times. According to the NPT, all signatories, including Iran, have the inalienable treaty right to a civilian nuclear program. The confirmation of their nuclear program’s civilian status by our own military intelligence people means that the USA is violating the NPT as we speak. Iran has proposed a nuclear-weapons free Middle East and is currently the leading state sponsor of opposition to the Sunni jihadist terror of ISIS, Al Nusra and Al Qaeda, by the way.

President Reagan negotiated with the Soviets, who had actual nuclear weapons and had invaded and conquered numerous countries, unlike the Iranians. He advocated “Trust but Verify”. At a time when many of the same well-financed political pressure groups that have gotten us entangled in so many disastrous interventions overseas are dissembling about the Iran nuclear deal, it is imperative that we challenge their misinformation. Americans of all generations, as well as people overseas, need us to put aside the reflexive politically-motivated opposition to this deal which has been endorsed by 36 retired American Generals and Admirals, numerous Israeli security and scientific experts, British Prime Minister David Cameron and other responsible people.

There’s a lot more info to share about this. I look forward to discussing and reviewing the information regarding this critical issue at your convenience, if you are interested.

All the best,

Dennis Marburger

David Lonier: What attitude to assume?

Dear Mr. Trott,

Your quote: “This misguided deal is built on the premise that if we are just nice to Iran they will suddenly join the world community and be a trusted partner. “

Exactly what attitude should we assume when dealing with any sovereign foreign country?

Is it better to be nasty and threaten to bomb them into the stone age as we have done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Syria, The Balkan nations, & Viet Nam, than to be nice and treat them with respect as we would expect them to treat us ?

Are any of these nations better off because of our military intervention in their affairs?

How well has our current aggressive military foreign policy served our nation and our people?

Have we not created a brigade of terrorists worldwide that want nothing more than to get even for all the carnage we have caused?

Are we not being overrun by illegal immigrants living off the massive debt created by the creation of fake money out of thin air? Are not some of these free-passage immigrants terrorists hell-bent on getting even?

Are we not the biggest debtor nation in the world?

Have not millions of good middle class workers been displaced by our lop-sided foreign trade agreements causing a complete collapse of American production and commercial innovation?

Has not our current foreign policy proven a complete disaster?

Would it not be wise to consider establishing friendly relations and a non-interventionist policy of mutual respect in our relationship with other nations of the world?

Would it not be better to educate your war-mongering constituents on the value of peace and prosperity over war and certain poverty.

I suggest at least trying the former by supporting any and all nuclear arms agreements between the U.S. and other sovereign nations of the world.

Respectfully,

David Lonier

[1] From David Trott’s 8/23/15 email to constituents: “On Wednesday, I hosted a special town hall meeting in Bloomfield Hills regarding the Obama Administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. As I’ve said since day one, this deal is a dangerous gamble that puts America and our allies in grave danger. The message I heard from people at the town hall was loud and clear–making major concessions to Iran in exchange for nothing but a slowdown in their nuclear program is a historic mistake. This misguided deal is built on the premise that if we are just nice to Iran they will suddenly join the world community and be a trusted partner. What I’ve heard in Southeast Michigan is that the American people don’t trust Iran and they don’t trust this deal.”

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