Dick Morris has an interesting column endorsing the Dodd-Lantos bill "mandating economic sanctions on any foreign company that aids Iran’s energy industry." Domestic businesses already operate under such rules.
This Democratic bill, cosponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.) and Rep. Tom Lantos (Calif.), is a bold piece of legislation that strikes at the core of Iranian vulnerability.
And, in a singular act of courage and dedication to principle, Republican presidential candidate Congressman Duncan Hunter (Calif.) has added his name to the legislation as a cosponsor. Hunter’s action is particularly admirable since the bill is designed to force the Bush administration to impose sanctions passed in the 1990s but disregarded by both presidents, Clinton and Bush, ever since.
The Dodd-Lantos bill would omit the national security waiver Clinton used twice to stop the sanctions from taking effect. The waiver was inserted at the insistence of then-National Security Advisor Sandy Berger (before he started stealing documents in his socks). For his part, President Bush has not even waived the law, he just hasn’t applied it at all.
The original sanctions legislation provided a variety of punishments that the president had to impose on foreign companies that invest in Iran’s oil and gas industries. These ranged from barring their participation in underwriting Treasury issues to prohibiting them from receiving export-import financing, as well as certain government contracts. The sanctions were so effective that they triggered howls of outrage from European governments that objected to what they called "extraterritorial" assertions of American power...
But as Dodd, Lantos, and Hunter all realize, once the president and the secretary of state are stripped of the ability to waive the sanctions, they become a potent tool to stop European companies like Royal Dutch Shell, BNP, Total and Repsol from helping Iran tap its massive oil and gas reserves. The Bush administration people can plead that Congress is forcing their hand and foreign governments would just have to live with the consequences. Like the old Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which forced presidents to deal harshly with the Soviet Union as long as it barred Jewish emigration, the Dodd-Lantos bill would be a very effective tool in bringing Iran to heel.
Morris points out that Iran is quite susceptible to such sanctions, given its utter dependence on its oil industry. Plus, passage of this bill would give Democrats at least a fig leave of credibility that they are serious about stopping Iranian nuclear activity.
Unfortunately, the Democrats are discovering how difficult governing can be. Even though both the House and Senate passed cut-and-run legislation, the legislation doesn't look the same, and to reconcile the two bills will lose significant support regardless of which way the bill ends up. Democrats have little to show for their first 100 days, and it is doubtful that taking such a brazen step to force Iran off the nuclear track will be embraced by the Dems. It would be a nice surprise, though.
Cross-posted at Common Sense Political Thought.
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