Is the White House Right that More Iran Sanctions put US on “Path to War?”

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http://www.juancole.com/2013/11/house-right-sanctions.html

Is the White House Right that More Iran Sanctions put US on “Path to War?”
Posted on 11/13/2013
by Juan Cole

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday warned the US Congress that imposing further sanctions on Iran at this juncture, just when negotiations have begun with Tehran, would be tantamount to a “march to war.”

Carney’s reasoning is that further sanctions now would strengthen the hard liners in the Revolutionary Guards and around Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who are opposed to negotiating at all. If the current round of talks fails, in turn, Carney suggested, President Obama would have no tool to stop Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities save military intervention, i.e. the US would be forced to go to war with Iran.

It is an outrageous and bizarre argument, which could only make sense through the looking glass inside the Beltway.

Even Israeli cabinet members have admitted that Iran has no active nuclear weapons program. There is no casus belli or legitimate cause for war between the United States and Iran. Not to mention how invidious the Washington rhetoric is. Israel, Pakistan and India all refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and went for broke to construct nuclear warheads. The US backs Israel’s bomb-making to the hilt. It never sanctioned India. And it has long since made peace with Pakistan’s, recently renewing billions in foreign aid to that country. So why is Iran different? Because it talks dirty about the US?