This page was last updated on August 26, 2015.
U.S. cannot kowtow to demands of Israel; Elizabeth “Betty” Asche Douglas; Beaver County Times; August 15, 2015.
Mrs. Douglas is a local artist and, according to previous letters, “is a retired Geneva College professor.” Previous letters from Mrs. Douglas are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“My immediate response to the position being taken by U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus in favor of Israel’s rejection of the six-nation agreement with Iran is that he is extremely misguided.”
[RWC] Though Mrs. Douglas focuses on Israel, not one Middle East country wants Iran to have nuclear weapons.
“He speaks as if the U.S. alone is somehow selling Israel out. The U.S. must act in accord with what is best for the entire Middle East and the world at large, not just to kowtow to Israel. After all, Israel has the bomb already. Why should Iran be disallowed to make use of the nuclear technology that is a common component of 21st century energy resources?”
[RWC] Mrs. Douglas appears to believe it’s OK for Iran to have nukes because Israel does. I’m not a fan of Israel, but it’s hard to look at Iran and Israel as equivalents. Israel has proven during its 67 years of existence it wants to live in freedom and peace and poses no threat to its neighbors unless attacked. Despite this, Israel has been under attack the whole time, from within and without. Iranian officials openly and repeatedly say Iran’s goal is the destruction of Israel. Given Israel’s small size, it would take only one or two nukes to wipe it out. During the Cold War, neither communist nor free countries had a death wish. That’s why the concept of mutually assured destruction “worked.” It’s unknown if MAD applies to Iran. Iranian officials look at destroying Israel as a religious imperative and likely consider death by retaliation to be martyrdom and a guaranteed place of honor in their idea of heaven.
Does Mrs. Douglas really think this is about “a common component of 21st century energy resources” and not about nuclear weapons? According to the EIA, as of 2014 “Iran holds the world’s fourth-largest proved crude oil reserves and the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves.” With that much domestic energy, why build very expensive nuclear power plants if not for nuclear weapon development? Please don’t tell me it’s because Iran wants to minimize its effect on manmade global warming.
“Supporting Israel doesn’t mean yielding to its every self-serving stance. Iran has as much reason to distrust the U.S. as America has to be wary of it. After all, the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Rezi Pahlavi and his father, the ruling shah before him, in repressive governance of the Iranian people for decades before the 1979 revolution.”
[RWC] I’m not sure if Mrs. Douglas noticed, but Iran still employs “repressive governance of the Iranian people.”
“As the U.S. holds itself up as a democratic model for the world to follow, let us be just in our decisions and alliances.”
Whether we sign the agreement or not, we’d be nuts to believe Iran will stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran’s leadership wants nuclear weapons and nothing will keep it from that goal. Let’s hope we don’t have to learn the hard way the lesson learned by Neville Chamberlain and Joseph Stalin about 75 years ago.
As for state-sponsored anti-American demonstrations, “I [Sec. of State John Kerry] also told them that their chants of Death to America and so forth are neither helpful, and they’re pretty stupid.” I don’t know about Mr. Kerry, but when an enemy says he wants you dead, over and over, I’d believe him.
Now let’s take a look at excerpts of comments made on the BCT website.
carldavidson posted at 8:01 am on Mon, Aug 17, 2015.
“As for myself, I’d like to see them [nuclear weapons] gotten rid of everywhere, and one good place to start is here. That’s [sic] would at least give us some moral high ground when it comes to lecturing others.”
[RWC] As KD, I’d rather nukes not exist, but that genie’s not going back in its bottle. Though KD wrote “one good place to start is here” for getting rid of nukes, he knows that’s a ridiculous position. That’s what someone can write to impress his followers when he knows he will never have the responsibility to make that decision himself and deal with the consequences.
Zippy posted at 12:39 pm on Mon, Aug 17, 2015.
“Maybe a better question is why Keith Rothfus is trolling around Israel. No work to do in his district? I’m not worried about the Mideast as much as I’m wondering why our turnpike exit is the worst developed in the state, why we are paying $3.40 to drive one way to New Castle on I-376, why economic development in the county is non-existent...”
[RWC] Despite the PA Turnpike’s designation as I-76, the PA Turnpike Commission owns and maintains the Turnpike. The same is true for the tolled section of I-376 [from Exit 15 (U.S. 422, Union Township, Lawrence County) to Exit 31 (PA 51, Chippewa Township, Beaver County)]. Why should a U.S. rep be involved with state-owned highways? I don’t know if Rep. Rothfus is doing anything regarding these roads or development along them, but he should stop if he is.
Since he isn’t on any foreign relations committees, I don’t know why Mr. Rothfus was in Israel. Israel Allies Foundation organized the trip. Another delegation (organized by AIPAC) of GOP reps visited Israel at the same time but Mr. Rothfus was not part of that group. I posted a question about this on Mr. Rothfus’ Facebook page but received no reply as of 8/26/15.
jackson4570 posted at 2:17 pm on Mon, Aug 17, 2015.
“He’s in Israel to show AIPAC and the Israeli government that the campaign funds he receives from AIPAC are well spent and he pledges his unwavering support for Israel even if it means putting them first over the interests of the United States. Also it would be irresponsible of the Iranian leadership not to defend their country with every weapon possible for them to attain considering the armament of the nations who have constantly involved themselves in their affairs , supplied weapons of mass destruction to be used against them , committed sabotage and acts of war against them. This agreement allows them to shelve their nuclear armament program for now hoping it will pull the rug out from the interests who want war and regime change whether they actually had a bomb program or not.and allow them in the future to start up a nuclear program to defend themselves.if the threat continues. The Israelis introduced nuclear weapons to the middle east despite their overwhelming military superiority which has been demonstrated many times. Their nuclear arsenal must also be dissolved if we truly expect the Iranians to abide by this agreement.”
[RWC] AIPAC is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group. According to Wikipedia, “The group does not raise funds for political candidates itself, but helps organize to channel money to candidates.” This means there’s no way to know if AIPAC helped channel contributions from pro-Israel PACs or other groups to Mr. Rothfus’ campaign. As noted above, when Mr. Rothfus visited Israel, he was not with the AIPAC group.
Does this gal/guy really believe Iran will stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons? As I wrote above, when an enemy says he wants you dead, over and over, I’d believe him.
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