An editorial to Kevin Foley of the MDJ by John Morgan (Reprinted by permission of author)
Kevin:
I am gravely . [This is the topic. But first let me tell you how much I appreciate your speaking up, your candor, well-supported editorials, even if it seems as though you are a ‘voice crying in the wilderness’ around here! I sat next to you last year at a monthly E.Cobb Demo Assoc. dinner meeting, and enjoyed our chat before you spoke to our little group….Now to the topic]
Aren’t there even a handful of GOP ‘statesmen’ left who respect the office of the President, even if he is of the other party…one elected by a majority of Americans in the last election? One thing we elected him to do was to negotiate treaties, including the Iranian arms reduction, which he/his administration has been attempting to do for some months now–since 2013, if memory serves me correctly, i.e., before the mid-term election, when control of the Senate changed from Democratic to a GOP majority. He has adroitly taken advantage of the moment now with a more moderate Iranian leader recently elected, who has many reasons to come to the table–obviously the plunging price of oil, sanctions, shared opposition to ISIS, etc.–but also the fact that his people by and large are friendly towards the U.S. (affirmed often by my Iranian friends, barber, etc.), that he is interested in warmer relations with the West (U.S. in particular): he has proved the latter by selecting moderates–educated in the U.S.–to his negotiating team. And now he, and we, have appointed top nuclear specialists to work out the technical details. This is about as transparent as nations can get in sincere negotiations. This is a unique moment of supreme opportunity, with 7 key powers at the table–U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and Iran. Thus, not only does our country have much at stake, but so do these others in the negotiations/outcome.
Now comes the letter from 47 GOP Senators not (internal) to the President, nor the Secretary of State, nor to any of our ally nations, nor even to the negotiators, but to the alien leader–‘our enemy’ as that same party has often (recently) called Iran…certainly regarded as such by Mr. Netanyahu. Think about this: a letter from members of our Congress to an alien/’enemy’ of our country during highly sensitive negotiations designed to avert war/aggression against Israel and ultimately us, a letter whose purpose is to persuade Iran to go against/to scuttle the efforts at peace by our U.S. President/administration!! To me that is TREASON. Why doesn’t anyone recognize it for what it is…negotiating with the enemy against a U.S. President’s attempts at peace, to avert war…is nothing short of TREASON. Sure, the Constitution says “He(the President) shall have Power–by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate–to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur.” I have no doubt there have been consultations with Senators, certainly at the beginning in 2013, when the stage was set. And who knows more about the mind of the Senate than Secretary of State John Kerry, a former senator, who has strong support of the GOP in the Senate, who confirmed him? Once the treaty is done, THEN the senators can examine the agreement ad infinitum, debate it, slam it all they want to–that’s their constitutional prerogative–but NOT undermine our governmental envoys (and those of 6 other countries) in highly sensitive negotiations. Wait til the document is finished. What they examine in its entirety, they might even like…or a majority, might feel (like the President) this is the best deal possible.
Again, for the moment I have nothing but disgust for these short-sighted partisans in the Senate–quite undeserving of the term ‘statesmen’–who not only subverted protocol to disgrace the office of president by ignoring President Obama to invite a foreign leader, an ally even, to address both houses of Congress–normally a presidential prerogative; but now they have the audacity to negotiate, even cuddle with an alien/’enemy’ against our President. Call it what you like, but THIS IS TREASON! These senators should be removed from office, or at least sanctioned. Please let me know how to start the process.
A retired Caucasian Male senior, one of the majority who supports our President.
[Kevin, I strongly feel this way, and my impatience/anger has been growing; it’s time for me, for us to speak out. Internal debate, disagreement is one thing, but going outside our country to potential enemies this way is onerous and treasonous; it is beyond even partisan politics. It undermines our republic. Please let me know what is the next step. Are there others in major news networks who’ll take this up…if they’ll recognize your influence, so much the better…whichever is the most effective way!] John Morgan, Retired
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