In case you happen to live in a van down by the river, you may be unaware that a rookie senator to the United States Congress tried to sabotage the P5+1 talks with Iran. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, with just over 60 days under his belt as a Congressman, wrote a letter to the leaders of Iran with the intent to blow a hole in the NUCLEAR armament negotiations. Yes, he tried to undermine the leaders of the free world's FREAKING NUCLEAR TALKS! It is unbelievable. This unprecedented act goes against 200 years of American political precedent. What's more, Sen. Cotton is a former veteran. If anyone should understand the chain of command, it's a former soldier. If anyone should understand the political process, it's a sitting senator; much less 47 sitting senators.
Since President Barack Obama was elected, the GOP has had Obama on the brain. The republican donors and its leadership has dedicated itself to trying to make his presidency a failure, at the expense of the people, the economy, and finally the security of the nation. That's right, the GOP have decided that even if it means the downfall of this great union; they want the President to fail. We've seen the rise of the ugliest parts of the conservative body. The acolytes of destruction have tried to deny healthcare to the poor and the sick. They have gutted the Voting Rights Act. They shut the government down to the tune of $2 billion dollars, by some estimates. They nearly defaulted the US on its debt, which would have had economic shock waves that would have reverberated around the world. Now they toy with nuclear talks, that if proven a failure, could launch us down a path to an ugly nuclear winter. Some have called it stupid, dumb, or misguided; and indeed it is all those things. More importantly, I feel, it is illegal and should be prosecuted. Here's the top 3 reasons why:
Since Sen. Cotton and his band of traitors sent the Iran Letter, the GOP has launched a barrage of political propaganda commandos to play down it's impact. Fox 'News' has been working overtime to provide political cover and propagandists like Bill Krystal have crawled out of every crack and crevice with a new spin. Many would have you believe that whatever your opinion of the letter, it is not illegal. WRONG. The gist of the letter, addressed to the leaders of Iran, warns them to not make a deal with President Obama because he does not have the constitutional authority to make a binding agreement unless congress ratifies it. Furthermore, he goes on to proclaim that Congress would not uphold it.
Let's unpack it a bit. First of all, he's wrong on the Constitution. As far back as the 1800s, Congress has recognized that the President is the "sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations". This is well recognized doctrine and has been relied upon by many Presidents, not just Obama. This means the President has the inherent power and authority to meet with other world leaders such as the P5+1 and make executive agreements that the nation is indeed bound to honor; without the Congressional ratification of the treaty process. Second of all, the Logan Act expressly forbids bypassing the President and communicating with leaders of foreign nations in an attempt to subvert his authority to negotiate for the benefit of the country. This is exactly what Cotton did. The letter is addressed to the leaders of Iran, and indeed a response came from both the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the emissary of President Hassan Rouhani. Thus, he is in violation of the Logan Act and must be prosecuted.
2. Treason, Sedition, & Mutiny.
U.S. legal code is fairly specific on the definition of Treason. "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. " Oddly, the GOP crazy caucus has attributed treason to Obama for a lot less than Tehran Tom's letter. If the purpose of Cotton's letter was not to give aid or negotiating comfort to Iran, what was it? It literally was giving advice to the top Iranian leaders on how they should not trust our President but perhaps deal with Congress instead. That is obviously ludicrous, but also treasonous.
Sedition is equally straight forward in U.S. legal code. "If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both." Notice the words, 'by force' appears quite a bit. So for all the intent to undermine the POTUS, there is not indication the Tehran Tom conspired to use force, so he may not be guilty of sedition. One could debate the Sedition Act of 1918 but I believe that only applies during times of war. I could bore you with a debate on Iran being named a Terrorist state in 1984 and Bush declaring war on Terror in 2001, but let's move on.
Mutiny was recently introduced by retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton. He literally took Cotton to school on why his letter was mutinous. The legality of mutiny is found mostly under Title 10 of U.S. legal code, and unfortunately, this seems to only apply to military servicemen. If Cotton were still a member of U.S. armed forces he would be guilty dead to rights, but as far as I know he was honorably discharged. Personally, though, he should know better than a stunt like this that disrespects the office of the President; and it spits on the chain of command as Gen. Eaton described.
Sedition is equally straight forward in U.S. legal code. "If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both." Notice the words, 'by force' appears quite a bit. So for all the intent to undermine the POTUS, there is not indication the Tehran Tom conspired to use force, so he may not be guilty of sedition. One could debate the Sedition Act of 1918 but I believe that only applies during times of war. I could bore you with a debate on Iran being named a Terrorist state in 1984 and Bush declaring war on Terror in 2001, but let's move on.
Mutiny was recently introduced by retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton. He literally took Cotton to school on why his letter was mutinous. The legality of mutiny is found mostly under Title 10 of U.S. legal code, and unfortunately, this seems to only apply to military servicemen. If Cotton were still a member of U.S. armed forces he would be guilty dead to rights, but as far as I know he was honorably discharged. Personally, though, he should know better than a stunt like this that disrespects the office of the President; and it spits on the chain of command as Gen. Eaton described.
3. This is a dangerous precedent
This political stunt by Cotton is incredibly stupid but also incredibly dangerous. The way GOP leadership in Congress blindly signed on to this ridiculous letter to Iran without even thinking of the consequences or the violations in protocol shows what the party really thinks of patriotism. There are few real patriots within the republican caucus. Imagine if Harry Reid had sent a letter to Saddam Hussein brimming with reasons not to trust President Bush. It would have been a huge scandal and Fox 'News' would've worked overtime to ensure Reid went to jail. There is absolutely no foresight being employed. If every future Congress used legal technicalities to make an end run around our President during major world summits like the P5+1, we're all in jeopardy. Tehran Tom risks making the U.S. laughing stock on the world stage and that's dangerous. It's also dead wrong. Cotton says he doesn't want Iran to get a bomb. It's broad and general and sounds good in the cheap seats. To those in the know, it's also profoundly stupid. The sanctions and negotiations of the P5+1 pose a different but important question. Right now Iran is free to do whatever they want because they are not inspected. The President is negotiating for the Iranian nuclear program to be severely limited and also inspected rigorously to ensure compliance. If Cotton screws the deal then we go back to Iran being able to sneakily enrich uranium with no one inspecting them at all. So Obama's deal is spectacularly better than Cotton's idea of doing nothing. Iran would ultimately be more capable of building a bomb if we follow Cotton and the other 'traitors'.
From where I'm sitting Sen. Tom Cotton has violated the Logan Act and he is guilty of treason but I'm just the average black man and that's my two cents.
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