By Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) -
Last Thursday night, an Airbus A300 aircraft belonging to Iran Air took off from an airfield in southwestern Iran. The commercial jet left Abadan, a logistical hub for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and headed for Syria. There is no regularly scheduled service between Abadan and Damascus, though many such flights have taken place in recent weeks and months.
These planes are not ferrying tourists to and from the war-torn nation. The Iranian regime is using commercial airlines to send troops, weapons, missiles and cash to assist the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in his slaughter of innocents; 400,000 have been killed so far.
Iran Air was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for this exact reason in 2011. It was only delisted in January as a concession in the nuclear deal. Since that deal Iran has not changed its behavior, though some Western companies have.
In January, European airplane manufacturer Airbus reached a preliminary deal to sell planes to Iran Air. It did not take long for Boeing to follow suit.
I have been closely following these companies’ ongoing negotiations with the Iranian regime over the past few months. I have urged them both, privately and publicly, not to weaponize the mullahs. Boeing says it must go wherever Airbus goes. But history is a merciless disciplinarian to those who make themselves complicit in evil because “someone else was doing it.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran is the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism. It systematically uses commercial aircraft to sow the seeds of death and destruction around the globe. Iran’s terror proxies have killed and wounded thousands of Americans troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They’ve murdered civilians from Beirut to Buenos Aires.
The Boeing Co. is an iconic American brand, the global leader in aerospace and aviation technology. The company creates thousands of jobs in my home state of Illinois and reinforces Chicago’s standing as a leading hub for technology and innovation.
But the decision to sell militarily-fungible products to terrorism’s central supplier is just plain wrong. I will do everything in my power to stop it.
Rep. Peter J. Roskam, R-Ill., chairs the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight. First posted on USAToday.com.
It would be great if Roskam (R- AIPAC) would get this worked up about jobs moving overseas, plants moving across borders. Too much to expect our representatives to actually represent us.
Too bad he didn’t do everything in his power to stop the de-industrialization of our country. Too bad he didn’t do everything in his power to stop the flow of illegal and legal immigration in to this country. Those two failures of his and many others in the GOP created legions of Democratic voters, which allowed the rise of Obama. If Obama is not in office, Iran does not have this or any other deal.
We need more Root-Cause Analysis in our electorate. Roskam, along with practically every other incumbent politician, needs to be voted out of office.
I will believe what Roskam says, when I see him actually do it.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.”
It is?
I was under the impression, over these past 7 or 8 years, anyway (I know, actually more like 60 or 70 years, but that’s a reply to an Irene Starkehaus rant for another day), that the US government was “the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism”.
ISIS is a direct – or, at very least, indirect – result of US intervention in the Middle East.
and the Obama Admin is on record as having telegraphed our military’s moves ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.
I submit that Roskam’s buddies on Capitol Hill – and possibly Roskam himself – are the world’s foremost state sponsors of terrorism.