On Wednesday, Michigan Democratic Party Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow voted in favor of a controversial "sense of the Senate" resolution on the United States' relationship with Iran. The resolution--which originally threatened military action towards Iran--was edited mildly after it was criticized by some Democrats who described it as "a backdoor method of gaining military action" against Iran. A modified resolution--allegedly improved and toned down--passed the Senate by a vote of 76-22 with significant Democratic Party support.

Despite the removal of the most directly threatening rhetoric, the resolution still endorses the position of the Bush administration--mainly that Iran is engaged in a proxy war against the United States in Iraq. The resolution urges the Bush administration to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization and urges the administration to impose strict economic sanctions on Iraq. The resolution--despite being non-binding--is a significant escalation in the rhetoric towards Iran in that it makes the claim that the Iranian military is a terrorist organization. The resolution also relies heavily on the recent testimony of General Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

In a piece titled "Debunking the Neocons' Iran War Measure," author Gareth Porter criticized the logic on which these claims were based:

1. The administration has not come forward with a single piece of concrete evidence to support the claim that the Iranian government has been involved in the training, arming or advising of Iraqi Shiite militias.

2. The U.S. intelligence community has not endorsed the argument being made by some in the Bush administration that the Iranian government was responsible for the rise in Shiite military activity in Iraq.

3. The main argument made in the February 11, 2007 briefing for an Iranian official role in providing EFPs to Shiite militias -- the allegation that only Iran had the capability to manufacture EFPs or components for EFPs that can penetrate U.S. armor -- was quickly proven to be untrue.

4. U.S. and British Military officers and civilian officials have expressed doubt that EFPs and other armaments in the hands of Shiites have actually come from Iran or that Iranian Quds force personnel have been involved in the supply.

5. The Quds Force of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the administration has claimed is the instrument of the alleged Iranian "proxy war" in Iraq, has apparently been withdrawn from Iraq.

6. There is a substantial body of evidence that the Hezbollah in Lebanon -- not Iran -- has been the main source, if not the only source, of EFPs and other weapon used by Shiite militias in 2006 and 2007.

This is not the first time that Carl Levin has supported Senator Liberman--a pro-war Democrat--on Iran. Back in July, Senator Levin praised Liberman for his willingness to stand up to Iran. That Levin would take a position is not surprising--he has received extensive support from the American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC)--a Zionist lobbying organization that has demanded "action" on Iran.