http://StopWarOnIran.org
Stop the war on Iran before it starts!
Sign the statement (
http://stopwaroniran.org/petition.shtml)
It is with grave concern that we observe the growing threat of a new
U.S. war--this time against the people of Iran.
The media is filled with reports of an alleged nuclear threat posed by
Iran and the assumed need for the U.S. to take military action. These
reports recall the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" stories issued in the
months leading up to the war on Iraq.
In the lead up to the illegal invasion of Iraq, the Bush
Administration asserted that Iraq possessed massive stockpiles of
weapons of mass destruction and that it was capable of launching an
attack - nuclear, chemical and biological - on the U.S. within 45 minutes.
President Bush said that the U.S. had to attack immediately, and could
not "wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in
the form of a mushroom cloud." We all know now that this propaganda
campaign was a complete fabrication created to justify a war of
aggression.
Now we see reports that are all too similar being made to justify
military action against the people of Iran. Taking Iran to the UN
Security Council is a prelude for unilateral action. Just as in the
case of Iraq, none of the claims made by the U.S. government stand up
to unbiased scrutiny. Iran has submitted to the most intrusive and
humiliating inspections, above and beyond what is required by Nuclear
Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). None of the inspections have
found any evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program.
There is only one government that has used nuclear weapons against
civilian populations, and that same nation has the largest stockpile
of weapons of mass destruction on the planet. Most dangerous and
incredible it is at this very moment developing a new generation of
tactical nuclear weapons that it intends to use, not merely to
threaten. That country is, of course, the United States. Shouldn't any
real discussion of the dangers of nuclear weapons include the weapons
stockpiled by the Pentagon and the history of U.S. aggression and
interventions?
Iran has suffered greatly at the hands of the U.S. We recall the U.S.
overthrew the democratically elected government of Dr. M. Mossadegh
and returned the Shah to the Peacock Throne ? `the proudest
achievement of the CIA'. For 25 years the Shah ruled Iran with an iron
fist for the benefit of U.S. oil corporations before the people of
Iran, in the millions, overthrew his tyranny at a terrible cost in
lives. For the past 27 years U.S. sanctions have impeded Iran's right
to development and brought great suffering to the people.
It is essential that all voices opposed to the devastation of a new
war in the Middle East speak out now. We urge an immediate end to
Washington's campaign of sanctions, hostility, and falsehood against
the people of Iran. We oppose any new U.S. aggression against Iran. We
need funds for human needs, not endless war for empire.