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From Stop the War
Videos HERE.
On 28 January 2012 at the United States Embassy in London, Stop the War held a rally to launch the Don't Attack Iran campaign. Among the speakers (videos below) were Tony Benn, Kate Hudson, John Rees, Roger Lloyd Pack, Andrew Murray, John McDonnell MP, Sarah Colborne, Kevin Ovenden.
Europe's Losing Game - by Stephen Lendman
Partnering with America has consequences. Europe's paying by shooting itself in the foot.
On January 23, EU representative for foreign and security affairs, Catherine Ashton, broke the news. She announced an "unprecedented" anti-Iranian oil embargo, effective July 1 and immediately from new contracts.
From Hannah's Blog
Remember the beast slouching towards Bethlehem? Yeats wrote a poem with that image in it. When it comes to nuclear weapons being reined in by a regional compact in the Middle East, slouching is a good term. Certainly, nobody’s rushing.
By John Grant
The State Department has threatened to withdraw the $1.3 billion it sends every year to Egypt because the Egyptians are holding US citizens connected with pro-democracy groups the Egyptians claim have instigated the Tahrir Square movement.
Specifically, the Egyptian military government prevented a half dozen Americans -- including Sam LaHood, director of the US International Republican Institute in Cairo -- from leaving the country. LaHood is the son of US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The State Department’s goal in supporting groups like Mr LaHood’s is to encourage democracy friendly to the US.
Targeting Iranian Nationals - by Stephen Lendman
Washington's first regime change priority is Syria. At issue is isolating Iran. Then devoting full attention to replacing its current government with a pro-Western one.
· Paul R. Pillar, Georgetown University, Professor and Former National Intelligence Officer
· Geneive Abdo, The Century Foundation, Director of the insideIRAN project
· Jamal Abdi, National Iranian American Council, Director of Policy
· Heather Hurlburt, National Security Network, Executive Director
· Alejandro J. Beutel (Moderator), Muslim Public Affairs Council, Government & Policy Analyst
Monday, January 30, 2012
12:30–2:00 PM
121 Cannon HOB
- Lunch will be served -
Dear Colleague:
Rising tension with Iran has led some in Washington to wonder if the United States is inevitably sliding toward war. Iranian officials recently threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil, and an Iranian nuclear scientist was mysteriously assassinated in the fourth such attack in two years.
Sometimes lacking from these discussions is serious consideration of the potential consequences of a preemptive military strike against Iran. Many believe that such an attack could quickly escalate into a regional war.
In order to discuss the potential consequences of a military strike against Iran, the Muslim Public Affairs Council is hosting a briefing with some of the nation’s top Iran and U.S. national security experts.
Would a military strike eliminate Iranian ability to develop a nuclear weapon? How would an attack affect regional and U.S. security? What would be the effect on oil prices and the global economy? How would an attack affect the Iranian regime and pro-democracy activists?
Sincerely,
Keith Ellison Barbara Lee
Member of Congress Member of Congress
In 2007, when the Bush regime was threatening to attack Iran, with substantially the same justification that the U.S. is now using to impose sanctions, carry out secret operations, and prepare the population for more war, World Can't Wait made a quiz. We administered it on dozens of college campuses, and on street corners.
By Nathaniel Batchelder, Director, Peace House Oklahoma City
Pray cooler heads will guide America in the dialogue and
decision-making over Iran’s position in the world. Iran does not have
nuclear weapons, and there is no certain evidence that such a program
is under way. Certainly Iran has the right to the peaceful use of
nuclear energy, and the interests of world peace demand that these
issues be resolved without military action that could launch a
catastrophic war.
Another war would destroy America’s painful recovery from the
indebtedness of two wars and the 2008 economic crash. Gasoline prices
would probably go up another dollar per gallon. The Iraq and
Afghanistan war’s final costs will exceed $2 trillion. Some estimates
say $4 trillion, or even $6 trillion, including lifelong care for
veterans physically or emotionally disabled.
|
This week, more than a dozen anti-war organizations responded to a call by World Can't Wait to plan for a day of Mass Action against war or on sanctions on Iran. We united on a day, Saturday February 4, for the first action, and a simple set of demands: |
By Peter Hart, FAIR
Evaluating reporting and commentary about Iran could be reduced to one simple rule: There is no evidence that Iran is working on a nuclear weapon. Statements that suggest otherwise are misleading. Reports that fail to point this out are doing readers/viewers/listeners a disservice.
That sounds simple enough. But don't tell that to the outlets that are being criticized over their Iran reporting.
Take NPR and PBS, both of which were singled out by the group Just Foreign Policy.
Be glad Rose is not our ambassador. Then wish we had one.
Military leaders, intelligence officers, and other U.S. and Israeli security officials from across the political spectrum have warned that an attack on Iran would likely provoke a full-scale regional war with catastrophic consequences for global security. Below is a sampling of quotes from select U.S. and Israeli security officials cautioning against an attack on Iran, and find out more about what you can do to prevent war with Iran on FCNL's Iran webpage.
From ElectricPolitics
As is typical of situations involving post-WWII imperial over-reach, U.S. distress with Iran is largely our own fault. If the CIA had not overthrown Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 — Operation Ajax — and if afterward the U.S. had not incessantly sought to get the Iranians to do what we wanted with their oil, relations today might even have been normal, but certainly would be far less fraught than they have become. Unless we sit down to talk through our differences this Cold War will go on and on, or maybe turn hot. Unsure of each other, both sides are capable of making extremely grave mistakes. It's all quite senseless. To get a helpful perspective from a former top State Department expert on Iran I turned to Ambassador John W. Limbert, who shares many of my concerns. Total runtime fifty minutes. Vāde mēcum.
When Iranian director Asghar Farhadi received the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Film Sunday night, he said:
When I was coming up on the stage, I was thinking what should I say here. Should I say something about my mother, father, my kind wife, my daughters, my dear friends, my great and lovely crew. But now I just prefer to say something about my people. I think they are a truly peace-loving people. Thank you very much.
Following the Money in the Iran Crisis
By Pepe Escobar, TomDispatch
Let's start with red lines. Here it is, Washington’s ultimate red line, straight from the lion’s mouth. Only last week Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said of the Iranians, “Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that's what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us.”
Speaking to the resolution:
David Swanson (activist and author) 11:30
Larry Bishop (activist) 19:45
Tony Russell (activist) 21:15
Helena Cobban (author) 27:40
Ira Bashkow (U. of VA anthropology professor) 31:30
Brandon Collins (activist) 35:20
Stratton Slatis (sp?) 44:45
Councilmember Dede Smith 48:00
Councilmember Dave Norris 49:30
Vice Mayor Kristin Szakos 50:20
Councilmember Kathy Galvin 55:15
Mayor Satyendra Huja 56:35
Council discussion (15 minutes) 1:02:30
By Marjorie Cohn
Neocons in Israel and the United States are escalating their rhetoric to prepare us for war with Iran. Even the infamous John Yoo, architect of George W. Bush’s illegal torture and spying programs, is calling on the Republican presidential candidates to “begin preparing the case for a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.”
Under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the legal right to produce nuclear power for peaceful purposes. The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found no evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently said on CBS that Iran is not currently trying to build a nuclear weapon.
The City Council of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and the University of Virginia, passed on Tuesday evening, January 17, 2012, a resolution believed to be a first in the country, opposing the launching of a war on Iran, as well as calling for an end to current ground and drone wars engaged in by the United States and urging Congress and the President of the United States to significantly reduce military spending. Below is the text of the resolution, followed by an account of how it came to be. As other towns and cities have been inquiring about how they can do the same, this may prove helpful.
RESOLUTIONCalling on Congress and the President to Redirect Military Spending to Domestic Priorities
WHEREAS, the severity of the ongoing economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government and requires us to re-examine our national spending priorities; and
From the Christian Science Monitor:
• Iran is chiefly a threat to itself. Its diplomacy has been inept, featuring charm offensives alternating with making gratuitous enemies. It has few friends in its region, beyond tiny, Christian Armenia. Unlike most of its neighbors, it is not Arab, Turkish, or Sunni Muslim, and thus lacks a ready entree into regional affairs. Its support of President Bashir al-Assad’s regime in Syria, while understandable from a strategic point of view, has won it few friends in the region.
• The priority of those in power in Tehran is their own political survival. When that is at stake, they can become remarkably flexible (or brutal). As a former Iranian official once put it, regarding the Iran-Iraq war: They don’t care how many young people die in the Iraqi swamps. But they are not going to commit political suicide.
• The Islamic Republic wants the US to over-react to its posturing. Provoking us to do and say something stupid is the national sport. Iranian bellicose statements about closing the Strait of Hormuz and the recent officially sanctioned attack on the British Embassy are signs of weakness, not strength. America and its allies should not swallow the bait. The best response to Iranian bravado and claims of this or that achievement is a collective yawn.
• The Iranians may or may not be working toward a nuclear weapon. We should make a cold calculation, however, about just what such a weapon will do for them. It certainly does not solve their economic problems, nor does it silence opposition protesters in Tehran or ethnic separatists in Baluchestan, Kordestan, or elsewhere. Nor does a nuclear weapon help the Islamic Republic counter what it claims is the main threat to its survival: a covert war of “soft overthrow” waged by its traditional enemies in the West.
• America should not paint itself into a rhetorical corner. American presidents have said that a nuclear-armed Iran is “unacceptable”. So, presumably, is a nuclear-armed Pakistan, India, or North Korea. The Berlin wall was also unacceptable. In all these cases, however, Americans remained smart and did not become captive to their own rhetoric.
There will never be a day when we celebrate all the years we've helped prevent a war on Iran by spreading word about the lies of the Iraq War and their rehabilitation for this one.
But we should be aware of the success thus far of every day of the past several years. And we should appreciate every little drop of sanity, like this one:
Major U.S.-Israel military drill postponed
By AFP
JERUSALEM — Israel and the United States have agreed to postpone a major military defence exercise scheduled for spring, a senior security official said Sunday, amid rising regional tension over Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Israel and the United States have agreed to postpone the manoeuvre planned for spring,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“The exercises will take place between now and the end of 2012,” the official added, without elaborating.
The world’s press is choc-a-bloc with “if” questions about Iran and war. Will Israel attack? Is Obama, coerced by domestic politics in an election year, being dragged into war by the Israel lobby? Will he lunch the bombers? Is the strategy to force Iran into a corner, methodically demolishing its economy by embargoes and sanctions so that in the end a desperate Iran strikes back.
As with sanctions and covert military onslaughts on Iraq in the run up to 2003, the first point to underline is that the US is waging war on Iran. But well aware of the US public’s aversion to yet another war in the Middle East, the onslaught is an undeclared one.
Heading for More Middle East War - by Stephen Lendman
Washington, Israel and rogue NATO allies seem headed for ruinous wars with Iran and Syria, besides others ongoing interminably.
Former State Department official/now AIPAC-linked Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) fellow Dennis Ross said:
By David S. Cloud, Tribune Co.
The Pentagon has quietly shifted combat troops and warships to the Middle East after the top American commander in the region warned that he needed additional forces to deal with Iran and other potential threats, U.S. officials said.
Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, who heads U.S. Central Command, won White House approval for the deployments late last year after talks with the government in Baghdad broke down over keeping U.S. troops in Iraq, but the extent of the Pentagon moves is only now becoming clear.
Officials said the deployments are not meant to suggest a buildup to war, but rather are intended as a quick-reaction and contingency force in case a military crisis erupts in the standoff with Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons program.
The Pentagon has stationed nearly 15,000 troops in Kuwait, adding to a small contingent already there. The new units include two Army infantry brigades and a helicopter unit - a substantial increase in combat power after nearly a decade in which Kuwait chiefly served as a staging area for supplies and personnel heading to Iraq.
The Pentagon also has decided to keep two aircraft carriers and their strike groups in the region.
Earlier this week, the American carrier Carl Vinson joined the carrier Stennis in the Arabian Sea, giving commanders major naval and air assets in case Iran carries out its recent threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint in the Persian Gulf, where one-fifth of the world's oil shipments passes.
This article appeared on page A - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle
By Toby O’Ryan
In yet another threatening move, the U.S. recently sent an aircraft carrier through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passageway of water that connects the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea and then the Indian Ocean. The Strait of Hormuz borders Iran, as does the Persian Gulf. The Iranian military commander then "recommended" that the U.S. not return this aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf. The New York Times, on January 4, termed this the latest and "most aggressive" move in the increasingly intense maneuvering between the big gangsters the U.S. and Israel, on the one hand—which are menacing Iran with the threat of an attack and carrying out covert military activities against it even now—and Iran, the upstart mafioso which is attempting to project itself as an increasingly significant "player" in the domination and plunder of the region.
Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush's administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives -- what is commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation.
READ THE REST AT Foreign Policy.
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