women and peace



Iran

WILPF calls for peaceful resolution of the Iran "crisis" From a statement issued June 6th from the (oldest) women's peace organization. (click on link for full text)

"Any attack on Iran will be good for the government" Nobel laureate and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi discusses the plight of women in Iran, Bush's similarity to Ahmadinejad and why direct negotiations are the only solution.By Michelle Goldberg at www.salon.com/


Freedom Rider: Let Iran Have the Bomb

by Margaret Kimberley, The Black Commentator

..."The United States is still the only nation to use an atomic weapon on human beings. Keep that fact in mind when we are whipped into a frenzy of fear regarding the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon.

Every impartial observer of Iran's nuclear program agrees that it is at least five to ten years away from attaining a nuclear weapons capability. You wouldn't know it to hear members of Congress, the lapdog press and the Israeli government.."


In mid-February two US women activist friends sent us urgent information on a possible US attack on Iran. This is not 'new' news, but the boiling point is being reached, and we must know what there is to know and take action where we can.

What you can do: spread the word (as ever); become aware of the extent of preparations for an attack; oppose an attack and use of nuclear weapons.

See information and on-line petition at
STOP THE WAR NOW!
http://www.stopthewarnow.net/

The first link presented is to a long article with a wealth of information and links on the situation. The author proposes pressure by US citizens for a "Nuclear Responsibility Act" ...  See:

Gen. Pace to Troops: Don't Nuke Iran Illegal, immoral orders should be disobeyed
by Jorge Hirsch, March 10, 2006

..."The Bush administration will present the nuking of Iran as a "grave decision," the "gravest decision" a president ever had to make, reached after much "agonizing," necessary to save American, Israeli, Iraqi, and Iranian lives. In order to appreciate the magnitude of the crime, we must understand that this is not so; it is a premeditated act, and the elements to make it happen were carefully and methodically assembled over many years...

 The premeditated nature of the crime will become widely apparent to the whole world after it happens, with catastrophic consequences for the U.S.' role in the world.

The rest of the world rightly regards nuclear weapons as qualitatively different from all other weapons because of their enormous destructive power and their potential to destroy humanity. The rest of the world understands that there is no sharp line dividing small nuclear weapons from large ones, nor between nuclear weapons targeting underground facilities and those targeting armies or cities; that an escalating nuclear war can lead to the death of every man, woman, and child on the planet; and that there is no reason in the world why the U.S. should have a monopoly on nuclear weapons...

Unfortunately, no matter how much publicity and public opposition arise, the administration can still go ahead with its plans. To prevent it from doing so, here is a concrete proposal to present to your congressional representatives: the Nuclear Responsibility Act, an emergency bill in Congress dealing with the authority to order the use of nuclear weapons. This can be initiated in the Senate, the House of Representatives, or both...

 What should be prevented at the very least is the ability of the president to use a nuclear weapon preemptively. The discussion about whether it is reasonable to respond with nuclear weapons to major actual attacks with other "WMD" (e.g., chemical weapons) is important and long overdue but should perhaps be left for another day. What is urgent is that the president not be allowed to use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear country like Iran on the argument that "intelligence" (which can later be proven to be false) shows that an enemy attack with non-nuclear WMD is "imminent." ...

How to Stop the Planned Nuking of Iran Congress should enact emergency legislation
by Jorge Hirsch, January 9, 2006

Another voice:

Iran: The Next War
by John Pilger, February 13, 2006

..."Iran offers no "nuclear threat." There is not the slightest evidence that it has the centrifuges necessary to enrich uranium to weapons-grade material. The head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, has repeatedly said his inspectors have found nothing to support American and Israeli claims. Iran has done nothing illegal; it has demonstrated no territorial ambitions nor has it engaged in the occupation of a foreign country – unlike the United States, Britain and Israel. It has complied with its obligations under the Nonproliferation Treaty to allow inspectors to "go anywhere and see anything" – unlike the US and Israel. The latter has refused to recognize the NPT, and has between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons targeted at Iran and other Middle Eastern states..."

Nuclear War against Iran
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=%20CH20060103&articleId=1714
by Michel Chossudovsky, January 3, 2006

See also: Iran: Next Target of US Military Aggression
Michel Chossudovsky, Editor
Global Research E-Monograph and Reports Series, No. 3, February 2005
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/chossudovsky/iran_target.htm

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca  is writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.

in 2005 the facts were basically known:

US war with Iran has already begun
by Scott Ritter
23 June 2005
"Americans, along with the rest of the world, are starting to wake up to the uncomfortable fact that President George Bush not only lied to them about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (the ostensible excuse for the March 2003 invasion and occupation of that country by US forces), but also about the very process that led to war.."

The Coming Wars Seymour M. Hersh
The New Yorker January 17, 2005
" George W. Bush’s reëlection was not his only victory last fall. The President and his national-security advisers have consolidated control over the military and intelligence communities’ strategic analyses and covert operations to a degree unmatched since the rise of the post-Second World War national-security state. Bush has an aggressive and ambitious agenda for using that control—against the mullahs in Iran and against targets in the ongoing war on terrorism—during his second term. The C.I.A. will continue to be downgraded, and the agency will increasingly serve, as one government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon put it, as “facilitators” of policy emanating from President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. This process is well under way..."

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