No War on Iran!

"A country cannot simultaneuosly prepare and prevent war"

Albert Einstein

The news of Iran reaching enrichment capability make the US strike on Iran more likely. Respected journalists have warned in the past months of concrete plans by the Bush administration to begin air strikes on Iran, potentially using nuclear weapons against the country's nuclear sites (Iran Plans).

We all know that it would not be smart and we all know that the US could not win such a fight - but then again, we've all known that before the Iraq War as well and still it happened. We think we should stop asking questions like: "is it sane" or "would it be in the best interest of the US" and start asking the right questions such as: "who profited form the war on Iraq and would these people profit from airstrikes on Iran as well?", "will the companies earning money with producing nuclear weapons and the pentagon hawks accept the fact that the US will never use nuclear weapons or will they try to get them included in tactical warfare?" and finally: "will Bush 'wag the dog' in order to reverse the negative trend for the Republicans in upcoming Presidential elections". We think that by answering these questions, we will get closer to an answer.

At the same time, we have to be careful not to drift into a position which excuses or oversees the dangerous development in Iran of a theocratic dictatorship threatening the destruction of Israel, developing weapons of mass destruction and actively persuing a policy of open conflict and war. In the end, both leaders, Bush and Ahmadinejad are standing on shaky legs within their countries and need this war in order to hold on to power. That's what makes this situation so dangerous. The evident desire of prominent members of the US administration and the Pentagon to use tactical nuclear missiles in order to humiliate Iran's leadership and prove the effectiveness of this type of weaponry makes the situation all the more worrysome, as the IPPNW study below shows. Iran under Ahmadinejad poses a threat to world peace and yet another member of the nuclear club is not what the world needs right now.

However, bombing the country is no solution and only continues on the path of violence and counter-violence which has gotten us to where we are today. The US-sponsored coup against the democratically elected Persian prime minister Mossadegh and the re-institution of an autocratic monarch in form of Shah Pahlavi ultimately led to the 1979 Revolution which brought to power the clerical theocracy suffocating civil rights in Iran up until this day. The US-sponsored war on Iran by neighboring Iraq in the 1980's was not successful in toppling the Mullah regime and neither will a US air strike. The recent war on Iraq and the benign treatment of a presumably nuclear North Korea has shown the leaders of the so-called "Axis of Evil" that the surest way to prevent a US attack on their countries is the development of a nuclear weapons program. The escalation of this process has to end. The way towards a peaceful solution is not through military means!

War is not the answer, but rather diplomatic agreements involving broader solutions to the problems in the Middle East, including non-agression commitments from the US and the creation of a nuclear weapons free Middle East (e.g. the nuclear demilitarization of Israel) in return for the Iranian acknowledgement of Israel and a withdrawal form its nuclear weapons plans and strict adherence to IAEA regulations. It's a long process, but in the end, it's the only possible solution. In order to get there, however, this looming US strike against Iran has to be prevented.

What you can do? Try to influence your local politicians, hold public meetings, spread the information we have (see below) and try to form networks so that major demonstrations similar like the millions of people in on February 1st, 2003 can show the US government that after Afghanistan and Iraq, the world will not let the US bombard another country, kill more innocent civilians in inhumane airstrikes and will not sit idly by while the US destroy the already shaky balance of power in the Middle and Central East. The IPPNW Urgent Action Alert is copied below. We need to sert up a network similar to that in 2003, where we managed to get millions of people on the streets, we think that this time, we will be able to really make a difference. In 2003, no one believed that the US government would do such a thing, act so against the interest of the American public, lie to the world, its people, the UN Security Council and use weapons of mass destructions against a largely civilian population. Now we know that it would! Let us join up to prevent this from happening... Please pass this website and the concept of forming such a network to as many people as possible. The more people we reach, the greater the impact can be. Also check out the PGS-Action Sheet

URGENT ACTION ALERT

IPPNW RESPONSE TO REPORT THAT THE US IS PLANNING NUCLEAR STRIKE AGAINST IRAN

IPPNW is appalled by revelations contained in a New Yorker article by journalist Seymour Hersh that the US has developed plans to attack Iranian underground nuclear installations with nuclear weapons, and has called on President George W. Bush to renounce the "nuclear option" as a means to prevent Iran from acquiring its own nuclear capability.

IPPNW Co-President Gunnar Westberg condemned any use of nuclear weapons as "a crime against humanity." He cited studies previously published by IPPNW and its US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), refuting claims that nuclear-armed earth penetrating weapons could be used without causing massive casualties and environmental damage. These studies are available for download below.

The United States currently deploys both conventional and nuclear EPWs, including about 50 nuclear-tipped B61-11s, which can penetrate 2-3 meters and have reported yields between 0.3 kilotons and 340 kilotons. Another nuclear bomb in the existing US arsenal, the B-83, has yields as high as 1.2 megatons. Congress withdrew funding for the further development of low-yield nuclear bunker busters in 2005.

The PSR study, published in 2005, concluded that a nuclear bunker strike against the suspected Iranian underground nuclear materials storage site at Isfahan, using nuclear weapons currently in the US arsenal, would cause massive numbers of casualties and “severe adverse health impacts on civilian and military populations near targeted areas.” Radioactive fallout from such a strike could affect much of the region, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Hersh alleged that the Pentagon had presented an option to the White House for the use of a tactical nuclear bunker buster against underground nuclear sites in Iran. He also reported that US Navy aircraft "have been flying simulated nuclear-weapons delivery missions...within range of Iranian coastal radars" since last summer. "Our findings unequivocally refute the contention by influential members of the Bush administration that nuclear bunker busters could be used in Iran or anywhere else with minimal so-called collateral damage," according to Victor W. Sidel, lead author of the 2003 IPPNW study.

"Were the US to use such weapons," Dr. Sidel said, "it would be crossing the nuclear threshold for the first time since the US used nuclear weapons on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki more than 60 years ago. This is not only morally repugnant, but it would start us down the slippery slope to the use of nuclear weapons of greater yield — something the entire world has been trying to prevent since 1945."

Dr. Westberg added that IPPNW is opposed to any military attack against Iran, and called for renewed diplomatic efforts to resolve international concerns that Iran is engaged in nuclear weapons research and development in violation of its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Please contact the US Embassy in your country to protest any use of nuclear weapons by the US or by any other nuclear weapon state in response to concerns over Iran's nuclear programs. Send a message that the only viable solution to the problem of nuclear proliferation is for the nuclear weapon states, including the US, to eliminate their own nuclear arsenals as they are obliged to do under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Full compliance under the NPT by the nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states is the cornerstone of a nuclear-weapon-free world.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact alexro80@web.de. ..