<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><br><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/02-2" target="_blank">http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/02-2</a><br><br><u></u>
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<div>Published on Thursday, January 2, 2014 by <a href="http://commondreams.org/" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>
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<h2>Don’t Ruin the New Year with War on Iran</h2></div>
<h3>US military veterans and peace activists protest US Senator
in Chicago</h3>
<div>by <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/author/chris-geovanis" target="_blank">Chris
Geovanis</a></div>
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<p><span style="width:540px"><img style="width:540px;min-height:324px" title="(Photo: Bill Branson)" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.commondreams.org/sites/commondreams.org/files/imce-images/screen_shot_2014-01-02_at_8.40.45_am.png"><span>(Photo: Bill Branson)</span></span>US military veterans and peace
activists closed out 2013 with an appeal to one of the U.S. Senate’s most
prominent members: Don’t ruin the New Year with a new war on Iran.</p>
<p>More than two dozen U.S. military vets and their allies gathered in the
bitter cold and biting wind on the last day of the year outside the downtown
Chicago office of U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) to push back against Kirk’s
controversial new bill targeting Iran. Vets charge that Kirk’s bill -- S. 1881
-- could undermine the recent easing of tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and
could increase the threat of war by thwarting ongoing diplomatic initiatives.
Vets say Kirk should instead be supporting current opportunities to strike a
diplomatic solution to the long-simmering and dangerous international dispute
with Iran over its nuclear program.</p>
<p>The U.S. and its diplomatic partners are currently negotiating with Iran over
the terms of its nuclear program, within the framework of a tentative agreement
to slowly lift sanctions as progress in negotiations are made. But on December
19th, Kirk introduced a punitive new bill which has the strong support of AIPAC
-- the American Israel Public Affairs Committee -- that could threaten the
recent easing of tensions and play into the hands of Iran’s hardliners. Kirk and
his cosponsor, Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), are currently expected to advance
the provocative bill to the next legislative stage in the Senate on January
6.</p>
<p>"We believe this bill will destroy negotiations with Iran and make war with
Iran possible," said Vietnam military veteran Barry Romo. "We need to respect
the international community and the American public, who overwhelmingly want a
peaceful settlement with Iran."</p>
<p>Kirk’s bill includes a provision that states that “If the Government of
Israel is compelled to take military action in legitimate self-defense against
Iran’s nuclear weapon program, the United States Government should stand with
Israel and provide, in accordance with the law of the United States and the
constitutional responsibility of Congress to authorize the use of military
force, diplomatic, military, and economic support to the Government of
Israel….”</p>
<p>Military veterans charge that that language sets the stage for U.S. support
-- including the use of military force -- for a pre-emptive strike by Israel
against Iran, a prospect long feared in the region. The bill, they argue, is
essentially a potential march to war at a time when diplomatic solutions are at
their most promising stage in years.</p>
<p>The veterans and peace activists are urging Kirk to forgo pushing the bill
and undermining the diplomatic initiatives of the Obama administration and its
partners, as part of a commitment to respect for the international community,
the diplomatic process and the American public, who overwhelmingly want peace
with Iran.</p>
<p>The stakes, say military veterans, are enormously high.</p>
<p>"We need to let the agreed settlement work -- and respect the diplomatic
endeavors of the Obama administration and our allies," said Alejandro Villatoro,
a U.S. military veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. "Veterans
know the consequences of war, the price that veterans have to pay and also the
suffering that civilians endure in war zones. We should let the diplomacy of the
Obama administration and its partners work.”</p>
<p>The mililtary veterans, who included representatives of Iraq Veterans Against
the War, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and Veterans for Peace, had choice
words for Illinois’ junior senator on Tuesday: “Senator Kirk, don’t be a jerk.”
Their key demands to Kirk -- “Negotiations Not Sanctions” and “Diplomacy not
War” -- have been embraced by partner peace and civic projects that include
United Electrical Workers/Western Region, which has been active in organizing
low-wage workers in the Midwest, and the American Friends Service Committee,
which has been active locally and nationally in the peace movement. Local vets
groups endorsing the pushback against Kirk’s bill include Iraq Veterans Against
the War/Chicago, Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Chicago, Veterans for
Peace/Chicago and Civilian Soldier Alliance/Chicago.</p>
<p>Tuesday’s action was the military veterans’ first public volley in their
effort to discourage Kirk’s hardline approach, with plans underway to step up
the campaign with actions that include a follow-up call-in day to Kirk’s local
and national offices.</p>
<div>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License.</div></div></div></div></font></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div></div></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr">Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><div><span style="text-align:left">(202) 448-2898, extension 1.</span><br></div><div><span style="text-align:left"><br></span></div>
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