[Peace-discuss] Flyer for Saturday's Main Event

[C. G. Estabrook]

===[PAGE 1]===

DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN -- STOP THE NEXT WAR NOW

AFTER INVADING AND OCCUPYING IRAQ,
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS THREATENING TO ATTACK IRAN.

Suppose that--
	--during the Eisenhower administration, in the 1950s, the secret 
service of Iran engineered a coup against the United States, imprisoned 
Eisenhower, and installed as President of the United States the son of a 
Nazi collaborator;
	--after more than twenty-five years of dictatorship, the American 
people rose up, overthrew the Iranian-backed ruler and his secret 
police, and established a popular government;
	--Iran then supported an invasion of the U.S. by Mexico -- armed with 
Iranian weapons of mass destruction -- resulting in an eight-year war 
with more than two million American casualties (including all the 
passengers of a commercial airliner, shot down by an Iranian warship in 
U.S. territorial waters);
	--after the conclusion of the war, Iran attacked Mexico and then for a 
dozen years suppressed its economy and harassed it militarily, resulting 
in the deaths of four million Mexican people;
	--four years ago, Iran invaded Mexico outright, killing millions more, 
and still occupies it; and
	--now, frantically urged on by a nuclear-armed Canada, Iran threatens 
to bomb American cities and nuclear plants.  What would we expect from 
Iran -- and from America?

Difficult as that is even to imagine, it all actually happened -- in 
reverse (with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the place of Mexico, Israel for 
Canada, and casualties proportionate to populations).  That is what the 
United States has done to Iran.  For Iranians today, it is the recent 
history that they know (but we don't), not a fantasy.

And now, ringed around by the world's greatest military force armed with 
nuclear weapons (by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. 
client Israel, U.S. aircraft carrier fleets in the Persian Gulf, etc.), 
the Iranians, who have invaded no other country, are threatened 
continually by the U.S. and Israel with attacks from the air.  It has 
recently been revealed that, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, the Israeli 
government was insisting that we should invade Iran instead.

Today there are indications that the threats are not just bluster from 
the Bush administration and the leaders of both U.S. political parties. 
Former CIA field officer Bob Baer has written a column for Time magazine 
indicating that Washington officials expect an attack within the next 
six months. "I've taken an informal poll inside the government," Baer 
told Fox News. "The feeling is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary 
Guard Corps." His Time column also suggested that "as long as we have 
bombers and missiles in the air, we will hit Iran's nuclear facilities."

In mid-July the Senate voted 97-0 for an amendment that states that "the 
murder [by Iran] of members of the United States Armed Forces by a 
foreign government or its agents is an intolerable act against the 
United States."  Asked about opposition from the American people to 
escalation in and beyond Iraq, Vice President Cheney replied, “It won’t 
stop us.”  President Bush has said that Iran "is a government that has 
proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear weapon," when in fact, Iran has 
repeatedly said that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.  But 
"having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear weapons is 
worse [than] launching some missile strikes into Iran," said Democratic 
presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Only five years ago, the Administration made assertions about Iraqi 
"weapons of mass destruction" and the  "imminent threat" they posed to 
the United States..  The mainstream media promoted those assertions 
without question, and we went to war.  But the claims were baseless and 
proved false.  Now, again without real evidence, the same Administration 
is making similar claims about Iran, and again the media are promoting 
them unchallenged.  There is no reason to believe them this time --or to 
allow the administration to make war again.

===[PAGE 2]===

	"Many people think that an offensive by Washington would be foolish 
because the Americans can hardly cope with Iraq. How are they going to 
attack a country that is twice as big and has double the number of 
inhabitants? But ... Washington's objective is not to invade and occupy 
Iran. The central purpose is to eliminate it as an obstacle to 
controlling the resources of Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. And, to 
achieve that, it is not necessary to invade the country. It is enough to 
destroy its military capacity, aerial and naval, something that the 
armed forces of the United States and its few allies can achieve in some 
week of selective bombardment ... In reply, Iran can unleash a nightmare 
for the Americans in Iraq. But the sacrifice of additional ... soldiers 
in Baghdad is not something that is going to stop the ... the 
Bush-Cheney duo ... [and] the American people ... will be faced with a 
fait accompli." --Alenjandro Nadal, “Blitzkrieg Against Iran,” La 
Jornada, Mexico, 4 April 2007

	"George Bush and his generals are laying out the case for a new war. 
And there has been no resistance offered either by a vacationing 
Congress or the major presidential candidates ... Who is pushing for 
attacks on Iran?  Israel and its lobby. Vice President Cheney. Sen. Joe 
Lieberman, who has been calling for air strikes on Al Quds camps for 
months. And a War Party facing lasting disgrace for having lied the 
country into an unnecessary war, and for having assured the American 
people it would be a 'cakewalk' ... If there is a rush to war here, it 
is not on the part of Iran.  As Bush is preparing for war on Iran, if he 
has not already decided on war, where is Congress, which alone has the 
constitutional power to authorize a war?  Or has it given Bush and 
Cheney another blank check?" --Patrick Buchanan, "Has Bush Boxed Himself 
In?" Chronicles, Illinois, 28 August 2007

	"The Bush administration, without irony, charges that Iran is 
'meddling' in Iraq, otherwise presumably free from foreign interference 
... the White House plans to brand the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards as 
a 'specially designated global terrorist' force, an unprecedented action 
against a national military branch, authorizing Washington to undertake 
a wide range of punitive actions.
	"The sabre-rattling rhetoric about 'containing Iran' has escalated to 
the point where both political parties and practically the whole U.S. 
press corps accept it as legitimate and, in fact, honorable, that 'all 
options are on the table,' to quote the leading [Democratic] 
presidential candidates -- possibly even nuclear weapons.  'All options 
on the table' means that Washington is threatening war. The UN Charter 
outlaws 'the threat or use of force.'  The United States, which has 
chosen to become an outlaw state, disregards international laws and 
norms. We're allowed to threaten anybody we want — and to attack anybody 
we want.
	"Unquestionably, Iran's government is reprehensible. The prospect that 
Iran might develop nuclear weapons is deeply troubling. Though Iran has 
every right to develop nuclear energy, no one — including the majority 
of Iranians — wants it to have nuclear weapons. That would add to the 
much more serious dangers presented by its near neighbors Pakistan, 
India and Israel, all nuclear-armed with the blessing of the United States.
	"The immediate fear is that by accident or design, Washington's war 
planners or their Israeli surrogate might decide to escalate ... There 
are many nonmilitary measures to 'contain' Iran, including a 
de-escalation of rhetoric and hysteria all around, and agreeing to 
negotiations in earnest for the first time — if indeed all options are 
on the table."  --Noam Chomsky, "Options on the Table," Khaleej Times, 
India, 27 August 2007

CALL YOUR SENATORS, RICHARD DURBIN AND BARACK OBAMA, AND YOUR
CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE, TIMOTHY JOHNSON, AT 800-839-5276 OR 
202-224-3121.
TELL THEM TO OPPOSE ANY MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAN.
CONTACT THE LOCAL MEDIA AND DEMAND THAT THEIR NEWS REPORTS BE BASED ON 
EVIDENCE,
NOT THE UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OR PRESIDENTIAL 
CANDIDATES.
DON'T LET THE IRAQ DEBACLE BE REPEATED IN IRAN.

This flyer was prepared by members of AWARE (Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort),
a local Champaign-Urbana peace group <http://www.anti-war.net/>).
We meet every Sunday 5-6:30pm in the basement of the old post office in 
Urbana.
Visitors and new members are welcome.

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