[Peace-discuss] Midwest City Fights Back Against Iran War-Mongering

[Robert Naiman]

Midwest City Fights Back Against Iran War-Mongering
By Erik Leaver, AlterNet
 Posted on December 14, 2007, Printed on December 14, 2007
 http://www.alternet.org/story/70329/

When the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran was released
noting that Iran gave up its nuclear weapons program in 2003, the
council moved into action. Unanimously, it passed a resolution
ensuring that no preemptive military attack by the United States
against Iran takes place.

Surprised you didn't hear about this courageous act? That's because it
happened in the town of Gary, Ind., not in our nation's capitol.

Organized by the Northwest Indiana Coalition Against the Iraq War and
introduced by Councilman Charles Hughes, the City of Gary has passed
the most common-sense strategy to deal with Iran. The resolution
called for Congress to:

Ensure that no preemptive military attack by the United States against
Iran takes place.
Make clear to the administration that such a preemptive attack has not
been authorized by any law, resolution, court ruling or article of the
Constitution.
Support diplomatic engagement with Iran.
Maintain pressure against all escalations of war in the Middle East.

Free of the widely held belief by Washington insiders that demand our
president and Congress look tough on defense at all costs, the council
members in Gary were able to objectively look at the facts. While Bush
has warned of the prospect of "World War III," the council recognized
what the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) found: that Iran is at
least three to eight years away, in a best-case scenario, from
acquiring the technical know-how to create a nuclear weapon. Though
nobody wants to see another nation in the Middle East acquire a
nuclear weapon, this timeframe indicates that time is on our side for
diplomacy to work. No rationale exists for a preemptive attack to take
place.

The council also recognized the importance of engaging the
international community and moving away from Bush's go-it-alone
foreign policy. Iran stopped its weapons program precisely at the time
the international inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) began their in-depth investigations. The work of the IAEA in
places like Iraq and now in Iran has been effective in stopping the
spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Beyond inspections, the international community is determined to
continue negotiations, as those in Gary suggest. National Security
Adviser Stephen Hadley concurred in a public statement on Dec. 3,
saying, "The estimate offers grounds for hope that the problem can be
solved diplomatically -- without the use of force -- as the
administration has been trying to do."

Finally, council members note the hard reality of the U.S. position in
the Middle East, where we are militarily overextended and are widely
disliked. Additional saber rattling stands the chance of pushing the
entire Middle East, not just Iran, into chaos. Further military
conflict must be avoided at all costs.

But instead of recognizing they had made a mistake, as the NIE did in
reversing its assessment from two years ago, and moving forward with a
plan similar to the one proposed by the Gary City Council, Bush and
the neoconservatives are choosing to bury their heads deeper in the
sand.

Seeking to keep the pressure on Iran, Bush said in a press conference
a day after the NIE was released, "Iran was dangerous, Iran is
dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge
necessary to make a nuclear weapon." Challenging the conclusions of
the NIE and the IAEA, Bush's press secretary, Dana Perino, argued at a
press conference that "Iran could restart a weapons program and may
still have one that is not known to the outside world." Hard-line
Republicans in Congress have also jumped on board, questioning the
truthfulness of the NIE. For example, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is
proposing a congressional commission to investigate its conclusions.

Most of these same lawmakers had no such problems with the
intelligence estimate on Iraq back in 2002 before the invasion and
occupation. Indeed, Ensign's call for a congressional commission for
the Iran NIE is a clear example of the very type of politicization of
facts that led us to war in Iraq.

Fortunately, efforts like those in Gary may help keep lawmakers more
honest in their assessment of Iran's intentions and the direction of
U.S. foreign policy. Responding to the NIE, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif.,
said, "This newest information supports what I have said all along: We
need to give diplomacy with Iran more of a chance." Also echoing
Gary's recommendations Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., stated, "The United
States must employ a comprehensive strategy that uses all elements of
its foreign policy arsenal, in particular offering 'direct,
unconditional and comprehensive talks' with Iran -- where all issues,
ours and Iran's, are on the table."

With the facts from the NIE, the success of the IAEA inspections and
the majority of the international community favoring continued
diplomacy, it may seem like the threat of war with Iran has been
avoided. But as Bush and the hard-liners push back, Gary, Ind., cannot
stand alone. It's time to offer a clear alternative to war. With
hundreds of other towns standing shoulder to shoulder with those from
Gary, we have that opportunity.

Erik Leaver is policy outreach director for the Foreign Policy In
Focus project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.


-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org