[Peace-discuss] Chicago vets on preventing war with Iran: "Senator Kirk, Don't Be a Jerk!"

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/02-2

 Published on Thursday, January 2, 2014 by Common
Dreams<http://commondreams.org/>
Don’t Ruin the New Year with War on Iran
US military veterans and peace activists protest US Senator in Chicago
by Chris Geovanis <http://www.commondreams.org/author/chris-geovanis>

(Photo: Bill Branson)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.

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.

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.

"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."

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….”

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.

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.

The stakes, say military veterans, are enormously high.

"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.”

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.

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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License.

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898, extension 1.
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