Iran

Despite the limited amount of time left to the Bush administration, I worry about what might happen before he leaves office. In addition to signaling that he will support an attack by Israel on Iran, he's supporting aggression within Iran right now, as detailed in Acts of War by Scott Ritter, Truthdig, July 29, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080729_acts_of_war/

Scott Ritter is a former UN arms inspector who accurately diagnosed, as it was taking shape, the fakery that led to the US invasion of Iraq. He's a very large ex-Marine, former Republican, and a forceful speaker. He lives right next to Albany NY's southwest border in the hamlet of Delmar, where I do my supermarket shopping, in the little town of Bethlehem (roughly 30,000 population).

I recommend that everyone read this article. Ritter's been warning of war against Iran since early 2005 and this is his latest update.

It begins with some things that have been reported before but have not been taken up by most of the media: the current US acts of war going on within Iran.

What's most interesting, however, is his account of what he says is the fabricated evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, former or current.

Tell Congress: "Saber-rattling and threats towards Iran without diplomacy is not working. Please support a new direction towards Iran and demand President Bush get Congressional authorization before getting us into another war."

Dear MoveOn member,
By all accounts, the news coming out lately about Iran is scary. Iran is testing more missiles, and the Bush administration is promising swift retribution for any attack on the US or our allies.

To top it off, John McCain keeps joking about killing the Iranian people—discussing rising U.S. exports of cigarettes to Iran, he joked, "Maybe that's a way of killing them." And we all remember McCain's infamous, "Bomb Iran" song. (See video below)1

War is not a joke. The truth is that the Bush-McCain policy of reckless saber-rattling and threatening doesn't work—it just makes things worse and increases tensions in the region. What we need is serious, tough, and smart diplomacy—not another war.

Right now, Congress is considering bills that could clear the way for escalation or war. But they can act to make sure President Bush and John McCain don't lead us into another reckless war. Can you sign this petition asking Congress to push for diplomacy and demand Congressional authorization before getting us into another war? Clicking here will add your name:

http://pol.moveon.org/diplomacyiran/

Here's a radical idea; that we take seriously the whole concept of Christian forgiveness and apply it to our foreign policy with Iran.

In the Lord's Prayer we ask that our trangressions towards other be forgiven as we ask others to forgive ours. We all know how much of a challenge it is to forgive. We all know it is more blessed to give than recieve. That's why the Lord's prayer asks 1st for forgiveness of our transgressions, it frees us to then forgive others. That's the psychological basis of The Golden Rule.

Now let us summon up the courage to face, quite honestly, our history with Iran over the past half century or so. In the late 1890's a British oil company found significant oil reserves in Iran, set up shop and after concessions were granted in 1901, began to exploit those resources, mostly for their own profit. In 1933 improved terms were granted to Iran. During WW2 Reza Shah Pahlevi, seeking to gain greater control over his nations oil reserves from the British sided with the Axis powers which resulted in a British-Soviet Union occupation of the oil fields in 1941. Reza Shah Palevi abdicated. His son, Muhammad Reza Shah Palevi succeeded to the throne and adopted pro-Western policies. (This is the Shah we are most familiar with.)

You've made your position clear
Now find out what the candidates are saying

Attacking Iran should be 'off the table'

The 2008 presidential candidates need to know that attacking Iran is not an option.

Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003. That's according to 16 different U.S. spy agencies, in the National Intelligence Estimate released earlier this week.1

Over the last couple of months, we've seen one presidential candidate after the other say that 'all options are on the table' when it comes to Iran. Now we know that there is clearly no justification for an attack. It's time to put an end to the dangerous saber-rattling that's going on and ask that all the 2008 presidential hopefuls who have taken the 'all options' position take it back. Let them know how you feel by adding your name to our 'Take It Back' petition.

Tell the campaigns to take it back.

http://act.truemajorityaction.org/t/61/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=29

A few days ago Jim Ramelis wrote a post on the incarceration of a Saudi rape victim by Saudi authorities. It was a shocking and sad case, but one of the things I noticed was the fact that there was a lawyer who was willing to be suspended, have his license confiscated, and face disciplinary action, in order to defend this Saudi women from obvious injustice. I've been reading a lot in the news about the bravery of lawyers willing to risk their jobs and their lives to fight for justice. Just a few weeks ago lawyers in Pakistan were fighting soldiers and tear gas to protest Musharraf's attempts to stiffle the rule of law. In the Tuesday edition of the L.A. Times, there was an article by Borzou Daragahi about lawyers in Iran who faced harassment for fighting for peaceful change inside Iraq through the legal system. That shows an admirable courage in a profession that one doesn't often think of when one thinks of activism.

"My station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at FOX News."

That is CNN's Christiane Amanpour explaining why the major television networks failed to properly scrutinize the Bush administration's claims before the Iraq war.1 Instead, they joined FOX in broadcasting the Bush administration's pro-war talking points without a response.

This week, a YouTube video from film director Robert Greenwald reveals how FOX is at it again—this time, beating the war drums against Iran. FOX uses the same images and Bush talking points now as they did in 2003.