Tax Day on Public Square

Cleveland Peace Action Positions/Recommendations

January 2007

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS RAMPING UP THE RISK OF WAR WITH IRAN:

CONGRESS NEEDS TO ACT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

The Bush administration is distorting intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program (as they did about Iraq and WMD)

·    Without evidence, Bush and Cheney are telling Americans that Iran is definitely developing nuclear weapons;

·    A CIA classified report (according to Seymour Hersh)  says there is no definite evidence for Iranian nuclear weapons development;

·    The International Atomic Energy Agency reports concur (although have unanswered questions and ask for more transparency);

·    The 2005 National Intelligence Estimate and former Intelligence Czar Negroponte say it’s 5-10 years before Iran could get a bomb;

·    Bush wants to replace Negroponte with a more compliant McConnell

·    Pentagon has an “Iranian Directory” to quash and cherry-pick intelligence

·    Bush never tells Americans that Ayatollah Khameini, not Adhmadinejan, decides Iranian foreign and nuclear policy, and that Khameini has issued an edict abjuring nuclear weapons (although he firmly supports Iran’s right to enrich Uranium for peaceful atomic power)

·    The mainstream media mostly reinforces the Bush-Cheney assertions

The Bush administration is taking actions which could provoke a cassus belli

·    They have sent an armada with 2 aircraft carriers, destroyers, & submarines all carrying offensive missiles and all close to the Iranian coast

·    Three episodes of kidnapping Iranians in Iraq & promises of more

·    Bush tacitly encourages Israel, says he “could understand” if they attack Iran

Neither Bush nor the mainstream media have explained the disasters that would follow an Israeli or American attack on Iran: for starters, slaughter of American troops and worsening of civil war in Iraq, disruption of oil supplies and skyrocketing prices, more recruits for jihadists, more attacks on Israel and the end of any hopes for Peace negotiations

The Iranians repeatedly offer negotiations to address American concerns as well as Middle Eastern stability, asking that their security concerns be addressed (which the Bush Administration has refused to do). The Administration rejects open-ended negotiations.

We ask that Congress:

·         Have immediate hearings on:

o        What undistorted intelligence says about Iran’s nuclear program;

o        Opportunities and possibilities of broad negotiations with Iran;

o        Expected consequences of an attack on Iran (weighed against benefits);

o        Whether McConnell would be an independent CIA Director, if approved

·         Issue a formal statement demanding congressional approval of any preemptive attack against Iran other than in clear self-defense, and barring use of nuclear weapons

·         that Congress does not support a pre-emptive attack on Iran by the US or Israel, and that demands assurances of the same from the Bush Administration

H.J.Res. 14 Concerning the use of force by the United States against Iran

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hj110-14

 Sam Gardiner (ret. USAF Colonel, War College teacher), Assessing US Military Options on Iran  http://www.tcf.org/publications/internationalaffairs/gardiner_summer_diplomacy.pdf

Flynt Everett (former CIA, Nat. Security Council), Assessing US Diplomatic Options toward Iran. http://www.tcf.org/publications/internationalaffairs/leverett_diplomatic.pdf