OMNI
IRAN NEWSLETTER,
June 21, 2019.
COMPILED
BY DICK BENNETT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE
(#11 Oct. 8, 2011; #12 Jan. 31, 2012; #13 Feb.
22, 2012; #14 Feb. 26, 2012; #15 March 17, 2012; #16 April 12, 2012; #17 May
21, 2012; #18, July 9, 2012; #19 August 13, 2012; #20 Sept. 10, 2012; #21, Dec.
14, 2012; #22 March 5, 2013; #23 Nov. 12, 2013; #24 March 5, 2014; #25 January
17, 2015; #26, July 28, 2015; #27, June 3, 2018.)
CONTENTS, IRAN NEWSLETTER, June 21, 2019, #28
NADG Reports on
Iran June 19-21
What’s at stake in Arkansas for war between US and Iran
What’s at stake in the world: United Nations Charter
Local direct
Action, Saturday June 22, Abel Tomlinson
National Actions
Win Wthout War
Peace Action
Ground Zero
Center
Iran No Threat, US the Threat
British General
Chris Ghika
Media Benjamin’s
Book, Inside Iran
Defending the US/Iran Nuclear Deal 2016
John Isaacs,
Council for a Liveable World
Win Without War
Repelling the
Warmongers
From 2016 to 2019, US and Iran Peace to Threatened War
Stephen Zunes,
5-15-19
Peace Action,
Stop Trump, 5-22-19
War Mongers and War Makers
Gulf of Tonkin
US Mainstream
Media Fomenting War
The Intercept, Mehdi Hasan
John Bolton, Pyromaniac
Chomsky, “Stop War with Iran”
United for Peace
and Justice, “Brink of War”
Israel and Team B for War
Bob Dreyfus, “Coalition
for the Killing”
Ben-Eliezer.s
book, War Over Peace
US v. Iran, US Media, and the Clarity of Satire, 2
Examples by Dick
NADG
Reports on Iran June 19-21
On June 20, Iran shot down a US RQ-4 drone.
D-G Staff. “Trump
Ok’d, Then Halted Iran [retaliatory] Strikes: Reason for Canceled Plans
Unknown.” 6-21-19, 1A,5A. Read the final 3 essential paragraphs. There we learn that Iran’s territorial waters
extend 12 nautical miles, as does Oman’s across the strait. Iran’s foreign affairs minister “gave what
he said were precise coordinates for where the U.S. drone was targeted” near Kouh-e-Mobarak,
and he said sections of the drone were retrieved “in OUR territorial waters
where it was shot down.” Here is the
ADG’s final paragraph: “The GPS coordinates released by [minister Zarif] would
put the drone 8 miles off Iran’s coast, to inside the 12 nautical miles from
shore that Iran claims as territorial waters.”
Apparently the drone was shot down over Iranian territory.
D-G Staff. “Iran
Reports It shot Down U.S. Drone in Its Airspace.” 6-20-19.
1A, 5A. A report mainly about the
bombing of the tanker ships. ADG also
published a cartoon relating the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Tonkin, where mistaken
identification, poor judgement, and
desire for war started the Vietnam War.
D-G Staff. “Iran
to Top Uranium Limits; U.S. Ups Troops.”
6-18-19. 1A, 2A.
What’s at stake for
Arkansas:
Arkansas Leaders for Peace: What Would They
Say Today?
J. William Fulbright during the height of the Cold War attempted to extend his Exchange Program to the Soviet Union,
but his plan to acquire a part of WWII Lend Lease money the Russians were
repaying was scuttled by US Sovietphobes, esp. by Senator “Scoop” Jackson of
Washington State. See Fulbright’s The Price of Empire. Another Arkansas native, Betty Bumpers, wife of then Senator
Bumpers, created the women’s organization, Peace Links, to exchange women from
the US and Russia and other countries.
Richard Seymour identifies
the success of such peacemakers and of successful antiwar
movements as those that have been able to make
direct links with those in the flight path of US aggression and to bring
their struggles and concerns directly into the US political arena. Indeed, direct comprehension of their urgent
struggles has often been a radicalizing factor in antiwar campaigns.”” American
Insurgents: A Brief History of American Anti-Imperialism (2012, p. 193).
Today we need direct nonviolent citizen
contact with “enemy” nations, especially including exchanges with all nations
our leaders perceive to be “evil.” Yesterday (and still today) it was North
Korea. Today it is Iran.
After decades of unceasing hostility
by the US toward Iran (particularly the CIA-arranged overthrow of the elected
leader of Iran, Mosadeq), finally President Obama changed course, and Secretary
Kerrry negotiated a peace plan that checked Iran’s nuclear weapons production. Now President Trump, backed by Arkansas’s
Senator Cotton, has reversed that peaceful course, and has reverted back to the
old hostlity and possible nuclear danger.
–Dick
What’s at stake for the nation: Getting and keeping our bearings toward war, the United Nations Charter:
UN
Charter, Chapter 1, Article 2,
No. 4: All Members shall refrain in
their international relations from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other
manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
LOCAL DIRECT
ACTION THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2019, 11 A.M.,
County Courthouse, corner of College and Dickson
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Dear Friends,
Our No Iran War demonstration last Friday went
very well. Here are a few pictures. We got
a ton of supportive honks from cars passing by. We are going to do a similar
protest again this Saturday, June 22nd at 11 A.M. in front of the Washington
County Courthouse in Fayetteville. The following is the reason why this is
important to continue:
As you surely know, the drums for Iran war are
beating louder and louder, especially after the recent tanker attacks off the
coast of Iran. It must be noted that there are many reasons* to be very
skeptical about the narrative being promoted by the Trump Administration and
much of the mainstream media.
Regardless of who attacked the ships, it is
crystal clear that war is not the answer. It would likely kill or severely harm
millions of people and waste trillions of dollars, among many other grave
consequences.
We must continue speaking out against this
threat of war, which would be another illegal war crime just like Iraq. We must
show our community that there is dissent.
Signs will be provided, but feel free to make
your own. We will hold a demonstration at the Courthouse and then march to
& through the Farmer's Market.
Thank you,
--
Abel Tomlinson
Arkansas Nonviolence Alliance, Founder
(479)283-5762
*Reasons to be
skeptical of the Gulf of Oman incident:
1. There is a deep history of U.S. war
proponents lying to justify war, including the similar Gulf of Tonkin incident.
The same John Bolton advocating Iran war was among those that lied for the Iraq
War.
2. Neoconservative war hawks, especially
Bolton, and leaders of the Saudi and Israeli government have wanted war with
Iran for a long time.
3. The leading proponents of war, Bolton and
Pompeo, have both openly admitted to lying for objectives like this.
4. The nations whose ships were actually
attacked are showing skepticism and restraint, as well as governments and
leaders from several other nations.
5. The owners of the Japanese ship that was
attacked said a "flying object" (missile) hit their ship, which
contradicts the Trump Administration narrative that Iran placed mines.
6. In 2007, Four Star General Wesley Clark
reported seeing a secret document from the Office of the Secretary of Defense
[then Donald Rumsfeld], which stated, "We're going to take out seven
countries...starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan
and, finishing off, Iran.”
[OMNI is closely allied with ANA. –Dick)
NATIONAL
ACTIONS PROTESTING US AGGRESSION
Contribute to a peace organization; call your members of
Congress; support bills blocking war.
WIN
WITHOUT WAR 6-20-19
Dick — we are in all-out crisis mode. Iran just shot
down a U.S. drone — and whose airspace the drone was in is being disputed right
now.
This
marks a new escalation in a very tense situation — and with the Trump
administration stacked with warmongers, we are scared we are witnessing the beginning of a war.
I'll
give it to you straight: Win Without War is doing everything we can to try and
stop a needless, costly, and destructive war with Iran. And we can't fall flat
financially while we're fighting so hard for peace.
—Stephen
_________________________
Dick— we are on the brink of an absolutely unnecessary,
catastrophic, and costly war with Iran.
After
the oil tanker attacks last week, the Trump war cabinet instantly blamed Iran,
ordered 1,000 more troops, and set their pro-Iran-war public relations campaign
on full blast.
It is a MIRACLE missiles haven’t already been launched. We
CANNOT let that happen.
We
remember the Iraq War. We know the immense human horror and heartbreak that we
are SO CLOSE to again — which is why Win Without War has been working flat-out
to put an emergency break on this march to war through Congress, the media, and
with allies around the world.
But Pompeo, Bolton, and Trump’s campaign is more aggressive,
more extreme, and more sustained than anything we’ve faced in a very long time.
So
I won’t mince words: we can’t fall short financially just as our campaign to
stop war with Iran is reaching a back-breaking level of intensity.
Can you make a one-time emergency gift of $15 to sustain our
work stopping war with Iran now?
Regardless of who is responsible for the tanker attacks, the
ensuing crisis and potential escalation toward war is literally because of the
actions of Donald Trump and his war cabinet.
Since
he took office, Trump has walked away from the historic Iran deal, waged
economic warfare through suffocating sanctions, launched an administration-wide
“maximum pressure” campaign of hostility and antagonism, and built up military
forces in the Middle East with the express goal of “confronting Iran.”
In
the past few days, we’ve also learned that behind closed doors, Mike Pompeo has
been telling lawmakers that the 2001 AUMF — a law passed 18 YEARS ago in
response to the 9/11 attacks — would give them authority to wage war against
Iran.
We’re
seeing Team Trump launch a public relations campaign selling anti-Iranian and
anti-Muslim hate to set the stage for a destructive war with Iran. One
by one, they’re trying to lock in everything they need to launch a war against
Iran.
The
good news is it looks like the public isn’t buying it. A recent poll showed
just 32% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the situation with
Iran. [1] And both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would
bar funding for an illegal, unauthorized war with Iran.
But we are in a race against time to stop Trump’s warmongers
crossing over a self-determined threshold before bombs start to rain down.
We
have been at this for MONTHS, and we could be at this for MONTHS MORE, and we
need your support to keep up this break-neck pace:
Thank
you for working for peace,
Stephen,
Ben, Amy, and the Win Without War team---
[1]
CNN, "Survey"
Is Trump About to Attack Iran?
12:16 PM (7 hours ago)
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Peace Action supporter,
The day we’ve feared for years may be here.
After today’s downing of a U.S. drone by Iranian forces, it
looks like U.S. military strikes on Iran may be imminent. Even if such strikes
were a “limited” retaliatory response to the drone being downed, those initial
strikes could easily spiral into a wider conflict.
I need you to step up your activism today to prevent all-out war
with Iran. Peace Action will have a number of suggestions for actions you can
take over the next few days, but today I need you to call Congress right away
as critical meetings are happening in D.C. right now.
Can you call your members of Congress? Here’s what I need you to
do:
1) Call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121
2) Ask for your representative/senators, and when connected say:
3) My name is ___________ and I am a
constituent living at (your address). I’m calling to urge [the
Representative/Senator] to publicly oppose U.S. military attacks on Iran.
I urge [the Representative/Senator] to tell the president he does not have
constitutional authority for any attacks. {My representative] should point out
any retaliatory strike on Iran for what happened to the U.S. drone could spiral
out of control. Instead, [my representative] should call for the U.S. to return
to diplomacy, including supporting a convening of the UN Security Council to
work to defuse tensions in this global crisis.
A potential U.S. retaliatory strike is likely being discussed in
the White House as I write this. The White House
has said they will be briefing Congressional leaders later today and that is
often a sign that an attack is imminent. Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi
has called a caucus meeting of Democrats for later today. Members of Congress
will be the key here and active peace-loving people need to push them to stand
in Trump’s way.
The only way to pull us out of this spiral toward war is if
supporters of peace get active and push Congress to stand up to the president
and tell him clearly that he has no authority to go to war.
Please call today.
Thank you so much for what you do for peace, and for stepping up
at critical moments like this.
For Peace,
Jon Rainwater
Executive Director
Peace Action
Executive Director
Peace Action
Peace Action
8630 Fenton St
Suite 934
Silver Spring, MD 20910
United States
8630 Fenton St
Suite 934
Silver Spring, MD 20910
United States
Another
War? Not In Our Name!
Ground Zero Center For Nonviolent Action
May 19, 2019
Dear Friends of a world free of nuclear weapons,
It has been nearly three-quarters of a century since the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet the nuclear armed nations continue to
threaten humanity with extinction, and according to a number of experts we are
in the midst of a new, and more dangerous, nuclear arms race. Nuclear weapons,
of course, do not exist in a vacuum; and we will never abolish them without
confronting, and bringing to heel, the fundamental militarism that puts them
front and center in our nation's (and other nations') foreign policy and
promotes countless wars - what Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence
calls the "Permanent Warfare State."
And now we face the very real probability of a war on Iran,
which would be a disaster in the Middle East and beyond. There are so many
possible scenarios and yet, in the end, as we have seen in every other war, it
will not be President Trump, his advisors, the members of the US Congress, the
heads of the weapons-making corporations, or even the people working in those
companies developing and building the weapons, who will suffer the effects of war.
It will be the soldiers, and the countless innocent civilians who will suffer
all because of the whims of a small number of influential people.
The U.S. continues to ratchet up tensions and create the
conditions for war. Just yesterday the
U.S. warned that all commercial aircraft flying over the Persian Gulf and the
Gulf of Oman need to be aware of "heightened military activities and
increased political tension." This is particularly ironic, when it was the
United States that shot down an Iranian airliner in 1988, killing all 290
people on board. Iran Air Flight 655, a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran
to Dubai, was shot down on July 3,1988 by a surface-to-air missile fired from
USS Vincennes. The jet was hit while flying over Iran's territorial waters in
the Persian Gulf, along the flight's usual route, shortly after departing
Bandar Abbas International Airport. (source: Wickipedia)
Ground Zero Center honored the true intention of Mothers Day
(for Peace) over the Mothers Day weekend. Kathy Kelly spoke to the group; her
talk was titled, "Deploying Love in a Permanent Warfare State." When
asked (by interviewer Martha Baskin) what she meant by "deploying
love," Kelly replied:
"In a permanent warfare state the crucial step of education
goes missing. I think democracy is based on education. Since I arrived at
Ground Zero I've heard people say that several times in several contexts.
Unfortunately the military has a vice-like grip on many means of educating the
public: whether it's media literacy, on college campuses, or entertainment. As
a result it depends on people – good souls who come to gatherings like this -
to inform the public. In looking over my own years - I'm 66 years old - it's
remarkable to me that so much energy has been invoked to stop wars, given the
efforts of highly paid think tanks and media outlets to prevent that education.
Many are very troubled by the ongoing war in Yemen with more momentum than
we've seen in quite some time to stop the arming of Saudi Arabia [a Senate
resolution passed 54-46 in March to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition
fighting in Yemen]."
It is time for every
citizen to speak out forcefully, saying No War; Not in My Name!
There are bills in Congress to prevent President Trump from
launching a war on Iran. Senator Udall has introduced S. 1039, the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act, and
Rep. Eshoo has introduced H.R. 2354
in the House. Click here to see if your Senators are cosponsors. Click here to
see if your Representative is a cosponsor. If any are not, please call the
Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected to the offices of your
Senators and/or Representative and urge them to become cosponsors.
Here are some resources to understand what's happening in Iran
and why the drumbeat of war is so threatening to life and limb in Iran and in
the US (courtesy of Washington Physicians
for Social Responsibility Nuclear Weapons Abolition Task Force).
• Iran officially
ends some of its nuclear deal commitments, local media reports (Natasha Turak
at CNBC)
• State Dept.
orders nonemergency personnel to leave Iraq posts (NBC News)
• National
Security Officials Detail Plan to Deploy Up To 12K Troops to Iran (Matthew
Rozsa, Salon)
• Trump
administration prepares multiple military options for Iran, including
airstrikes and setting up ground invasion (Newsweek)
• Military
Officials say there is no actual plan to confront Iran (John Walcott at
Time.com)
• As tensions
with Iran escalate, the real question we should all be asking is: who's really
in charge in the White House? (Jay Caruso in The Independent)
• Can Congress
steer the U.S. away from war with Iran? (Nick Robins-Early in Huffington Post)
We can (and must) stop this massive, destructive war machine.
And yes - the only thing that will stop it is the most massive and subversive
deployment of LOVE that we can muster. We must all reach out in every direction
to overcome the forces that seek to undermine the democratic process and the
ability of citizens to make informed decisions that affect our nation and so
many others.
On behalf of Ground Zero
Center,
Leonard Eiger
IRAN NO THREAT
JAKE JOHNSON. British General Says No Evidence of "Increased Threat" From
Iran. COMMON DREAMS.
Truthout May 15, 2019.
Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika threw a wrench into
the Trump administration's narrative that Iran is plotting attacks on American
troops, saying "there's been no increased threat from Iranian-backed
forces" in the region. While U.S. Central Command disputes this claim,
antiwar voices and foreign policy analysts warn that the United States may be
attempting to manufacture a false pretext to justify launching a war with Iran.
Read the Article →
Read the Article →
MEDEA
BENJAMIN’S BOOK
Medea Benjamin. Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics
of the Islamic Republic of Iran. OR
Books, 2018.
Rev. by Denny
Riley. “A Clear Exposition of a Complex
History.” Peace in Our Times (Fall 2018).
U.S. relations with Iran have been fraught for decades, but under the Trump
Administration tensions are rising to startling levels. Medea Benjamin, one of the ...
Joe Friendly
Thom Hartmann Program
YouTube - Jun 26, 2018
THE US/IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL BROUGHT PEACE
Defending the US/Iran Nuclear Deal
2016
Iran deal implemented!
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Action Needed: Congress Votes
Tomorrow on the Iran Deal
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FROM 2016 TO 2019, PEACE TO THREATENED WAR
The Threat of
War with Iran by Stephen
Zunes
May
15, 2019.
Is
the U.S. lurching towards another illegal war in the Middle East?
The Trump Administration is escalating the threat of nuclear
conflict in Iran and elsewhere.
The White House has ordered an aircraft
carrier strike group off the coast of Iran and a fleet of bombers have flown to
U.S. air bases near that country, while preliminary plans are apparently underway to send
120,000 U.S. troops to the region.
Just as Iraq’s full compliance with its
obligations under United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding its
disarmament of unconventional weapons and its allowing a comprehensive
inspections regime did not save that country from invasion
and a bloody foreign occupation, Iran’s full compliance with its obligations
under the U.N.-ratified Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action has
not stopped the United States from again threatening war.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has described the
nuclear deal as a result of ten years of posturing and two years of intense
negotiations, during which he and Secretary of State John Kerry met no fewer
than fifty times to hammer out every word of the agreement. He was able to
convince his government, over the objections of hardliners, to agree to destroy
billions of dollars’ worth of nuclear facilities and material and a strict
inspections regime in return for the lifting of debilitating sanctions. Iran
has thus far honored its agreement; the United States has not.
The idea that Iran would agree to further
concessions under pressure from an unreliable negotiating partner is totally
unrealistic. Hardliners, moderates, and even regime dissidents in Iran are
united in their opposition to giving in to American bullying. My interviews
with scores of ordinary Iranians earlier this spring made it clear that,
despite widespread opposition to the Islamist regime, they would unite against
any foreign threat.
Iran’s full compliance
with its obligations under the U.N.-ratified Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
has not stopped the United States from again threatening war.
The United States is even more isolated in the
international community than it was regarding an invasion of Iraq. The other
five signatories of the nuclear agreement, along with the rest of the European
Union and much of the rest of the world, still support the
agreement. Despite this, the threat of U.S. sanctions against companies which
continue to do business with Iran is frightening away investors and trading
partners, resulting in a catastrophic financial downturn for ordinary Iranians.
Unable to find a nuclear-related excuse for war,
the Trump Administration has announced it has discovered unspecified “threats”
to U.S. personnel in the Middle East by Iranian-aligned armed groups,
particularly in Iraq. Others familiar with situation think differently. For
example, British Major General Christopher Ghika, who serves as deputy
commander of the U.S.-led coalition of international forces engaged in counter-terrorist
operations in Iraq and Syria has explicitly stated that
“there’s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces.”
It is unclear, therefore, what has prompted this
sudden crisis. National Security Advisor John Bolton, a major architect of the
previous Republican administration’s invasion of Iraq, has long advocated for
war with Iran. And there is nothing like an international emergency to distract
from the growing series of scandals and legal troubles engulfing Trump and his
family.
Regardless, a war with Iran—even assuming it
would not include a land invasion—would be catastrophic.
Iran is three times the size and population as
Iraq and has a far more formidable military force. At the time of the 2003 U.S.
invasion, Iraq had virtually no navy, air force, or long-range missiles, since
much of its military capacity was physically destroyed or otherwise rendered
inoperable as a result of the 1990 Gulf War and the subsequent U.N. disarmament
regime and rigorous international sanctions.
Iran, by contrast, has a modern military force
with missiles capable of reaching U.S. bases, navy ships, and troop
concentrations up to 1,200 miles away. A war would effectively close shipping
through the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world’s oil is
shipped, likely triggering a global recession.
Attacks on Iran’s remaining nuclear facilities,
some of which are located in heavily-populated areas, would release large
amounts of radiation and other poisonous gasses. The Iranian-aligned Lebanese
Hezbollah would likely unleash large-scale missile attacks against Israel, and
other extremists groups could launch a series of terrorist attacks against
Americans worldwide. Such violence would likely trigger a still wider war, led
by a President and military command with little concern about civilian
casualties.
The last time a Republican administration made
false claims regarding threats to U.S. national security interests by a Middle
Eastern state, leading Democrats like Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chuck
Schumer, and John Kerry willingly repeated the lies and voted to authorize war.
They did so despite warnings by countless Middle East specialists from the
State Department, academia, and elsewhere that an invasion was illegal,
unnecessary, and would be utterly disastrous. Since their role in making
possible the Iraq debacle did not prevent them from getting their party’s
presidential nomination or attaining other leadership position, Democrats on
Capitol Hill may not feel deterred from once again supporting a Republican
President’s reckless militarism.
Even if Congressional Democrats have since grown
some backbone and would be willing to oppose a war with Iran, however, it’s
highly questionable whether Trump would even bother seeking Congressional
authorization in the first place.
Even if Congressional
Democrats have grown enough backbone to oppose a war with Iran, it’s
highly questionable whether Trump would even bother seeking Congressional
authorization in the first place.
Concerns expressed over possible attacks against
U.S. troops and civilian personnel in Iraq by Iranian-backed Shia militia
underscores the irony that while Iraq’s government is in power thanks to the
2003 U.S.-led invasion, a number of the parties in the ruling coalition have
longstanding ties to the Islamic Republic. As a result, since 2005, the Baghdad
regime has relied on both countries for financial and military support. Both
Iran and the United States want the other out of the country, yet they have
been allied in the battle against ISIS in the northwestern part of the country.
The result is that U.S. forces and Iraqi Shia
militia, often accompanied by elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps, are frequently in close physical proximity. Now that the Trump
Administration has named the group as a terrorist organization and the broad
latitude given to U.S. forces in confronting “terrorists,” the chances of an
armed confrontation that could be used as an excuse to launch a wider war are
very real.
There are other frightening scenarios as well:
As with the tendency during the Cold War to
exaggerate Soviet and Cuban responsibility for various leftist insurgencies
around the world, Washington has been insisting that some militia groups allied
with Iran are actually “proxies,” implying that they are acting at the behest
of the Iranian government. As a result, should a Houthi commander order a
rocket attack against a Saudi air base in retaliation for ongoing deadly airstrikes
that result in casualties among U.S. personnel stationed there, the Trump
Administration could then portray it as an Iranian attack against the United
States and an excuse to launch a war.
Similarly, the presence of both U.S. and Iranian
forces in Syria could lead to any number of scenarios of an intentional or
accidental armed confrontation amid that country’s multi-sided conflict.
In short, even if the Trump Administration is
only bluffing and does not actually intend to launch a confrontation, a hair
trigger situation now exists that could result in a major conflagration.
Tags
Stephen
Zunes is a professor of politics and international studies at the University of
San Francisco. A regular contributor to The
Progressive, he serves as a senior policy analyst for the Institute for
Policy Studies.
May
15, 2019
Re: Stop Trump’s March to War with Iran
5-22-19
Friend, did you see Jon’s email about stopping a war with
Iran?
When he sent it two weeks ago, tensions with Iran were higher
than they’ve been since the Bush era, and two weeks later, that’s where they
remain. Since that email, U.S. officials have said that it is “highly likely”
that Iran was behind the recent sabotage of Saudi oil tankers in the Persian
Gulf, Trump took to Twitter to threaten Iran with war, warning of Iran’s
“official end” if it wants to fight, and hawks in Congress like Lindsey
Graham have taken their Iran war mongering to new heights.
It’s up to us to make sure Trump can’t wage war with Iran
without congressional approval, as he’s done in Syria and Yemen. It’s up to
us to make sure Congress never authorizes such a war. Please, write your members of
Congress today and ask them to support the Prevention of Unconstitutional War
with Iran Act to stop another disastrous war in the Middle East.
For peace,
Jeff
Dear Friend,
President Trump’s march to war with Iran just kicked into high gear.
In 2018, the administration’s steps toward war with Iran
were unmistakable. From Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Iran agreement
in spite of Iran’s verifiable compliance, to the reimposition of the full
suite of U.S. sanctions lifted under the agreement aimed at crippling Iran’s
economy, to national security advisor John Bolton asking the Pentagon for
strike options against Iran, the administration wasn’t exactly beating around
the bush.
The latest developments, however, should leave no doubt in our
minds. The Trump administration wants a war, and soon. We have a path
to stop it, but Congress needs to act! Please write your senators and
representative today and ask them to support the Prevention of
Unconstitutional War with Iran Act.
In April, over strong objections from top Pentagon and CIA
officials,[1] the administration took the dangerous and provocative step of
designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran’s
military, as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). National security
leaders opposed the move because it will do little to hamper the activities
of the already-heavily-sanctioned IRGC, while needlessly increasing the risk
to U.S. troops in the region. Indeed, their fears were confirmed when Iran
reciprocated by designating U.S. Central Command as a terrorist organization,
and the U.S. as a state sponsor of terror.
Then last Sunday, relying on a speculative Israeli
intelligence assessment[2] about unspecified Iranian threats to U.S.
interests, John Bolton used the alleged threat and the routine deployment[3]
of an aircraft carrier group to the region as an opportunity to threaten Iran
with “unrelenting force” should Iran, or any of its proxies, attack U.S.
interests in the region. In other words, the administration is expanding the
scenarios in which it might attack Iran to include attacks on U.S. interests
by Shia militias aligned with Iran, increasing the risk of escalations that
could lead to war.
A member of Disabled American Veterans recently wrote a letter
to the editor[4] in the New York Times putting our worst fears into words,
warning that Trump may intend to use a war with Iran to sure up his
reelection campaign. We can’t let that happen.
If all of this gives you a sense of déjà vu, you’re not alone.
The Trump administration is building its case for war with Iran with the same
dubious narratives of nuclear threats and ties to al Qaeda that brought us
the Iraq war. At a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “There is no doubt there is a connection
between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Al-Qaeda. Period, full stop.”[5] And
Pompeo made that statement in spite of a 2018 study by the New America think
tank that found “no evidence of cooperation” between al Qaeda and Iran.[6]
When Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asked Pompeo to rule out using the 2001 war
authorization to attack Iran, Pompeo said he’d “prefer to just leave that to
lawyers.” And with Iran now reciprocating the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran
Nuclear Agreement by reducing its compliance with the accord, the
administration will try to use the specter of an Iranian bomb to drive its
case for war home.
The threat of war with Iran is real, but too many people are missing the signs as media
reports on the Muller report and Trump’s tax returns bury them in the news
cycle. It’s up to us to make sure Congress doesn’t let this White House march
us into another catastrophic war of choice.
Thank you for all you do for peace.
Sincerely,
Jon Rainwater
Peace Action
P.S. If your Senator is Tom Udall (D-DM) or your
Representative is Anna Eshoo (D-CA), be sure to thank them for their
leadership on this issue by sponsoring this important step to block yet
another unconstitutional war.
References: [1] Chachko, Elena, The U.S. Names the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a Terrorist Organization and Sanctions the International Criminal Court, Lawfare, April 10, 2019 [2] Ravid, Barak, Scoop: Israel passed White House intelligence on possible Iran plot, Axios, May 6, 2019 [3] Borger, Julian, US deploys aircraft carrier and bombers after 'credible threat' from Iran, The Guardian, May 6, 2019 [4] Dederer, John, Threatening Iran: A Re-election Ploy, The New York Times, May 7, 2019 [5] Edmonson, Catie, and Edward Wong, Pompeo Is Warned Against Sidestepping Congress for Conflict With Iran, The New York Times, April 10, 2019 [6] Lahoud, Nelly, Al-Qa'ida's Contested Relationship with Iran, New America, September 7, 2018
Peace Action
8630 Fenton St Suite 934 Silver Spring, MD 20910 United States |
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WARMONGERS AND WAR MAKERS
US WAR MAKERS EAGER TO WAR
WITH IRAN 2019
Warnings of ‘Gulf of Tonkin 2.0’ as Trump officials blame Iran for oil tanker attacks. Mronline.org (5-17-19)
It’s
obvious that Bolton and Pompeo are trying to create a Gulf of Tonkin incident
with Iran.
US MEDIA FOMENTING WAR
Four Simple Steps the U.S. Media Could Take to
Prevent a Trump War With Iran.
Mehdi
Hasan. The Intercept (5-18-19)
Do U.S. reporters, anchors, and editors really
want more Middle Eastern blood on their hands? They’re certainly acting like
it.
HERE WE GO again. Sixteen years after the U.S.
media helped the Bush administration
spread myths and lies about the threat posed by Iraq
to the United States and its allies, the Trump administration is spreading
similar myths and lies about the threat posed by Iran.
The
64,000-rial question, therefore, is whether or not journalists have learned any
lessons whatsoever from the Iraqi WMD debacle of 2003.
Well,
consider these recent headlines:
“US
deploying more Patriot missiles to Middle East, amid Iranian threats” (CNN)
“Pentagon
Builds Deterrent Force Against Possible Iranian Attack” (New York Times)
“U.S.
Says Iran Likely Behind Ship Attacks” (Wall Street Journal)
“Iranian
threats led to White House’s deployment announcement, U.S. officials say” (Washington Post)
The evidence
for these hawkish headlines? For this stream of alarmist media reports about
“threats” and “attacks” from Iran? Yes, you guessed it: statements provided to
reporters by U.S. officials hiding behind a cloak of anonymity. In some cases,
just one official. Take the Wall Street Journal’s scoop:
An
initial U.S. assessment indicated Iran likely was behind the attack on two
Saudi Arabian oil tankers and two other vessels damaged over the weekend near
the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official said, a finding that, if confirmed, would
further inflame military tensions in the Persian Gulf.
Why would
you trust the word of a single official on such a sensitive and contentious
issue? And why, oh why, would you rely on the testimony of a member of the
Trump administration, known globally, of course, for its stringent and
unbending adherence to the truth?
More here:
“I think we can all
agree that hiring an arsonist as the town fire prevention chief would be
batshit nuts. But it turns out that’s exactly what Donald Trump has done with
our nation’s foreign policy when he hired pyromaniac turned fire chief, John
Bolton as his National Security Advisor.” - Stephen Miles
Is John Bolton the most
dangerous man in the world? (The Guardian)
“Donald Trump’s
national security adviser John Bolton wants the United States to go to war with
Iran. We know this because he has been saying it for nearly two decades.” - Ben Armbruster
US is already fighting a
conflict with Iran – an economic war that is hurting the wrong people (The
Conversation)
“The U.S. has been
fighting a war with Iran for decades – an economic war fought via sanctions
that has intensified over the past year and has already been devastating to
innocent civilians in the country.” - David Cortright, WWW Co-chair
US Mainstream Media typified by NADG
obfuscation: “amid rising tensions”
Led by John Bolton, the Trump administration
is pursuing catastrophe to protect U.S. dominance. BY NOAM CHOMSKY
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ISRAEL
AND US B-TEAM FOR WAR WITH IRAN
Bo\b Dreyfuss. “Coalition of the Killing: The ‘B Team’ Is
Pushing for War Against Iran.” The Nation (June 3/10, 2019).
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, SA Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Abu
Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
Ben-Eliezer, Uri. War
Over Peace: One Hundred Years of Israeli’s Militaristic Nationalism. U of California P, 2019.
US VS. IRAN, US MEDIA, AND THE CLARITY OF SATIRE
Two
emended reports 2016 and 2019 by Dick Bennett
US
LEADER: BOOST WEAPONS BUDGET, BALLISTICS MISSILES WITH NUCLEAR WARHEADS, AND
CARRIER BATTLE GROUPS. Alikootani Akbar
Doohoorini. Iranian Press. Jan. 1, 2016.
Rptd. By Dick Bennett
US President Obama ordered the accelerated
production of missiles and warheads in response to possible threatening
presence of Iranian naval warships in the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to the War Department Secrectary
publishd on the president’s website, President Obama said the US won’t accept
any incursion by hostile ships in violation of US responsibility to protect the
Americas from harm, would boost missile output, and would begin production of an eleventh Carrior Battle
Group. He also declared the US would
not be intimidated by Iranian sanctions that would limit strengthening its
military essential to US national security.
The Wall Street Journal reported
complaints by some Iranian officials that “new sanctions may be delayed”
despite recent US violations in testing ballistics missiles and thereby testing
the will of the international community, “instigated by its hardline elements
that want to scuttle the [nuclear weapons] deal.” President Obama said the development and
production of US missiles and navy, though they are nuclear equipped, are
necessary given the global threats surrounding the US. The US will defend itself, the President
declared, and warned Iran to steer clear of its shores.
The President denounced Iran’s
provocations by the Iranian warships, a destroyer and frigate, as they neared
Nassau possibly on their way to the Gulf around Key West.
The President also rebuked the President
of Iran, Hassani Rouhoohani, for “typical Iranian guile” in its claim the
warships were on a training mission and to keep shipping lanes at the mouth of
the Gulf of Mexico from Miami to the Bahama Islands free and open to all
countries.
The US had earlier denied Iranian
accusations that it launched a provocative rocket test near Iran’s warships,
dismissing the claim as psychological warfare.
And its spokesman added that the Atlantic was commonly used to test
missiles and bombs, just as was the Pacific Ocean.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said that
US ships fired several rockets about 1,500 yards from Destroyer Hootookani and
Frigate Noorhbashi . Although the
rockets were announced in advance and apparently were not aimed at the Iranian
ships, nevertheless they were highly provocative, the RG spokesman said. Firing weapons so close to passing ships and
commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane,
the spokesman continued, is inconsistent with international maritime law.
Nearly a third of all oranges traded by
sea passes through the Straits of Abaco and Eleuthera and West Palm Beach and
Grand Bahama. No confrontations between
the US and Iran have been recorded here (as between the US and Iran during the
Iraq/Iran War in 1988), but the White House perceives the growing tentacles of
Iran as reaching to these critical sea lanes.
A new note appeared in President Obama’s
statement. Observing the vulnerability
of most of the US Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts to rising seas (most of
the coastline from below sea-level to 300 feet), with major cities from New
Orleans to Boston threatened with inundation, the US is reported to be secretly
discussing prohibiting ships from Iran, N. Korea, Russia, and Viet Nam from
adding to the eroding waves.
(Inspiration: Ali Akbar Dareini, AP. “Iran Leader: Boost Missile Output. Rouhani urges speed in face of possible new
U.S. sanctions.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Jan. 1, 2016). “Obama Steps Up Push to Curb Gun
Violence.” AD-G (Jan. 4, 2016, by AD-G staff, the last section of the article
tacked on about Iran but unintentionally highly relevant to the mass killings
in the nation, the main subject).
ABSURDITY:
CHANGE THE NAME FIND REALITY
IRAN IN GULF OF MEXICO!
Ruhollah Qumsiyah. Iranian Patriotic Press. “Iran Makes Presence Known to US.” Tehran Democrat. June 9, 2019.
Aboard the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Carrier in the Gulf of Mexico. Under a starry sky, the Revolutionary
fighter jets catapulted off the aircraft carrier’s deck and flew north over the
darkened waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico, a signal to the US that the
foremost symbol of the Iranian military’s global reach is back in its
neighborhood.
The Iranian
Revolutionary Carrier, with its contingent of Navy destroyers and cruisers and
a fighting force of about 70 aircraft, is the centerpiece of Tehran’s response
to what it calls US threats to attack Iranian forces or commercial shipping in the
Gulf of Mexico region.
Iranian officials have
said that signs of heightened US preparations to strike Iranian and other
targets in April emerged shortly after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s
administration announced it was clamping down further on the US economy by
ending waivers to sanction on buyers of US crude oil.
The Khomeini
administration went a step beyond that on Friday, announcing penalties that
target Iran’s largest petrochemical component.
The Revolutionary
Guard Carrier’s contingent of 44 Super Wasps is flying a carefully calibrated
set of missions off the carrier night and day, mainly to establish a visible
Iranian presence. Revolutionary Guard General Maktab al-Khidamat said that the
effort seems to have caused the US to “tinker with” its preparation for
potential attacks.
He said that he
thinks the US had been planning some sort of attack on shipping or on Iranian
forces in the Gulf area. Two other
officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details,
said the US was in a high state of readiness in early May with its ships,
submarines, surface to air missiles and drone aircraft.
“It is my assessment
that if we had not reinforced, it is entirely likely that an attack would have
taken place by now,” al- Khidamat said.
He said earlier last week that he had not ruled out requesting additional defensive forces to bolster the deterrence of the US, whose economy is being squeezed hard by sanctions after Khomeini pulled Iran from the 2015 nuclear deal between the US and world powers. Iran already has announced plans to send 900 additional troops to the Mideast and to extend the stay of 600 more. Tens of thousands of other troops are on the ground across the region.
Al-Khidamat spent two days aboard the
Revolutionary Guard Carrier to confer with naval commanders. “I am the reason you are here,” the general
said in an all-hands announcement to the nearly 6,000 personnel on the carrier,
shortly after he flew aboard by Revolutionary helicopter from Cuba. “I requested this ship because of ongoing
tensions with the US,” he said. “And
nothing says you’re interested in somebody like 90,000 tons of aircraft carrier
and everything that comes with it.”
Robert
Burns. The Associated Press. “U.S. Makes Presence Known to Iran.” Northwest
Arkansas Democrat Gazette (June 9, 2019).
Note:
“everything that comes with it”: “A carrier strike group (CSG)
is an operational formation of the United States Navy. It is
composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, an aircraft carrier, at least
one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least two destroyers or frigates, and
a carrier air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft.” The US has 10 carrier groups.
END IRAN NEWSLETTER #28, June 21, 2019
