Thursday, February 22, 2007

 

Stop More War Before It Starts

It's not too late to stop a war with Iran. But time may be running out.

As the BBC reported Tuesday, it appears that the Bush administration may be preparing for air strikes on Iran soon despite the administration's recent claims to the contrary.

Will you join us in our campaign to prevent war with Iran? Click here to stop this war.

The threat of a U.S. attack is very real. The administration has been building its case for weeks, claiming Iran support for insurgents in Iraq.

On Monday, the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis — backed by a strike group with more than 6,500 sailors and Marines and with additional minesweeping ships — arrived in the Persian Gulf region, joining the Eisenhower carrier group in a 'show if strength.'

The administration maintains its build-up in the region is a response to Iranian naval war games in the gulf, setting the stage - or creating the pretext - for a confrontation.

I'm leaving for Iran next week and I admit I'm more than a little nervous about the trip. I will be touring some of the disputed nuclear sites and perhaps meeting with former Iranian President Khatemi and with a variety of civil society leaders in Iran.

I want to thank each of you who have agreed to sponsor my trip to Iran. I greatly appreciate your generous support and look forward to reporting back to you upon my return.


When I return, I will be traveling to speak at events around the country, report on my citizen diplomacy initiative and build opposition to a war with Iran.

There is more we can - and must - do however. Today, I need your help to accelerate Peace Action Education Fund's plans to launch an online ad campaign to increase public awareness of this latest threat to peace and use it to turn up the heat on Congress.

Our last campaign was a huge success, thanks in large part to your support. It helped us educate Congress on the threat of war with Iran and that is now paying dividends as several Members of Congress have already proposed legislation to block any attack on Iran absent congressional authorization.

I am working to put this in place before I leave for Iran and with your generous contribution, I believe we can raise the $7,000 necessary to succeed.

Events are moving so fast and we need to act now to let our fellow citizens know the threat of a U.S. strike against Iran is imminent and invite them to join us in preventing it.

In peace,

Paul Kawika Martin
Organizing and Political Director

P.S. Before I leave for Iran, I want to put an ad campaign in place to alert our fellow citizens of the very real danger of a U.S. strike on Iran. Expanding Bush's war to Iran will kill thousands, further jeopardize our troops in the region and could very well cause the violence to spiral out of control, engulfing the entire region, and maybe the whole world. Please join the effort to prevent an attack on Iran. Click here to help.

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

 

Increase Peace, Stop More War in Iraq

While we were all disappointed to see the Senate's lack of action to stop U.S. escalation in Iraq, last week's Senate skirmish has given us insight on how to proceed in the House. The White House's fight to stop a vote or even a real debate on escalation in the Senate has shown that the hawks are on the run.

Because of the Senate's impotence last week, we need to focus on the House this week. The House of Representatives will be debating Iraq policy all week and voting on H.Con.Res. 63 to disapprove of escalation on Friday. Your Representative needs to hear from you on this important issue; Email your representative now and urge them to step up and lead us out of the quagmire in Iraq!

Ask your representative to take two important steps to bringing our troops home:

  1. Tell them to send a strong message of disapproval to the President by voting against escalation this week. While the non-binding resolution (H.Con.Res. 63) being voted this week on won't end the occupation, it will help to build bi-partisan consensus and momentum to really support our troops by bringing them home.
  2. Urge your representative to cosponsor H.R. 746 , the binding "Safe and Orderly Withdrawal from Iraq Act" introduced by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA). This bill would start withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq within 30 days of passage and requires that all U.S. military and contracted forces be out of Iraq within six months.

Given the cowardly acquiescence of Senate Republicans to the White House last week, it is especially important that we get House Republicans to vote against escalation this week. Voting against escalation will send a strong message to leadership that as our representatives they're obligated to listen to the people - and the people want to end the war!

The Americans who volunteered for military service as well as the people of Iraq are counting on us to end the occupation as soon as possible. Taking two minutes to email your representative to vote against the escalation and cosponsor H.R. 746 is a simple way that you can help those who are counting on us to get them out of harm's way.

Sincerely,


Kevin M. Martin
Executive Director
Peace Action Education Fund

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Friday, February 02, 2007

 

Stop the War before It Starts...



Even as the U.S. Senate debates resolutions on the Iraq war and Bush's planned troop buildup, resistance to his equally disastrous military designs upon Iran is also building in Congress.

As virtually every expert and commentator outside of President Bush's increasingly small circle of friends has declared, a war with Iran would be catastrophic - for attempts to end violence in Iraq, for peace in the Middle East, and for our relationship with the rest of the world. Such an attack would, like the war in Iraq itself, increase the terrorist threat against the U.S. rather than decrease it.

We're keeping maximum pressure on Congress to end the Iraq war, but now we also need to build momentum to prevent any attack against Iran. Click here to send an email message to your Representative today.

Mr. Bush has repeatedly refused to use diplomacy to address Iran's nuclear program. Now, since his January 10 speech in which he said he would "seek out and destroy" Iranian networks that he claimed were supporting attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, his administration has been clearly and methodically moving toward military confrontation.

* a second aircraft carrier group is now on its way to the Persian Gulf, and air missile defenses are being sent to our allies in the region - neither of which is necessary or useful to stop the violence in Iraq

* Bush has repeatedly warned Iran, in virtually every recent speech and interview, not to "meddle" in Iraq

* Bush has given an order for U.S. troops to kill Iranian "operatives" they find in Iraq

* Claims of Iranian support for Iraqi insurgents are suddenly circulating in the mainstream media, citing "unnamed" administration sources, of course, and providing no evidence whatsoever (did the media learn nothing from Iraq?)

Congress must stop Bush's march to war with Iran. Reps. Jones and DeFazio have introduced resolutions to do just that. Send your Representatives an email today and demand that they support these efforts!

It is hard to imagine that, given the current circumstances, President Bush would actually start a war with another country in the Middle East. But he has proven himself again and again to be impervious to facts and reality, and one cannot argue with the clear steps he has been taking to build first-strike U.S. forces in the area, to build a "rationale" for an attack on Iran, and to goad them into a military confrontation with other provocative acts.

People in the Middle East, Europe and around the world are horrified by the prospect of another war. An enlarging military conflict in the Middle East could easily grow into a world war, or the "clash of civilizations" Bush's most ardent supporters might actually want. Yet Mr. Bush brushes aside Iranian attempts at dialogue, and moves forward incessantly to confrontation.

This President must be stopped from attacking Iran. H.J. Res. 14, introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R - SC 3), and H.Con.Res. 33, introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D - OR 4) would do just that. Please click here to send a message to your Representative and let him or her know - in no uncertain terms - no war with Iran!

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