Say no to war with Iran

The United States now has two aircraft carrier battle groups stationed in the Persian Gulf. Plans are in place to take military action against Iran. Is there any way to stop a widening of war in the Middle East?

Wes Clark and the VoteVets organization say diplomatic, economic, and political pressures are the way to deal with Iran. "All Americans want to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and interfering on the ground inside Iraq," Clark writes. "Yet President Bush’s saber rattling gives the U.S. little additional leverage to engage and dissuade Iran, and, more than likely, simply accelerates a dangerous slide into war. The United States can do better than this."

Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Clinton had this to say in a floor speech last week: "It would be a mistake of historical proportion if the Administration thought that the 2002 resolution authorizing force against Iraq was a blank check for the use of force against Iran without further Congressional authorization. Nor should the President think that the 2001 resolution authorizing force after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, in any way, authorizes force against Iran."

Click here to sign the StopIranWar.com petition, and here to sign a MoveOn.org petition requiring Bush to get authorization from Congress before making war on Iran.

Comments

[Bubblehead]

Julie, we are not about to attack Iran; not only are the right forces not in place, not even this Administration is dumb enough to do that. I know you probably don't believe me, but we're not about to attack -- and you can take that to the bank. (And when you start hearing about "a third carrier is on its way", it's the relief for the Eisenhower; the Ike will leave when the new carrier gets into the region. Also, despite what you might read on "progressive" sites, the Reagan is not on her way to the IO.)

And when we don't attack, it won't be because people signed worthless on-line petitions.

[Bubblehead]

I re-read your post, and I do offer one additional possible correction; there's no indication that we actually have any aircraft carriers actually in the Persian Gulf -- they're almost certainly outside, in either the Arabian Sea or in the Indian Ocean off Pakistan. The U.S. military recognizes that Iranian forces could possibly damage a CVN that is inside the Persian Gulf, and since we can hurt them from way out in the Arabian Sea where they can't reach us, we wouldn't start anything while we have a carrier inside the Gulf.

[Irwin Horowitz]

Folks,

The AP has just released a poll on the perceptions of typical Americans concerning Iraqi civilian casualty numbers. Here is a link to the story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070224/ap_on_re_us/death_in_iraq_ap_poll_7

I would have placed the number as upwards of 100,000 or more, myself.

[Julie Fanselow]

Bubblehead, I hope you are right. I don't see how we can afford another theater of battle now. But frankly, I won't put anything past this irrational administration.

Irwin, thanks for posting that story. Call me compassionate, worried - and occasionally numb, because I have no idea how we're going to extricate ourselves from Iraq without triggering even more massive loss of Iraqi lives.