It's Stop Iran War Action Time

StopIranWar.com just put out a new urgent call to step up our efforts to take this debate about heading off the next war to our friends families and neighbors NOW. For the last two months or so the StopIranWar.com campaign had not been as active as it was for the first few months after it was launched in February, but that now is changing. Currently almost 51,000 signatures have been gathered for their main petition to Bush, and that is just one of the organizing tools that have been deployed. Let's bring in another 50,000 over the next two months and send a message to Democrats in Congress, and those running for President, that they need to stop going along with the hard line neocon war rhetoric heating up against Iran and start sharply opposing it with Democratic values and simple common sense.

General Wesley Clark, who along with Jon Soltz and VoteVets.org launched StopIranWar.com to begin with, just sent out the following email to those who have already signed the StopIranWar petition:


Dear Tom,

Urge your family and friends to sign the petition today!

Thank you for signing my petition to tell President Bush that diplomacy, rather than war, is the best way to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran's hands. I am writing to you today because I need your help once again.

Last weekend, the London Times reported that the Pentagon was drawing up plans for a massive wave of air strikes on Iran aimed at wiping out that nation's military forces.

I can understand that leaking this plan is intended to raise the pressure on Iran. But is it credible? And will it have the desired impact? To be effective, such "threats" have to be conveyed -- and not just by exercises and planted stories but by earnest dialogue, the more broad-ranging, factual and non-emotional, the better.

One-dimensional efforts like this usually don't payoff. They arouse fears among friendly nations, and hostility from the intended targets. If anything, they're likely to leave the Administration in a less credible position.

We must let the Administration know that its one-dimensional Iran policy -- threaten, intimidate, coerce -- isn't likely to work. And when it fails, we'll be left with war. War.

Email your friends and family, and ask them to sign my petition at StopIranWar.com today. Ask them to tell the Bush administration that the best way to stop Iran's nuclear program is by engaging in diplomacy -- not by shooting first and asking questions later.

If there is one mistake that George Bush makes over and over again, it is that he believes that military force is the solution to every problem. The Bush administration refused to engage in any serious diplomacy before the war in Iraq -- and now our nation is entangled in an endless guerilla war in that nation. We cannot make the same mistake again.

Now the Times reports that the Pentagon has drawn up plans for "massive airstrikes" against over 1,200 targets in Iran. Why would the US draw up such plans without engaging in a full-scale diplomatic effort with Iran?

The Adminstration's failure to engage in diplomacy shows its preference for a military "showdown." This violates common sense and experience.

The ideas of national security are to gain objectives and protect interests, without military conflict, if possible. War is costly and permanent. Lives are lost, and outcomes are usually more difficult and have unanticipated consequences.

So why doesn't George W. Bush get it? Why not? Not enough casualties, yet? Not enough pain? Not enough sorrow? And especially, not enough wisdom?

Tell George W. Bush: "You've failed too often, miscalculated too often, misled us too often. Enough is enough! It is time for diplomacy with Iran."

Ask your friends and family to sign my petition today. We must give diplomacy a chance to work. It is our best hope for defusing this crisis peacefully, creating a more stable Middle East, and protecting American security.

Sincerely,


Wes Clark"


He concludes with hot links to StopIranWar.com's petition and to WesPac which he asks us also to support. Here, in order, are those links:

http://ga4.org/campaign/stopiranwar/6x7bbd90i8mi8x?

https://secure.ga4.org/01/wespac/ni1zt8N71RODn?qp_source=stopiranwar

Somehow I think that would be a dangerous assumption. To keep this thread we folks can find it, if you feel you have already passed on this petition on to all you know who might consider signing it, please say so with a reply.

Me, I signed and passed this on, but I don't think I have exhausted the list of those who maybe I should send this to.