International Campaign Launched to Stop Attack on Iran

International Campaign Launched to Stop Attack on Iran
250,000 Petitions say "Stop War On Iran"

April 12, 2006--In response to the growing threat of a U.S. attack on Iran, an international campaign, initiated by clergy, academics, and activists, has drawn world-wide support.

Since the online campaign was launched, nearly 250,000 petitions have been sent to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, and the Board of Directors of Halliburton calling for "an immediate end to Washington's campaign of sanctions, hostility, and falsehood against the people of Iran."

Initial signers included historian Howard Zinn, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, author Ervand Abrahamian, Tony Benn MP, and playwright Harold Pinter.

Response to the StopWarOnIran has skyrocketed in the past several days in response to reports from Seymour Hersh, the Assocaited Press, the Washington Post, and other major media sources that the U.S. is preparing for an imminent attack against Iran, possibly using nuclear "bunker-busting" bombs.

Organizers with StopWarOnIran note that Washington is using the same public relations strategy to market the war on Iran that they used in the leadup to the invasion of Iran.

Dustin Langley, a Navy veteran and organizer with Stop War On Iran, said, "Once again, Bush is using outright lies about 'weapons of mass destruction' to justify an attack as part of a long-term strategy to establish U.S. control over the oil-rich Middle East. He lied in order to lead the U.S. into a war with Iraq that has cost the lives of more than 100,000 Iraqi people. Now he's using the same lies to demonize the people of Iran and justify a war that may be much more destructive."

StopWarOnIran organizers are planning a series of nationwide educational events and have created tens of thousands of leaflets and placards for use in protests and forums.

Stop War On Iran
www.StopWarOnIran.org
212-633-6646

Media Contact:
Sara Flounders, Dustin Langley
212-633-6646

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Join Howard Zinn, Ramsey Clark, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Ervand Abrahamian, Tony Benn, Harold Pinter and thousands more in a growing movement to stop Bush's plans to attack Iran

STOP U.S. nuclear threats against Iran!

Nearly 250,000 petitions have been sent to Bush, Cheney, Congress, and Halliburton via Stop War on Iran.

Once again, Bush is using outright lies about "weapons of mass destruction" to justify an attack as part of a long-term strategy to establish U.S. control over the oil-rich Middle East. He lied in order to lead the U.S. into a war with Iraq that has cost the lives of more than 100,000 Iraqi people. Now he's using the same lies to demonize the people of Iran and justify a war that may be much more destructive.

The time to act is now. President Bush, with the support of politicians from both parties, is already preparing for an attack on hundreds of sites in Iran, most of them located near major population centers. These strikes will kill tens of thousands if Iranian civilians. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh, who broke the story last year of US plans for an attack on Iran, and who has a decades-long record of investigative journalism, including exposes of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the U.S. torture chambers of Abu Ghraib, wrote in the April 17 New Yorker:

"The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups." (read the full article h ere)

This article and similar articles in the Associated Press, Agence France Press, Washington Post (reprinted at the StopWarOnIran blog) and other major media outlets, attest to the very real threat of an imminent attack on Iran. Furthermore, there is evidence that the Pentagon is preparing for a possible nuclear strike against Iran. U.S. Navy aircraft, operating from carriers in the Arabian Sea, are flying simulated nuclear attack missions in preparation for such a strike. According to Hersh,

"One of the military’s initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites."

After all of Washington's talk about weapons of mass destruction, it is the Pentagon that possesses the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and is threatening to use them against civilian targets. Whether these threats are real or are just a tool of psychological warfare to intimidate and destabilize the Iranian government, it is clear that the real international danger is from Washington, not Tehran.

A global movement against a global empire

In the few weeks since StopWarOnIran was launched, nearly a quarter of a million petitions have been sent from all over the globe voicing growing opposition to the war. We've printed tens of thousands of leaflets and placards for distribution at protests, speak outs, and educational forums. Much more needs to be done in the next few weeks to alert the world to the growing danger of a new war.

We know that we cannot trust the politicians of either party to stop this drive to war. The only way to stop the war is by mobilizing a massive international grassroots campaign against a new war. The whole world knows that Bush and Congress lied in order to justify their war against Iraq, and everyone know that they are lying now. Opposition to Washington's agenda of endless war is growing--Bush's poll numbers are at an all time low and they continue to drop. But this growing opposition will only be a force for change to the degree that it becomes a massive movement determined to stop this new war.

How you can help:

2) Donate

3) Link to us from your website

4) Keep informed - check out the StopWarOnIran blog for news updates. And don't forget to sign up for updates.

5) Carry Stop War on Iran placards and banners at the April 29 antiwar protest in New York City and in other progressive and antiwar actions.