A Message From General Clark and VoteVets
All Americans want to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and interfering on the ground inside Iraq.
Yet, President Bush's continued saber rattling gives the US 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.
Whatever the pace of Iran's nuclear efforts, in the give and take of the Administration's rhetoric and accusations, we are approaching the last moments to head off looming conflict. Surely, it is past time to urge President Bush to exercise leadership and start to work now to avoid a widening of the conflict in the Middle East.
That's why today, I'm joining Jon Soltz, Chairman of VoteVets.org, the preeminent organization representing Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, to launch StopIranWar.com.
Visit StopIranWar.com today and sign the petition to President Bush. War is not the answer.
http://StopIranWar.com
StopIranWar.com is a one-stop resource for all Americans to help stop the looming conflict with Iran. With the latest news on Iran and online tools to contact President Bush, lobby your members of Congress, and write letters to the editor to local and national print media, StopIranWar.com will help us create the groundswell of support needed to stop another dangerous war in the Middle East.
Americans and their elected officials in Congress must work together to demand that President Bush stop the rush to war with Iran. The United States must use every option available to defuse tensions with Iran -- diplomatic, political, and economic -- before even considering military force. Military force must be viewed as the last resort -- not the first option.
Cannot the world's most powerful nation deign speak to the resentful and scheming regional power that is Iran? Can we not speak of the interests of others, work to establish a sustained dialogue, and seek to benefit the people of Iran and the region? Could not such a dialogue, properly conducted, begin a process that could, over time, help realign hardened attitudes and polarizing views within the region? And isn't it easier to undertake such a dialogue now, before more die, and more martyrs are created to feed extremist passions?
Visit StopIranWar.com today and sign the petition to President Bush. War is not the answer.
http://StopIranWar.com
War with Iran is not the answer. We must work with our allies, talk with Iran, and use all diplomatic, political, and economic options at our disposal. Military force against Iran is not the solution now, and if we adopt the right strategy, perhaps it need never be.
Sincerely,
Wes Clark
I have, myself, visited the site and used their tools to send emails to the White House (who won't listen), both senators (although with McCain and Kyl I doubt much while happen from them), and my congressman (listen up Mitchell). There are some choices if you want to drop some money on them too. As I said before, I am a strong supporter of VoteVets, but I leave everyone to dip into their own purse at their own discretion. I think that the ads produced by VoteVets have impact (remember that "On the other hand" ad from the Super Bowl? That sucker flat played) I also loved it when the maimed veterans went to Capitol Hill and visibly sat with guys like Murtha and Webb leaving the Republicans to try and jostle their way into the pictures.
Again, your purse, your conscience. I will only tell you where I stand. Not contributing for any reason at all is a political choice that carries the same moral weight as the one that I made. I encourage you to take your stand where ever it might be and know that I stand with you too.
UPDATE: PBS Newshour is showing a piece right now on the rush to throw some paint and plaster on the infamous building 18 at Walter Reed. I am somewhat encouraged that there are still some people in Washington that still have the capacity to feel shame.
Big Brass Blog
Labels: Stop Iran War
posted by The Minstrel Boy at 6:04 PM
7 Comments:
I don't know which was done faster the cya or the cover the drywall cracks.
Clark has my total admiration, always has.
And mine. It's so good to see someone who understands war saying "stop this shit."
one of the most brilliant political nuances of the old ways of the apache was that for a war to go forward (this doesn't include stuff like raiding and horse stealing that's all good clean fun) it had to be approved by the council of grandmothers. think about that. you can't go to war unless your grandma says it's alright. of course, we had some pure ass tough bird grandmas. still, i don't think that would be all that bad an idea. grandparents tend to think in longer stretches of time.
With age comes wisdom and that's something that is tossed out when it comes to wars and so many other things in this country. I like the granny council idea a whole lot. Who better to toss ego aside and think about what's really best for the family?
Y'know, I dunno. That "All of us want ..." bit kinda put me off. I frankly don't care whether Iran has nukes or not. At least Iran is a stable nation relatively speaking, unlike, say, Pakistan, which *already* has nukes and which is one bullet away from putting them into the hands of the Taliban. The chances of Iran using nukes against us is nil. I mean, c'mon. We're talking about ayatollahs who were happy as clams to buy anti-tank weapons from us via Israeli intermediaries back in the 80's. They talk the talk of hating America and Israel, but when it all boils down to it, we can deal with them. We know that because we've done it.
So I'm not on board with Clarke's "all of us". Frankly, I read that sentence, and deleted the EMAIL right away. Some people need to get out of their bubble and talk to real Americans from time to time. Most folks aren't worried about Iranian nukes or whatever. They're worried about the strange noise their car is making and how much it'll cost to fix it, or whether their girl child is gonna try to shave her head like Britney, or whether their boss is going to give them a bad performance review, or whatever. But Iranian nukes? Comes down there somewhere around toenail clipping on most folks' priority lists...
-Badtux the Not-everybody Penguin
yeah, i wasn't all that down with that part either. it smacked far too much of "politics as usual." quite frankly, given the choice between a nuclear iran and every single option the bush administration has presented. i choose a nuclear iran. it would be easy. they go nuke and you say "welcome to the adults table at holiday dinner. here are the rules. if you ever use one of those weapons, against anyone, for any reason we incincerate you in to fine, tiny, ash. again, welcome to the club."
But if Iran gets them, then Iraq and the terrorists might get them, and Iraq might give them to alQuaeda who attacked us and who hates us and professes adesire to destroy us, so we need to invade Afghanistan where they're hiding and invade Iraq... wait a minute, we did that. Didn't work.
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