Citizens Speak Up Against Military Action In Iran
by Kathleen Masterson
A gathering of more than 100 concerned citizens adamantly voiced their opposition to military action in Iran at a town hall meeting Tuesday.
Concerned that the Bush administration is actively pursuing plans to take military action in Iran, members of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Madison Area Peace Coalition, and several other groups put together a panel of five local experts on U.S. policy on Iran with the goal of educating the audience and organizing a proactive, vocal anti-war group.
“The U.S. has been assisting in aiding and abetting a range of clandestine militant groups operating in Iran for some time. It has been doing so in what amounts now to a covert, low-intensity proxy war, the possible prelude to something far larger, more dangerous,” said Allen Ruff, a local historian, author and activist.
Ruff said that while officially condemning them as terrorist organizations, the United States has continued to assist groups such as the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) and separatist Kurdish group PEJAK. Among other sources, he referenced U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s 2006 letter to President Bush stating the United States was supporting insurgent activity as a way to take action against the Iranian government. The letter also asked Bush to report to Congress on military operations in Iran.
Of most recent concern to peace activists is House resolution 362, introduced on May 22, in which Congress urges the administration to “initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities.”
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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/16/10403/