Works In Progress - October 2007 - Opposing the attack of Iran: A Green Party Delegation Report to Sen. Patty Murray's Office

On Sept. 12, I was fortunate to be a part of a Green Party delegation to Senator Patty Murray’s office. We met with Ardis Dumont, Senator Murray’s Director of Special Projects, to talk about the impending US military action against Iran.

We were from Iran, Pakistan, India, as well as the Puget Sound area, and counted Muslims, Jews, and Christians among us. Individuals represented various groups: American Muslims of Puget Sound (AMPS), Ground Zero, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), One Earth, StandUp! Seattle, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Raging Grannies, Green Party, coordinating council of Green Party of Washington State (GPoWS) and Green Party Peace Action Committee (GPAX), a national peace action committee of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS).

The delegation called upon Senator Murray to:

Act to rescind the July 2007 Lieberman amendment to the Defense Authorization Act (S.Amdt.2073) that holds the government of Iran responsible for insurgent attacks against US forces. S.Amdt.2073 passed through the Senate two months ago with a 97-0 vote. However, military statistics leaked to the Los Angeles Times show the largest number of foreign militants and suicide bombers came from Saudi Arabia (45%), Syria and Lebanon (15%) and North Africa (10%).

Pass an Act of Congress stating that the 2001 Authorized Use of Military Force (AUMF) does not authorize a preemptive strike against Iran or a strike in response to an alleged provocation, i.e. Gulf of Tonkin.

Cut off funding for any war with Iran not specifically authorized by Congress.

Other members contributed significant opinions and information.

Mohsen Banan, an Iranian-American, noted that he is fluent in Farsi and finds many English translations of Iranian officials to not be completely accurate. He used as an example, President Ahmadinejad’s oft-quoted statement in our media that “Israel must be wiped off the map” when in fact no such idiom exists in Farsi. He also asked Ms. Dumont, “Exactly what has Iran done to the United States?” to which he received no answer.

As to charges regarding Iran’s nuclear program, it was brought up that Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which US allies Israel, India, and Pakistan have refused to sign. A report was also presented that shows the United Nation’s atomic agency has confirmed “significant progress” since May 2007 in Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The news source said this report was bound to cause shivers among the Washington hawks applauding the White House’s anti-Iran escalations, (“A small break for Iran” by Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, Asia Times Online). Dr. Afrasiabi is also the author of Iran’s Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction.

Mr. Banan emphasized the point that, if attacked, Iran would most likely withdraw from the NPT and expedite development of nuclear weapons. Also, an attack of southern Iran would cause a disruption of oil supply lines and would cause significant economic distress worldwide.

Human rights activist and member of AMPS, Jeff Siddiqui, noted there was a parallel example to the present situation with Iran involving North Korea. The Clinton administration was making progress with North Korea on the issue of disarmament. However, once Mr. Bush took office and labeled North Korea a part of the “Axis of Evil,” North Korea fast-tracked nuclear weapons development. Now, six years later, we are at exactly the same place as we were before the “Axis of Evil” speech, attempting diplomacy rather than threats.

Mr. Siddiqui further questioned why members of the Arab community have been unable to personally meet with Sen. Murray. He said, since September of 2001, they have been making repeated requests only to be told that Sen. Murray was “busy.” Ms. Dumont assured Mr. Siddiqui that she would personally find out why this meeting has not taken place and accepted business cards from Mr. Siddiqui and Mr. S. Arsalan Bukhari, President of CAIR, who also was a member of the delegation.

Ms. Dumont found it hard to believe that the Bush administration is actually contemplating extending the war in the Middle East and was quick to say the Democrats would not allow this to happen.

We presented to Ms. Dumont a binder of documents backing up our claim that in fact military action was being planned against Iran. As an example, a comprehensive 80-page study written by Dr. Dan Plesch and Martin Butcher of the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies concludes that the Bush administration is indeed planning to attack Iran.

The study concludes that the US has made military preparations to destroy Iran’s nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus, and economic infrastructure within days if not hours of Bush giving the order. The US is not publicizing the scale of these preparations to deter Iran, tending to make confrontation more likely. The US retains the option of avoiding war, but using its forces as part of an overall strategy of shaping Iran’s actions. (See full study at: www.rawstory.com/images/other/IranStudy082807a.pdf)

In addition, Barnett R. Rubin, PhD, has written in his article, “Theses on Policy Towards Iran,” that “all military equipment is in place for such an attack.” Dr. Rubin also notes there are credible reports of a concerted campaign to build public support for an attack on Iran. He reports that the “most important goal is to intimidate Democrats in Congress...so that they will not use the power of the purse or congress’ war powers to impede the attacks.” (See full report at icga.blogspot.com/2007/09/theses-on-policy-toward-iran)

This information seemed to take Ms. Dumont by surprise.

Aditya Ganapathiraju, a student at the University of Washington, shared with Ms. Dumont a resolution he sponsored which the Associated Students of the University of Washington passed on Mar. 27. The resolution states opposition to extra-congressional war with Iran (and can be found at senate.asuw.org/legislation/13/R/R-13-22.html). It contains a wealth of information supporting the thesis that the Bush administration is laying the groundwork for war with Iran.

The delegation also presented amendments sponsored by Sen. Lieberman, which have unanimously been passed by the Senate, and asked Ms. Dumont how Sen. Murray had voted on the most recent amendment, titled ”Iran Democracy Amendment.” It was explained to Ms. Dumont that this was terminology for regime change and not actually Iranian “democracy.” This amendment restored the Bush administration’s request in the Fiscal Year 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for $75 million, which had been cut by two-thirds to $25 million by the Senate Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs earlier this year to provide “support for dissidents and democrats inside Iran.”

Ms. Dumont was unfamiliar with this amendment and, after reading it, appeared genuinely surprised that it had passed the Senate. She told us she did not know how Sen. Murray had voted and when we asked her front office to check the computer, they also could not find her vote. Subsequent to our visit, we discovered that this amendment had passed the Senate by a unanimous voice count. A “voice count” allows for the vote to go through without being recorded. However, since there were no dissenting voters, this reveals both our senators voted yes to this amendment.

Mr. Banan also expressed concern that if the US did go to war with Iran that many Iranian-Americans would be rounded up and sent to detention camps similar to what happened with the Japanese during World War II. Ms. Dumont at first seemed to brush off this concern but Mr. Siddiqui who is a human rights activist reinforced Mr. Banan’s concerns and said that 14,000 Arabs living in the US have already been imprisoned and have had their civil rights taken away from them.

The delegation concluded by presenting a letter to Sen. Murray from the Green Party of Washington State, as well as back-up documents, and received assurances from Ms. Dumont that it would be passed on to Sen. Murray’s office in Washington, DC.

The Green Party of Washington State felt it was important to bring this type of delegation to Sen. Murray as one of our 10 Key Values is personal and global responsibility. Wishing to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of our planet, Green Party members take a consistent position in support of international law and for human rights. For these reasons, we stand with our Iranian brothers and sisters to strongly object to any military action against Iran. We feel this would not only invite nuclear retaliation from other nations and groups and plunge the Middle East into chaos, but also do irreparable harm to this planet, not to mention the millions of lives that would be directly affected by this insane course of action.

Sen. Murray did vote against the 2003 resolution to invade Iraq and Ms. Dumont appeared both knowledgeable and sympathetic to our concerns. However, there will be a great deal of pressure on Sen. Murray to not impede Bush in his purported attempts to keep us “safe from terrorists.”

Congress needs to hear from us: letters, phone calls, and visits such as this, as well as letters to the editor of all our local newspapers. It will take a great deal of pressure to counter any campaign that builds public support for the war.

Dr. Frances Hogan is a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Green Party. She currently lives on Vashon Island.