What should I say to people who think the Iranian government is undemocratic and a danger to the region and world?

First of all, what is the nature of YOUR government and what is IT doing in the region and around the world? Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo, indefinite detention and torture, thousands of civilians in Pakistan and elsewhere dead in the undeclared drone wars... the whole "war on terror" has been a horror for the people of the Middle East and beyond. In the context of the history of United States in the twentieth century the past ten years is simply an accelerated and aggressive form of the role the US has played for decades: Iraq alone suffered through two invasions, a decade of sanctions following the crippling of its infrastructure in the ‘90s (which lead to the death of 4,000 children every month due to preventable disease), and then something like a million deaths during the completely unjust war based on Bush's lies most recently. Meanwhile, Iran saw its prime minister removed through a CIA-backed coup in the 1950s and the installation of an extremely repressive autocratic regime headed by the Shah up until its revolution in 1979.

NO war! NO sanctions on Iran! NO intervention! NO assassinations in Iran!

In many ways, U.S. war on Iran has already begun.

The United States and Israel, both of which have nuclear weapons, say they will stop at nothing to keep Iran from having a nuclear program, even though the U.S. Secretary of Defense says Iran won’t have nuclear capability anytime soon.

The U.S. has begun harsh economic sanctions that can destroy the Iranian economy, and the lives of millions of Iranians through depriving them of food, medicine and electricity. Either the U.S. or Israel is killing Iranian scientists in car bombings. U.S. surveillance drones are flying over Iran, in violation of its sovereignty. 3 U.S. carrier groups are right off Iran's shore. And secret U.S. commando operations are in the country.

Will we allow another U.S. war based on lies?

Download Flyers for the Day of Mass Action to Stop a U.S. War on Iran February 4:

NYC PDF

Other areas (editable: add local info, keep both files together): DOC  JPG

In Spanish

by Chris Floyd 

This week, the lords of the West took yet another step toward their long-desired war againt Iran. (Open war, that is; their covert war has been going on for decades -- via subversion, terrorism, and proxies like Saddam Hussein.)

On Monday, the European Union obediently followed the dictates of its Washington masters by agreeing to impose an embargo on Iranian oil.

The embargo bans all new oil contracts with Iran, and cuts off all existing deals after July. The embargo is accompanied by a freeze on all European assets of the Iranian central bank. In imposing these draconian measures on a country which is not at war with any nation, which has not invaded or attacked another nation in centuries, and which is developing a nuclear energy program that is not only entirely legal under international law but is also subject to the most stringent international inspection regime ever seen, the EU is "targeting the economic lifeline of the regime," as one of its diplomats put it, with admirable candor.

by Spencer Ackerman 

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are at a high point, as the Islamic Republic threatens to close off a vital waterway and two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups sit in the seas off the Iranian coast.

But across the Persian Gulf, the U.S. has a previously unacknowledged weapon in reserve: a new special operations team.

Thanks for taking the quiz!

Answers to IRAN: Who is the real threat?

Question #1

What country in the Middle East refuses to confirm or deny that it has a nuclear weapons program and refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?

Answer: Israel has not signed the treaty and does not publicly admit it has nuclear weapons, although the fact that it does is common knowledge. Iran has signed the treaty and does not have a nuclear weapons program.

Sources:
Associated Press, September 20, 2007
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) at a Glance (Arms Control Association)

Question #2

What country agreed to be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has repeatedly opened up its country to IAEA inspectors?

Answer: Iran

Sources: 
Iran President Vows to Ignore U.N. Measures, N.Y. Times
U.N. Finds No Nuclear Bomb Program in Iran, Washington Post
Report Showing Rise in Iran's Nuclear Activity Exposes Split Between U.S. and U.N., N.Y. Times 

Question #3

Which country’s prime minister has been attempting to persuade members of his cabinet to make a pre-emptive military strike against a neighboring country?

Answer: Israel

Source:
Netanyahu Trying to Persuade Cabinet to Support Attack on Iran, Haaretz

Question #4

True or False:
"The International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.S. have provided evidence that Iran is attempting to obtain nuclear weapons."

Answer: False - neither have provided any evidence that Iran is attempting to obtain nuclear weapons.

Source: 
Iran and the I.A.E.A. by Seymour Hersh, New Yorker
U.S.-Israeli Assault on Iran Escalates, Danger of War Grows, by Larry Everest

Question #5

The  IAEA severely criticized which country for falsifying information on Iraq and Iran’s nuclear programs?

Answer: United States

Source:
IAEA blasts U.S. intelligence report on Iran, CNN

Question #6

According to the UN Charter and Nuremberg Tribunal, what is the gravest war crime of all?

Answer: Attacking a country which hasn't attacked you. This is called a war of aggression, which "contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Source:
War of Aggression, Wikipedia
International Justice and the International Criminal Court (2 ed.) by Bruce Broomhall, published by Oxford University Press.

Question #7

Which is the one country on the planet which has actually used nuclear weapons against a civilian population?

Answer: the United States, which bombed the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagaski during WWII, killing between150,000 - 246,000 people within just the first 4 months, half within the first 24 hours.

Source:
Newsreel footage
Tale of Two Cites: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, National Science Digital Library

How did you answer these questions? How do you think many Americans would answer these questions?

Now that you know, what will you do?

Join the Spring Sustainer Drive: Commit to Humanity and the Planet

By David Swanson

The City Council of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and the University of Virginia, passed on Tuesday evening, January 17, 2012, a resolution believed to be a first in the country, opposing the launching of a war on Iran, as well as calling for an end to current ground and drone wars engaged in by the United States and urging Congress and the President of the United States to significantly reduce military spending.  Below is the text of the resolution, followed by an account of how it came to be.  As other towns and cities have been inquiring about how they can do the same, this may prove helpful.

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