No justification for war or sanctions on Iran
By: Gulamhusein A. Abba
“….there is
no evidence that Iran is preparing to acquire nuclear weapons.
All that exists is a
“We the people must rise up
and demand that
March 15, 2012
The hysteria over Iran’s nuclear capabilities having reached such
a stage as to call for immediate bombing of its nuclear facilities – this
hysteria is deliberately and insidiously being whipped up by Israel to achieve
three goals.
First, to turn away the world’s gaze from its vicious ethnic
cleansing and land grabbing activities in Palestine, especially in the
Jerusalem region.
Second, to find an excuse for attacking Iran, for which it has
been itching ever since Iraq was neutered, leaving Iran the only country in the
region that can be expected to stand up to Israel.
Third, to get Presdient Obama to back Israel’s plan of bombing
Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The extent of its success can be gauged from the fact that,
according to a recent Pew poll, 58% of Americans favor preventing Iran from
developing nuclear weapons even if it means taking military action.
More important is the success Benjamin Netanyahu scored when he
met Obama at the Whitehouse. One would have thought that the most burning
question requiring urgent attention in the region, namely restoring peace
between Israelis and Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state,
would have been the central topic. But it was not. There was hardly any mention
of the issue! Netanyahu managed to shut it out completely and devote the entire
discussion to dealing with Iran!
Obama’s performance at the meeting was pathetic. Not only did he
not bring up the issue of Palestine, but, even on Iran, enabled Netanyahu to
say, “…Above and beyond that there are two principles you reiterated
yesterday that Israel must have the ability always to defend itself, by itself
against any threat and that, when it comes to Israel’s security, Israel has a
right, a sovereign right, to make its own decisions…. Israel must reserve the
right to defend itself…..my supreme responsibility as Prime Minister of Israel
is to ensure that Israel remains the master of its fate.”
True Obama could not possibly have denied that. However he could
and should have reminded Netanyahu that Israel, in exercising that right, must
always remember that Israel, as any other nation, has a duty not to take any
action that can result in grave harm to the world as a whole, especially if
that action is unwarranted and unnecessary and is maliciously or
mistakenly being taken under cover of “defending Israel”, and that if, in spite
of being advised against it, Israel goes ahead and takes such action, Israel
cannot expect and will not get any support from the US. In fact, if Israel is
preparing to take any such action, other countries that will be adversely
affected have a right to take any action that may be required to prevent such
an action.
By remaining silent at Netanyahu’s enunciation of Israel’s right,
Obama missed the opportunity to make the US position forcefully clear to Israel
and to Americans.
While Obama did not give Netanyahu the green signal to go ahead
with his bombing plan and seemed to back away from it, saying that there was
still a window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution, he seems to have
succumbed to Israel’s pressure, saying recently that the window had narrowed!
A brief look at relevant facts will show that there is no call for
bombing Iran because of its progress on its nuclear energy program.
Iran has repeated again and again that it has no intention of
acquiring a nuclear arsenal and that its nuclear program is meant only for
civil not military purposes.
The New York Times, no friend of Iran, reported on February 24
that though Iran had accelerated its uranium enrichment program, “American
intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that
Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. Recent assessments by
American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding
that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program
years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The
officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a
2010 National Intelligence Estimate and that it remains the
consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies”. (emphasis
added)
According to a report by Time’s journalists James Risen and Mark
Mazetti, Director of National Intelligence
James Clapper in his January 31 Senate testimony stated explicitly that there
was no evidence that Iran had made a decision on making a concerted push to
build a weapon.
Other top Obama
administration officials, including CIA Director David Petraeus, Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General
Martin Dempsey share Clapper's assessment.
Even if it is assumed that Iran was bent on acquiring nuclear
weapons, the question arises whether bombing its nuclear facilities is the only
way to stop it and if so, is it necessary to take that action at this stage?
The answer to the last question hinges on how close is Iran to having a nuclear
weapon.
Estimates on this have differed wildly in the past and continue to
do so even now.
According to US Secretary of Defense, Iran is a year away from a
nuclear bomb. In 1984 Senator Alan Cranston said Iran was seven years
away. In 1992 Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then a member of Israeli parliament,
said 3 to 5 years. That same year then Israeli Defense Minister (now Israeli
President) Shimon Peres said Iran would have nukes by 1999. In 1995
“senior U.S. and Israeli officials” speculated Iran would have nuclear weapons
in five years
Meir Dagan, who recently retired as head of Mossad, Israel’s spy
agency, has said that Iran would not be able to produce a nuclear weapon until
2015 and that Israel should not hasten to attack Iran but should do so “only
when the sword is upon the neck” He later added that Israel’s attacking
Iran would be a “stupid idea”
President Obama himself,
who has access to intelligence reports, initially stated that ‘’There is
a window of opportunity’’ to try and solve the issue through diplomacy,
indicating that in his opinion Iran is nowhere close to acquiring a nuclear
bomb.
Besides, as late as
January 2012, Gill Tudor, spokewoman for the U.N.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that "The IAEA can confirm
that all nuclear material in the facility remains under the Agency's
containment and surveillance".
Early in January of this year Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said:
"Are they [Iranians] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know
that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that's what concerns
us."
Iran has agreed to open up for inspection by IAEA, Parchin, the
military facility southeast of Tehran where the U.N. nuclear watchdog suspected
that development work relevant to nuclear weapons may have
taken place.
Iran offered to return to talks on resolving the dispute over its
uranium enriching program and, according to the European Union's foreign policy
chief Catherine Ashton, the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany
and Britain had accepted the offer and had voiced backing for efforts to find a
diplomatic solution to the long-running row.
So, there is no evidence that Iran is preparing to acquire nuclear
weapons. All that exists is a suspicion that Iran so intends, and,
because of this suspicion, we are trying to compel Iran to abandon efforts to
advance its nuclear program meant for civil and peaceful purposes, specially to
meet its energy needs so that its industry can grow. Even though Iran does not
violate any international requirement by continuing to advance its nuclear
capability. Indeed, we are preparing to go to war with Iran on this!
In view
of all the above, clearly not only is there no justification for going to war
now with Iran on the question of its nuclear program but there is no
justification even for continuing any sanctions on it on that account, much
less imposing new “crippling” sanctions.
We the
people must rise up and demand that we do not go to war with Iran on this.
Unless
we do this we will find ourselves in another unnecessary and costly war. And
this time it will be ugly.”
