[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens: Global diplomacy, not bomb threats, needed on Iranian nukes

[Jim Stauffer]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, January 18, 2006



Greens call for a diplomatic U.S.-led global response to Iran's nuclear 
ambitions

First rule: maintain the good will of the Iranian people, say Greens 
responding to threats against Iran from the U.S. and Israel; the Middle 
East, including Iran and Israel, must become a nuclear-free zone.


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called for a concerted global 
diplomatic effort to end the standoff over Iran's alleged attempts to gain 
nuclear arms capability, in the wake of reports that the U.S. and Israel are 
considering bombing raids.

"If President Bush tries to provoke a military confrontration with Iran, the 
result will be similar to the Iraq disaster, perhaps worse," said Julia 
Willebrand, co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee.  "Worst 
of all, he will have squandered a valuable resource -- the pro-American 
sentiments of many Iranians, especially those who wish to see a secular 
democratic government replace Iran's ruling theocratic regime."

Responding to European media reports that the U.S. is considering a bomb 
attack on Iran (launched either by the U.S. itself or by Israel as a U.S. 
surrogate), Greens called on President Bush to avoid preemptive military 
action, which would violate international law and would likely result in 
numerous civilian deaths and turn the Iranian people against the U.S.

Instead, the President should work with other nations, restoring alliances 
and global treaties damaged by the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and begin to apply 
united international pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear goals.

"The only way Mr. Bush can prove a U.S. commitment to peace in the region is 
by ending the occupation of Iraq with quick withdrawal of U.S. troops, and 
pressuring Israel to dismantle its own nuclear weapons capability," said 
Richard J. Walton, author of several books on U.S. foreign policy and a 
member of the International Committee.  "The existence of any weapons of 
mass destruction in the area, whether in Israel or in Muslim nations, 
remains a threat to global security.  The Middle East must become a 
nuclear-free zone."

Greens have no illusions about the current government in Iran, which under 
the rule of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khameini has 
suppressed the rights of women, tortured and murdered gay people, and 
brutally crushed student demonstrations and political dissent.

Greens also condemned President Ahmadinejad's belligerent call for the 
destruction of Israel and statements denying the Jewish Holocaust.

"The international community needs to steer Iran away from a nuclear future, 
press Teheran to observe human rights and civil liberties, and support 
Iranians working for democracy in their country.  But these efforts will 
only be successful if they're part of a global campaign to eliminate nuclear 
weaponry, protect rights and freedoms, and end the fossil fuel dependence 
which Iran and other regimes have exploited for destructive political 
purposes," said Steve Kramer, co-chair of the Green Party of the United 
States.  "Most of all, we need to convince the Iranian people of our good 
will, which is not possible while the Iraq occupation continues and while 
they keep hearing about U.S. and Israeli bomb threats."

For global diplomatic efforts to succeed, Greens emphasized, they must 
include Russia and China, which have their own interests (especially oil) in 
Iran, and without whose participation recent European diplomacy has failed.  
This is especially important, say Greens, because the U.S.'s powers of 
persuasion are limited as a result of the Iraq venture, which is widely 
perceived to be motivated by U.S. political and oil interests.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

"Israel could launch air strikes if talks fail"
Chris McGreal, The Guardian, January 13, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1685363,00.html

"Let's make sure we do better with Iran than we did with Iraq: The west's 
next step on Tehran's nuclear plans should be to understand the regime and 
society, not to start bombing"
By Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, January 12, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1684548,00.html

"U.S. Reportedly Planning 2006 Attack on Iran"
By Jurgen Gottschlich, Der Spiegel, December 23, 2005
http://www.watchingamerica.com/derspiegel000006.shtml

"Are we going to war with Iran?"
By Dan Plesch, The Guardian, October 18, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1594977,00.html

"The Coming Wars: What the Pentagon can now do in secret"
by Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker, January 24 and 31, 2005
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact

"Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran"
Testimony by Henry Sokolski, Executive Director, The Nonproliferation Policy 
Education Center
Before The House International Relations Committee: "United States Policy 
Toward Iran: Next Steps"
February 16, 2004
http://wwwc.house.gov/international_relations/109/sok021605.pdf
http://www.npec-web.org

"Defusing the nuclear Middle East"
By Bennett Ramberg, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2004
http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=mj04ramberg

"UN asks Israel to go nuclear-free"
BBC News, June 27, 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3844145.stm

Persecution, torture, and murder of gay Iranians: coverage by journalist 
Doug Ireland
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/