Iranian Americans urge dialogue, not war

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In the wake of the Bush administration’s continued saber rattling against Iran, including its not-so-subtle threats to unleash U.S. bombing attacks against Iranian nuclear energy and military installations, a growing number of people and groups worldwide have called for diplomacy, not war, to resolve any disputes.

Among these calls is one from a coalition of groups representing Iranian expatriates in the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western countries. About 20 groups, including the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (www.campaigniran.org) and the National Iranian American Council (www.niacouncil.org) issued an Oct. 9 statement that says, “We are united in our firmly held opinion that military confrontation will do nothing to solve the problems that exist between Iran and the West, but rather that such an approach would create a ghastly long-term dynamic in the region.”

Warning that “assaults, invasion, bombing, cross-border raids or destabilizing acts on the part of any of the players in the situation” will result in “far more destruction than we have seen to date in the region,” the signers stress that “the way forward must be through serious and genuine dialogue.”

Only through dialogue, without preconditions, will tensions be lowered and will the peoples of the Middle East be able “to coexist and together address the common problems of violence, poverty, illness and environmental degradation,” they said.

Along the same lines, Peace Action, a U.S.-based group, has an online petition to the Bush administration calling for no war on Iran. For more information, visit www.peace-action.org.