I find it incomprehensible that as the failure of our Iraq policy becomes more evident - even to its most determined advocates -we here are approving the same kind of policy toward Iran. With Iraq becoming more of a problem daily, the solution as envisioned by this legislation is to look for yet another fight. And we should not fool ourselves: this legislation sets the stage for direct conflict with Iran. The resolution “calls upon all State Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), including the United States, to use all appropriate means to deter, dissuade, and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons…” Note the phrase “…use all appropriate means….”

Additionally, this legislation calls for yet more and stricter sanctions on Iran, including a demand that other countries also impose sanctions on Iran. As we know, sanctions are unmistakably a move toward war, particularly when, as in this legislation, a demand is made that the other nations of the world similarly isolate and blockade the country. Those who wish for a regime change in Iran should especially reject sanctions - just look at how our Cuba policy has allowed Fidel Castro to maintain his hold on power for decades. Sanctions do not hurt political leaders, as we know most recently from our sanctions against Iraq, but rather sow misery among the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society. Dictators do not go hungry when sanctions are imposed.

It is somewhat ironic that we are again meddling in Iranian affairs. Students of history will recall that the US government’s ill-advised coup against Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953 and its subsequent installation of the Shah as the supreme ruler led to intense hatred of the United States and eventually to the radical Islamic revolution of 1979. One can only wonder what our relations would be with Iran if not for the decades of meddling in that country’s internal affairs. We likely would not be considering resolutions such as this. Yet the solution to all the difficulties created by our meddling foreign policy always seems to always be yet more meddling. Will Congress ever learn?

I urge my colleagues to reject this move toward war with Iran, to reject the failed policies of regime-change and nation-building, and to return to the wise and consistent policy of non-interventionism in the affairs of other sovereign nations.

[Editorial Note: end Paul speech (above); begin congressional indifference thereof (below)...]

http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/93431

House OKs Pre-emptive U.S. Attack Against Iran !!!!!!

by Trish Schuh

15 May 2004

Undeterred by the results of pre-emptive war in Iraq, the House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution May 6 authorizing pre-emptive military strikes against Iran. The vote was 376-3.

“It [Iran] has engaged in a systematic campaign of deception and manipulation to hide its true intentions and keep its large scale nuclear efforts a secret,” said Dan Burton (R-Indiana).

The resolution urges nations that have signed the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (See P. 13) to “use any and all appropriate means to deter, dissuade and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” It also demands that the European Union, Asian nations, and Russia cease future commercial and energy trade with the Islamic Republic. Russia is the main contractor for Iran’s nuclear grid.

House members said the legislation is in line with the Bush Doctrine of preventive war, and creates a legal framework for later sanctions and “military options” against Iranian nuclear sites. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Pete Stark (D-Calif.) both condemned the bill, noting its similarity to the law that permitted a preemptive war on Iraq.

The bills’ adoption capped a year of anti-Iranian efforts in Congress.

A U.S. plan for military action against Iran has been complete since May 2003, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Under the plan, the U.S. would strike the Arak, Natanz, Isfahan and Bushehr installations with precision missiles launched from Iraq as well as Iran’s northern neighbors, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

British and American intelligence and special forces units have been put on alert for an Iran conflict within 12 months, according to British news sources. Also. the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz recently revealed that a special Mossad unit has been activated to draw up “Osirik II” (a reference to the 1981 Israeli bombing raids that destroyed the Osirak nuclear complex near Baghdad).

Mossad chief Meir Dagan declared Iranian nuclear capability to be the greatest threat ever faced by Israel. In December 2003, he informed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that an operation to annihilate Iran’s facilities had been finalized.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz also announced that “under no circumstances would Israel tolerate nuclear weapons in Iranian possession,” warning that by the end of 2004 Iran’s atomic development would have reached “the point of no return.”

In response, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said, “If Israel committed such an error, we would give it a slap it would never forget- not only now but for all its history.”

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