War with Iran?

Sponsors: Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership

Communities and individuals of all faith traditions and spiritualities who are committed to ending the war in Iraq are holding an interfaith witness in Washington D.C. on Friday, March 7, 2008 to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the sacredness of human life. The world cries out for a common voice for peace from across religious traditions and paths.

TO GET DETAILED INFORMATION AND SIGN UP FOR EVENTS, PLEASE GO TO --
http://www.olivebranchinterfaith.org

THERE WILL BE FOUR MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE MARCH 7 EVENTS:

The early-spring Jewish festival of Purim - rooted in, or given roots by, the Scroll of Esther -- is an expression of the same topsy-turvy view of the world that we see in Mardi Gras and other early-spring festivals of folly. The story is a satire on the stupidity and the violence of rulers.

Even though we are still in wintertime, Purim is the only way to understand what has just happened in the topsy-turvy somersault in US National Intelligence Estimates concerning Iran.

The tale of Esther is about a foolish king of Persia -- Iran! But that was when he was the Emperor of the World. Now the same folly is found in another king who wants to make Persia another province in his empire.... Who STILL wants to, even after revelations of the naked truth by the network of officials called VASHTI - Vigilant Affirmers of Security, Honor, Truth & Intelligence.

Our goal is to build a strong base of opposition to a US war against Iran and a strong base of support for peaceful negotiations with Iran. We seek to do this now because of the evidence that within the Bush-Cheney Administration (and seemingly within the camps of some of the candidates to succeed them) there are hot internal fights about whether to make war against Iran. An awakened public opinion could make a great difference as to which policy wins out. This is particularly true as the issue of Iran becomes part of the 2008 election campaign.

We seek to build this peacemaking position on Iran through multireligious connection for three reasons:

On March 12, the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives voted to take out of the war spending bill a provision that would, with some exceptions, require the president to seek congressional approval before using military force in Iran.

According to Congressman David Obey, the provision was dropped because it was drawing enough opposition to endanger the whole effort for Congress to set a date for ending the Iraq War.

But why were so many Congressmembers ready to oppose an effort to uphold their own Constitutional powers against a runaway President?

On March 8, CQ Today reported that "Hawkish pro-Israel lawmakers are pushing [to strike out that provision]. The influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee also is working to keep the language out, said an aide to a pro- Israel lawmaker."

By Helena Cobban

** Despite the death of Zarqawi, Bush's huge gamble in Iraq has failed. As a result, the U.S. is weaker everywhere in the world.

**Salon.com & Spiegel International June 9, 2006

The Bush administration has just received two pieces of welcome news from Iraq. It learned first that a U.S. attack plane had killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the long-hunted leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, and then that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was finally able to name designees for the three security posts in his government. The new ministers were sworn in within hours.

However, the longer-term trends within Iraq remain grim for the administration. Zarqawi's killing might dent but certainly promises no quick end to the insurgency among Sunni Arabs in the west and center of Iraq.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Did Iran make a peace offer to the United States in 2003? If so, how did the US respond – and why? And in any case, does it matter now?

Most Americans have absorbed from US government sources and from our conventional media two notions ---

• that a wildly hostile Iranian government has rejected all efforts at negotiation toward preventing its acquiring nuclear weapons and has threatened to destroy Israel;

• and that the US is trying hard to prevent the nuclear-weapons option, while hoping to avoid war and to work closely with other countries for a peaceful resolution.

By Leonard Fein
In the Forward, April 21, 2006

It all sounds so depressingly familiar: We are giving diplomacy a chance, any suggestion that we are preparing for military action is "wild speculation" — but, at the same time, Iran represents a grave threat to world peace and is a haven for terrorism. Wait too long, and it will have nuclear weapons, international inspection or not. So armed intervention must be considered an option.

We have seen this movie before, quite recently. But of course, Iran is not Iraq. It is a nation with far greater resources in people and materiel. It makes no secret of its nuclear ambitions (the peaceful ones, anyway), and its current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a vile human being. It is not Washington's spin but his own words that condemn him.