After over a decade of two costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that has exploded our national debt and stretched our Armed Forces to their limit, we don’t need another war in the Middle East.
But war hawks in Congress like Senators John McCain, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman are already beating the drums of war, with Lieberman saying it “doesn’t make any sense” to wait until Iran possesses nuclear weapons to take military action.1 Preemptively striking before we have evidence of weapons — now haven't we heard this before?
In the midst of tragedy and unrest going on in the Middle East right now, we don't need to add fuel to the fire. We all want to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but military action is not the answer — a sentiment 70% of Americans agree with.2
And yet, Congress is being overwhelmed by messages calling for war with Iran and our allies need us to show that there is a broad base of support for diplomacy, not war with Iran.Tell Congress to resist the calls for war on Iran, give diplomacy a chance.
The costs of a war with Iran would be catastrophic. According to a report compiled by former government officials, national security experts and retired military officers released last week, "achieving more than a temporary setback in Iran’s nuclear program would require a military operation — including a land occupation — more taxing than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined."3
Before rushing into a preventive war with Iran, we need to give President Obama and Secretary Clinton room for negotiations and time for diplomacy to work. Despite all the incendiary rhetoric, there is no reason to strike Iran now. There are inspectors and monitoring devices at Iran’s enrichment facilities4 and reports from Tehran show that sanctions are in fact working, a point even John McCain concedes.5
As the rallying cry for war reaches a feverish pitch, Congress needs to hear from the vast majority of Americans who do not want to rush into a war of choice with Iran. Will you please tell Congress to resist the calls for war on Iran and give diplomacy a chance?
Thank you for standing up for peace and diplomacy.
1 - http://bit.ly/...
2 - http://bit.ly/...
3 - http://bit.ly/...
4 - http://nyti.ms/...
5 - http://read.bi/...