Chlorophyll

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

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene@greens.org

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 withdrawl 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/

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