Posted at: http://goo.gl/6GQwc
May10, 2012
Dear Friends,
Support for a military attack on Iran is, plain and simple, support for mutually assured destruction, not only for the State of Israel, but also for Israel’s Palestinian neighbors.
Any military escalation in an unstable Middle East is akin to throwing a lighted match onto a
powder keg. The consequences cannot be contained by any conventional strategy, and regional
diplomatic efforts will be set back decades.
This opinion is widely shared well outside peace activist circles. It has been heatedly expressed
by Major General Meir Dagan, former Israeli Mossad Director (2002 – 2011) who said,
“[Attacking iran] would mean regional war and in that case you would be giving Iran the best
possible reason to continue the nuclear program.” He adds it’s “the stupidest thing I ever heard.”
And US Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta agrees. “The consequences [of military action]
could be that we would have an escalation … that would not only involve many lives, but could
consume the Middle East in confrontation and conflict we would regret.”
Clearer heads must prevail!
The nuclear arms race during the Cold War left the world with nuclear arsenals estimated by the
Stockholm international Peace Research Institute in 2009 at 23,000, which is 2000 times the total firepower used during WWII. In this regard, We agree with both the Obama administration and J-street, the staunchest pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby in the U.S. The world does NOT need another nuclear weapon ready state. However, a military strike sends precisely the opposite message.
To folks who believe America and Israel should and will hold the upper hand in the nuclear
balance of power indefinitely, you might want to think again. Perhaps, the most persuasive
argument to the rest of the world for nuclear non-proliferation would be good-faith reduction
in nuclear firepower among the current super-powers. That makes a whole lot more sense than
bombing an adversary to make sure they never build bombs.
Toward sustainable peace,
Elissa J. Tivona, Ph.D.
Office of International Initiatives,
Colorado State University*
Rob Prince
Lecturer, International Studies
University of Denver – Korbel School of International Studies
· – affiliations for identification purposes only.
Note: there are now a dozen signers; when the list is complete, the full list of names will be printed
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