Iran Threats: Evidence and Legality


Business & Economy \| Energy & Oil	Art \| Film & Music \| Events	Heritage & History	Philanthropy
Sports \| Politics	For Peace \| Society & Culture	Literature & Books	Health & Medicine
Rights \| Women \| Diaspora	Travel \| Environment & Geography	Science & Education	Middle East & Asia

MARJORIE COHN
Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Her most recent piece is "Cruise Missile Diplomacy: Bush Targets Iran," which states: "Bush is rattling the sabers and opting for gunboat diplomacy by pledging to 'seek out and destroy' Iranian networks 'providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies' in Iraq. But he has produced no hard evidence that Iran is supplying forces in Iraq with such weapons or manufacturing their own nuclear weapons."

Cohn is president of the National Lawyers Guild, and U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists. Her book Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law will be published in June.

She was among the signers of a recent letter from legal organizations around the world: "Offensive military action against Iran would be illegal, as the United States is bound under the United Nations Charter to settle international disputes by peaceful means and to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of any state or act in any other manner inconsistent with the purpose of the United Nations."
More Information

ROBERT NAIMAN
National coordinator of Just Foreign Policy, Naiman said today: "There are four questions that should be put to the Bush administration about its claims that the Iranian government is behind attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. If this activity is so substantial, why can't you provide any direct evidence for this claim? Given that the overwhelming majority of attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq are from Sunni insurgents who seem to hate the Shiite Iranian government and Iraqi Shiites at least as much as they hate the U.S. government, why would the Iranian government want to arm them? Is it 'meddling' if the Iranian government gives advice to the Iraqi government, or tries to strengthen its diplomatic and economic ties with Iraq, and if so, shouldn't such 'meddling' be distinguished from giving assistance to attacks on U.S. troops? And finally, do you believe that you have the authority to attack Iran without congressional authorization?"
More Information
More Information

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167