In the strongest yet accusations of the alleged Iranian
involvement in the killing of coalition soldiers and instability in Iran,
General Petraeus, Senior US Commander in Iraq, reporting on the outcome of the
"surge" strategy, accused Iran of fighting a "proxy war" with the coalition
forces inside Iraq and threatened that this would spill across the border into
Iran. The accusations and the deployment the following day, 12th September, of
British troops to the border with Iran to guard against Iran's "proxy war" seem
to follow the carefully crafted path to the manufacture of a pretext for open
confrontation and the possibility of a widespread bombardment of Iranian nuclear
facilities, military, economic, political and civilian infrastructures. The
illegal violation of the Syrian air space on 6th September by a host of Israeli
fighter planes has also been interpreted widely as a precursor of a military
attack on Iranian nuclear plants.
This accelerated shift away from the pursuit of
US-Iran bilateral dialogue and towards military confrontation follows months of
systematic planning by the neo-conservatives of the Bush-Cheney camp to sabotage
any prospect of diplomacy. Accusing the Iranian government for the killing of
American servicemen and the violence and destabilization in Iraq in the
unanimous passage (97-0) by the congress of Amendment to the Defense
Authorization Bill, 11 July, and Bush's subsequent authorization on
28th August of the US military to "confront Tehran's murderous
activities", have been followed by another Amendment to the Bill, 25th
September, authorizing the military to take all necessary action to combat Iran,
and the unprecedented branding of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as a
terrorist organization. These carefully crafted moves are designed to
systematically clear the path and set the scene for a casus belli.
Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has warned against what seemed like
war drums prior to the invasion of Iraq, whilst UN officials have warned that
American efforts toward a military confrontation with Iran are "out of
control." In response to Dr ElBradei's comments, the US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has sharply criticised the IAEA, stating that the agency "is
not in the business of diplomacy". Alarmingly, the French Foreign Minister too
has said that France must prepare itself for war with Iran and has threatened
that if Iran refuses to comply with the Security Council resolutions to halt the
enrichment of uranium, the only route forward would be a military one.
Shirin Saeidi of CASMII said today:
"While the people of Iran go about their daily
lives, studying, working, and raising families, warmongers in Washington,
London, and Tel Aviv, determine their future by finalizing military
logistic plans."
"Students have historically played a vital role
in protest and massive mobilization against international aggression, and it is
time for our presence and voices to be heard. Students can prepare teach-in
sessions at universities, invite speakers versed in the conflict, disperse
informational literature regarding the US-Iran stand-off on campuses, and
mobilize meetings to stop a military attack on Iran."
In these circumstances of the possibility of a
planned, pre-emptive war on Iran, the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military
Intervention in Iran (CASMII) urges its student supporters to rise up on
University campuses in the United States, the United Kingdom and France to voice
their opposition to the current militaristic discourse stemming out of the White
House.
... Payvand News - 10/8/07 ... --
