Stop the war on Iran before it starts!

StopWarOnIran.org

It is with grave concern that we observe the growing threat of a new U.S. war--this time against the people of Iran.
The media is filled with reports of an alleged nuclear threat posed by Iran and the assumed need for the U.S. to take military action. These reports recall the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" stories issued in the months leading up to the war on Iraq.
In the lead up to the illegal invasion of Iraq, the Bush Administration asserted that Iraq possessed massive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and that it was capable of launching an attack - nuclear, chemical and biological - on the U.S. within 45 minutes.
President Bush said that the U.S. had to attack immediately, and could not "wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." We all know now that this propaganda campaign was a complete fabrication created to justify a war of aggression.
Now we see reports that are all too similar being made to justify military action against the people of Iran. Taking Iran to the UN Security Council is a prelude for unilateral action. Just as in the case of Iraq, none of the claims made by the U.S. government stand up to unbiased scrutiny. Iran has submitted to the most intrusive and humiliating inspections, above and beyond what is required by Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). None of the inspections have found any evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program.
There is only one government that has used nuclear weapons against civilian populations, and that same nation has the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction on the planet. Most dangerous and incredible it is at this very moment developing a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons that it intends to use, not merely to threaten. That country is, of course, the United States. Shouldn't any real discussion of the dangers of nuclear weapons include the weapons stockpiled by the Pentagon and the history of U.S. aggression and interventions?
Iran has suffered greatly at the hands of the U.S. We recall the U.S. overthrew the democratically elected government of Dr. M. Mossadegh and returned the Shah to the Peacock Throne – ‘the proudest achievement of the CIA’. For 25 years the Shah ruled Iran with an iron fist for the benefit of U.S. oil corporations before the people of Iran, in the millions, overthrew his tyranny at a terrible cost in lives. For the past 27 years U.S. sanctions have impeded Iran’s right to development and brought great suffering to the people.
It is essential that all voices opposed to the devastation of a new war in the Middle East speak out now. We urge an immediate end to Washington's campaign of sanctions, hostility, and falsehood against the people of Iran. We oppose any new U.S. aggression against Iran. We need funds for human needs, not endless war for empire.

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What makes the Danish Caricatures so offensive?

Before expressing my view on the controversial caricatures, I’d like to draw your attention to the pretext of this dilemma. In my opinion, if these caricatures were published in some obscure European paper, 5, 10 or 15 years ago, no one in the Islamic world would have paid much attention and we would not have witnessed such huge outcry across the Muslim nations.

Unfortunately, over the past few years, the relations between the Islamic world and the West have rapidly worsened. Many blame the attacks on the World Trade Centre for this deterioration, but I think the misunderstanding between the civilizations began much earlier, maybe triggered by the end of the Cold War.

During the cold war, United States and Western Europe generally viewed the Islamic world as a natural ally in their struggle against the soviets. This view was reflected in western press, literature and even Hollywood movies. But with collapse of the soviet block, quite suddenly, the Muslim world was systematically demoted in western public opinion and turned into the new public enemy. Numerous movies were made depicting Muslims as terrorists, cheats, Nazi-lovers, racists, wife-beaters, and as such. This was while the world sat and watched while consecutive US administrations made concessions to Israel on Palestinian territory, disregarding all previous Security Council resolutions. Soon, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and much of the occupied territories, The United States even went as far as moving its consulate to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, western media generally conveyed the Israeli side of the story, overlooking systematic killing of the Palestinians and focusing on any Israeli civilian sadly killed in the conflict. At the same time, the West maintained its support for despotic, deeply unpopular regimes in the Middle East.

After 9/11, things went from bad to worst. On the one hand, the Muslim world remained deeply suspicious towards the official version of the story as proclaimed by the Americans. This was basically due to the fact that the very radicals who had perpetrated this hideous attach on civilians were considered loyal agents of the Americans in the region. The Taliban were openly supported by powerful lobbies in Pakistan who were close to America. Al Qaida was financed by the Saudis and the Persian Gulf Arab states, who were also close allies of the West. On the other hand, anti-Muslim lobbies in the West found a free ride in the September 11 attacks to turn the public opinion against the Islamic World. Soon the Neo-Conservative became the decisive force in American foreign policy.

The rest is recent history so I won’t bore you with it. The illegal war in Iraq, etc.
Hence when the caricatures appeared in the Danish paper, it was just like throwing fuel on fire.

Personally, I don’t think any caricature warrants violence or the loss of human life. However, everything should be looked at in perspective.

پس از رانندگان شرکت واحد، نيسم مهرورزي بر دراويش وزيدن گرفت،

خبر:
در پي تلاش حکومت براي بستن حسينيه دراويش نعمت اللهي گنابادي در شهر قم، گزارشها حاکي از اين است که اين حسينيه و دو منزل مسکوني مجاور آن که به دو تن از دراويش و خويشاوندان متولي حسينيه تعلق داشته به صورت شبانه به آتش کشيده شده و تخريب شده اند، تا آنجا که شاهدان عيني در بامداد روز سه شنبه چهاردهم فوريه (25 بهمن) نشاني از ساختمان حسينيه نيافته اند.
استاندار قم اعلام کرده که طي اين نا آرامي که بعدازظهر دوشنبه چهاردهم فوريه (24 بهمن) روي داده، يکهزار نفر بازداشت و دويست نفر، مجروح شده اند.

وقتي بانو پروين اعتصامي سروده بود "خانه درويش از دزد ايمن است"، ظهور دولت مهرورزي آقاي احمدي نژاد و ولايت با کفايت آيت الله خامنه اي را پيش بيني نکرده بود. تنها آن رند شيرازي مي توانست در علم بي کران خود وضعيت امروز ما را ترسيم کند که چه تلخ گفت:

درويش مکن ناله ز شمشير احبا

کين طايفه از کشته ستانند غرامت

گفته مي شود که آقايان آيات ذوب در ولايت از آن به خشم آمده اند که حسينيه دراويش که در آن از اسلام حکومتي و خطبه به نام خليفه خيابان پاستور خواندن اثري نبوده، بيش از حسينيه هاي حکومتي سوگواران را به خود جذب کرده و طبعا ً با کسادي منابر حجج الشريعت الصفوي، ميزان نزولات مردمي خسران يافته و جيبهاي فراخ عباها آن طور که بايد و شايد، چرب نشده است.

مريد پير مغانم ز من مرنج اي شيخ

چرا که وعده تو کردي و او بجا آورد
به تنگ چشمي آن ترک لشگري نازم

که حمله بر من درويش يک قبا آورد

خلاصه شميم مهرورزي همچون باد صرصر چهار رکن ديار کهن را نورديدن گرفته و دامان خود را ابتدا بر سر بي پناه ترين گروه هاي اجتماعي گسترانيده است. اول اتوبوس رانان، دوم دراويش، سوم بي شک من و تو.
برتولد برشت مي گويد وقتي هيتلر سراغ کمونيستها آمد من هيچ نگفتم، چون من کمونيست نبودم، وقتي سراغ يهوديان آمد، باز من هيچ نگفتم چون من يهودي نبودم، وقتي . . . باز من هيچ نگفتم، اما امروز سراغ من آمده است و ديگر کسي نمانده است تا چيزِي بگويد.

فعتبـــــرو يا أولـــــي الأبصـــــــــــــار

حبيب پزنده، بهمن شوم 1384