In my previous diary on Iran this morning, I pleaded with Dem politicians to confront the Bush Administration regarding its refusal to enter into direct negotiations with the Iranian government over the current crisis regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Well, Raw Story is now reporting that a group of Democratic Congressional members are planning to send a letter to the President, demanding that he pledge not to use nukes against Iran, and to focus on diplomacy first, before even considering a military assault. It’s not all that I would ask for, but it’s a start. Here’s the text of the proposed letter to be sent to Bush which was leaked to Raw Story:
May __, 2006
The Honorable George W. Bush
President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to express our concerns about your recent suggestion that the U.S. would potentially launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against Iran. As you will recall, on April 18, 2006, you were asked “Sir, when you talk about Iran and you talk about how you have diplomatic efforts, you also say all options are on the table. Does that include the possibility of a nuclear strike?” Your response to this question was “All options are on the table.”
While we share your concern about Iran’s irresponsible violations of its commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and safeguards agreement which Iran signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we do not believe that the U.S. should threaten to use nuclear weapons to resolve this crisis. We would also note that as the U.S. seeks to ensure strict Iranian compliance with its obligations under the NPT, we should keep in mind the fact that in connection with the 1995 NPT review conference, the United States issued a statement reaffirming earlier U.N. Security Council pledges that the U.S. “will not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons except in the case of an invasion or any other attack on the United States, its territories, its armed forces or other troops, its allies, or on a State towards which it has a security commitment, carried out or sustained by such a non-nuclear-weapon State in association or alliance with a nuclear-weapon State.” We are not aware of any subsequent statements changing this position.
Global security will be greatly threatened if Iran develops nuclear weapons. However, a U.S. pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran would likely have catastrophic consequences that counter U.S. security objectives – both in the Middle East and around the world. We therefore urge you to make it clear that the U.S. is not actively considering first use of nuclear weapons against Iran in response to its efforts to obtain uranium enrichment capabilities. We understand that in a crisis, many options – including military options — must be carefully considered. But we believe there is still time for diplomacy and targeted sanctions to work and we urge you to focus your Administration’s efforts on seeking a peaceful resolution of this crisis.
Sincerely ___________________
Let’s hope that the purported sponsor of this letter, Representative Ed Markey, gets all the Dems in Congress to sign on. Raw Story also notes that Representatives who are members of the Progressive Caucus in the House will be holding a series of unofficial hearings on the question of whether war with Iran would enhance or harm US security. The first one was supposed to begin today at 3:00 p.m. It would be nice if anyone in the media would cover that event, for a change.
It might be nice if a leading Senator put his or her support behind the efforts of the Progressive Caucus as well. Are you listening Senators Feingold, Kerry, Boxer, Reid, et al? Time to stand up and be counted.