Peaceful Resolution with Iran

I am alarmed at the increasingly misleading and aggressive rhetoric employed by US elected officials and certain administration spokespersons on the subject of Iran. No less disturbing are Israel's posturing and repeated threats to launch a preemptive attack on Iran. Such an attack would be a violation of international law.

By law, the locus of international conflict resolution lies within the United Nations.

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter states that "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations." [1]

When US politicians assert that "everything is on the table," they irresponsibly suggest that the US should consider a breach of international law.

Consider the following:

There lies no body of proof that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.
US intelligence establishment has not found Iran to be currently developing a nuclear weapon, or even making a decision to do so in the future. The last declassified US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) in 2007 concluded that Iran does not have an active nuclear weapons program.[2] Reporting by Seymour Hersh indicates no conclusive change in judgment in the 2011 NIE, which remains classified)

Iran's calls for negotiations have been spurned and that we have had only two negotiations with Iran since 1979. The mainstream press has also mischaracterized Iran's responsiveness to negotiated proposals. For example, Brazil and Turkey, with President Obama's initial support, negotiated a plausible solution to storage of Iran's nuclear fuel that was very similar to previous proposals advanced by the P5+1 (permanent members of the Security Council -- China, Russia, the UK, the US, and France -- plus Germany). Iran signed an agreement with Brazil and Turkey, but the plan was then rejected by the US, despite the fact that the agreement was based on a framework designed by the Obama administration.[5]

The cost of another war for US taxpayers would be detrimental to economic recovery.

The officers of the Washington-based, nonpartisan Arms Control Association, while sharing concerns found in the IAEA report, strongly advocate against military intervention. In their assessment, military strikes would actually "result in costly long-term consequences for U.S. and regional security and the U.S. and global economy." [6]
The Defense budget has grown 159% (85% AFI) over the last decade (761 Billion USD). This money is being diverted from social services to fights wars over oil, and the perception of freedom in foreign countries. In fiscal year 2011, the Pentagon spent at least $158 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have already spent over a trillion dollars in direct costs in these two countries since 2002 and many more billions in indirect costs. Many analysts believe that these wars, rather than making Americans safer, have increased the number of our enemies, thus making us more vulnerable. Safely redeploying our servicemen and women from Afghanistan and Iraq would free up billions of dollars annually with no loss to our security. A war with Iran will only continue this trend of inflated spending on war while the infrastructure of the United States crumbles.

The Human and environmental cost of war poses a greater threat to world security than the illusion of Iran’s nuclear program.
The cost of US lives in Iraq and Afghanistan wars alone has totaled 6314. The number of wounded US soldiers in Iraq alone was 32,000. These numbers are only the physical wounds that are sustained in war. The mental are unaccounted for. On top of the devastating loss of the US sons and daughters, the estimates of Iraqi dead, mostly innocent civilians, ranges from 130,000 to over a million--in an unjustified war of aggression.. How can the US claim that war is to promote the safety of these countries when we slaughter so many innocent people and label them as “collateral damage”. Another war will only add to the totals of needless bloodshed.

We call on you, our representatives, to work toward earnest strategies focused on peace-making, we ask you to act in the best interest of the United States, not the interests of war profiteers and pro-Israel lobbyists. It’s time to work plan that focuses on peaceful conflict resolution.

The president circumvented the Constitution and Congress shirked its constitutional obligation regarding the recent intervention in Libya. It's time to remember and use the powers accorded Congress by the framers of the Constitution. The framers underscored the importance of public deliberation and therefore institutionalized this crucial check on the power of the executive. The framers clearly placed in Congress the power to declare war -- and, conversely, to resolutely withhold such a declaration in the absence of a legal justification.

Finally, another power of Congre...