AntiWar.com & Philip Bump / The Washington Post – 2015-08-11 23:12:14
In Open Letter,
Retired Pentagon Brass Endorse Iran Deal
Jason Ditz / AntiWar.com
(August 11, 2015) — In a new open letter, three dozen retired US generals and admirals have endorsed the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran as the “most effective means” to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and called on Congress to vote in favor of the pact.
The letter echoes sentiment from current Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, who said that resolving the dispute with Iran diplomatically “is superior than trying to do that militarily.”
A military confrontation with Iran is very much the point for a lot of the Congressional opponents, however, and the letter also seemed aimed at them, saying that a US war with Iran would be much easier to sell internationally if the diplomatic deal had been tried first.
Congress is not expected to be able to muster enough votes to block the deal, and administration officials are warning that if they do it would be calamitous for America’s global standing, and making diplomacy with other nations much more difficult in the future.
Former Iranian Political Prisoners
Urge US Support for Iran Deal
Posted By Other / AntiWar.com & Mondoweiss
(August 11, 2015) — The following statement was shared with Mondoweiss by the signatories:
An Urgent request from a group of former Iranian Political Prisoners
Please contact your representative to support the Iran Nuclear Deal.
We are a group of former political prisoners of the Islamic Republic of Iran that reside in the United States of America. Although we share different political beliefs and ideologies, we support the Vienna nuclear accord of July 14, 2015 between the Islamic Republic of Iran and P5+1.
We believe this agreement would reinforce peace and stability in the Middle East and the world. It will help develop and foster a relationship between both the Iranian and American people that will strongly benefit the interests of both nations. Furthermore, such an agreement will help counter the spread of terrorism within the region and around the world.
We humbly ask you to contact your representatives in both Houses to support this agreement which helps peace and humanity.
Names:
Reza Afshar; Computer science — Orange County , California
Reza Fani-Yzadi; IT Specialist, HR Activist — Berkeley
Hassan Kalantari; Engineer, Social and Political Activist — S.F.Valley
Roozbeh Mir Ebrahimi; Journalist , New York
Ebrahim Nabavi; Satirist , Winner of Prince Claus Award — Irvine
Bijan Pirzadeh; Civil Engineer , Human Right Activist — Los Angeles
Dr. Azita Rezvan; PHD- Policy Development — Los Angeles
Dr. Mir Hamid Salek; Dentist , Journalist — Bakersfield, Ca
Massoud Shabafrooz; Criminologist, Civic Society Activist, Fresno
Ali Shakeri; Peacebuilder, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding@UCI-Irvine
