`Stop the War on Iran before it starts`

Professor Abbas Edalat of Imperial College London gave a talk about Iran in St John’s peace and justice centre, Edinburgh on Thursday 27th April.

Michael Macgregor of `Fight racism! Fight imperialism! `
 http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/ spoke first and said that US Generals were very open in their boasting of the violence they use, in for example the expression `shock and awe`. The British with longer experience of imperialism are better at the use of PR and convey the image of benign imperialists.

Professor Abalat’s talk, attended by about 30 people, included the point that Iran has not invaded another country for 250 years in contrast to the USA, Britain and Israel. The media is full of stories about Iran’s supposed nuclear threat yet the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Authority) has carried out hundreds of snap inspections and found nothing untoward. The US State Department has made a claim that Iran could have a bomb in 16 days; this is reminiscent of the 45-minute warning about Iraq’s supposed WMD:
 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000100&sid=aduNTcpDuDd4&refer=germany

He pointed out that the media is preparing us for war with even the relatively liberal, anti-war Independent spouting anti-Iranian propaganda. We hear how Iran is enriching Uranium to 3.5% while countries like Brazil and South Korea have enriched Uranium to 90% and nothing is said. Every news article about Iran has references to its nuclear programmes in much the same way that Iraq was always associated with the phrase `weapons of mass destruction`.

The US vice president Dick Cheney has instructed the Pentagon to prepare a contingency plan for an attack on Iran if there is another 9/11 attack on the United States this year. Professor Edalat said that over 400 sites in Iran have been selected for possible missile attack. If Iran is attacked it will retaliate and then the US will be able to justify a nuclear attack.

The message being sent out to countries is that the only way to get immunity form attack is to get the bomb. An attack on Iran will mean the end of the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The stakes of an attack on Iran are much higher than those of the attack on Iraq. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a hero to many in the Islamic world. Here is a biography of the Iranian President from the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad

The Americans seem to want a sustained bombing campaign against Iran, which if it happens will lead to uprisings across the Islamic World.

Professor Edalat was in Tehran for the February 11th celebration of the Islamic revolution of 1979 and the festivities were much larger than usual.
 http://www.iranair.com/s.do?p=/irn/holiday.jsp
There were many pictures of Mohammed Mosaddeq whose government was overthrown by the US and Britain in 1953:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossadegh

Professor Edalat emphasised the importance of an International campaign against action on Iran and when asked if it could be stopped said “I think you have to be optimistic.” He advised people to put more pressure on their MPs.


For more information on the campaign against war on Iran please see:
www.campaigniran.org


For another good website see:
 http://www.iransolidarity.endofempire.org/


Here are some cuttings from British tabloid newspapers about the `most evil man in the world` from October last year:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2005/11/327370.html

More demonisation of Iran by Ann `chimneystacks` Leslie of the Daily Mail from 2004 – (the attack on Iran has been held up since then by the resistance in Iraq) –
 http://www.venusproject.com/ecs/The_Murderous_Mullahs.html

Here is a nauseating interview of George Bush by Sun associate editor Trevor Kavanagh which involves Iran:
 http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rm/2003/26287.htm

Here is a piece by David `sonofabitch` Aaronovitch of The Times saying `let’s calm down`:  http://timesonline.typepad.com/david_aaronovitch/2006/04/lets_calm_down_.html

Here is an open letter to Aaronovitch, which I sent him, and he didn’t answer:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/338143.html


Lastly, don’t forget the worldwide `Don’t attack Iran` demonstrations next Saturday May 6th:
 http://www.stopwar.org.uk/







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