Resolution in Opposition to U.S. Military Intervention

or Use of Force in Iran

 

WHEREAS, The Bush Administration has escalated aggressive rhetoric against Iran and positioned warships and other military forces in close proximity in a threatening fashion, and

 

WHEREAS, This buildup, both militarily and rhetorically, bears a close resemblance to that seen preceding the disastrous invasion of Iraq, and

 

WHEREAS, Overheated U.S. rhetoric is expanding earlier claims about a nuclear weapons program in Iran to include allegations (using show and tell but absent any real evidence) that Iran is supplying weapons that are killing U.S. troops in Iraq, and

 

WHEREAS, The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq states that Iran “is not likely to be a major driver of violence’ there, and

WHEREAS, It was the consensus view of all U.S. intelligence agencies in the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran that Iran does not currently have and has not had since 2003, a nuclear weapons program, and

 

WHEREAS, This assessment confirms what the UN’s International Atomic

Energy Agency and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohammad el-Baradei has said for many years, that Iran is years away from the capability of building a nuclear weapon and therefore negotiations are called for as provided by HR 5056, and

 

WHEREAS, Iran poses no immediate threat to the U.S., it does not possess a nuclear weapon and is not threatening to attack the U.S.; it is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; U.S. intelligence has concluded it has no nuclear weapons program and in 2003, Iran proposed a “grand bargain” with the U.S., an offer the Bush Administration summarily dismissed, and

 

WHEREAS, A U.S. (or U.S.-Israeli) attack on Iran, especially with nuclear ‘bunker buster’ weapons under consideration, would be deadly for untold thousands of Iranian civilians and would be a preventative attack - illegal under the United Nations charter and international law, as well as a violation of the U.S. Constitution, and

 

WHEREAS, The consequences of a U.S. attack on Iran would be dire for the entire world, with dangerously destabilizing effects on the Middle East likely leading to a broader war in the region and enormous negative consequences for the global economy, and

 

WHEREAS, The cost of the ongoing war in Iraq to the City of Evanston has been $178.5 million through 2007, with proposed additional spending of $60.8 million in 2008 and Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the total cost of the Iraq war to the U.S. as $3 trillion dollars, and

WHEREAS, The staggering sums being spent on unnecessary wars are diverting funds desperately needed for urgent domestic needs, especially in our great urban centers,

 

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Evanston urges its

Congressional representatives

- To express the will of the people of Evanston that the U.S. not launch military operations against Iran

- To enact a Congressional action to prevent funding for any military operations against Iran

- To pressure the present Administration and the next Administration to negotiate with Iran without the threat of military action

- To maintain pressure against any escalation of the Iraq war - either with more troops or by extending the war into Iran

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution shall be sent to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, all of Evanston’s Representatives and both Illinois Senators. A copy of this resolution shall be posted to the City of Evanston website.