[NYTr] Sign Petition Against Attacking Iran

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AfterDowningStreet.org - Oct 9, 2007
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/iran


Sign Petition Against Attacking Iran

1. We have posted a new petition addressed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and All U.S. military personnel urging them to refuse an illegal order
to attack Iran.

Because we want to display your signatures publicly and do not want
spam machines to sign the petition, we require that you log in first to
access the petition. In order to log in, you must register.

Once you are logged in, please click here to sign the new petition. If
you see a message that says "access denied" that means you are not
logged in.

Supporters of this new petition are listed at the link above.

TEXT OF PETITION:

ATTENTION: Joint Chiefs of Staff and all U.S. Military Personnel:

Do not attack Iran.
Any preemptive U.S. attack on Iran would be illegal.
Any preemptive U.S. attack on Iran would be criminal.

We, the citizens of the United States, respectfully urge you,
courageous men and women of our military, to refuse any order to
preemptively attack Iran, a nation that represents no serious or
immediate threat to the United States. To attack Iran, a sovereign
nation of 70-million people, would be a crime of the highest magnitude.

Legal basis for our Request – Do not attack Iran:

The Nuremberg Principles, which are part of US law, provide that all
military personnel have the obligation not to obey illegal orders. The
Army Field Manual 27-10, sec. 609 and UCMJ, art. 92, incorporate this
principle. Article 92 says: "A general order or regulation is lawful
unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the law of the United States
…"

Any provision of an international treaty ratified by the United States
becomes the law of the United States. The United States is a party and
signatory to the United Nations Charter, of which Article II, Section 4
states, "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…" As Iran has not attacked the
United States, and as the U.S. is a party and signatory to the Charter,
any attack on Iran by the U.S. would be illegal under not only
international law but under the U.S. Constitution which recognizes our
treaties as the Supreme Law of the Land. When you joined the military,
you took an oath to defend our Constitution.

Following the orders of your government or superior does not relieve
you from responsibility under international law. Under the Principles
of International Law recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg
Tribunal, complicity in the commission of war crime is a crime under
international law.

Background:

The Bush Administration's charges against Iran have not been proven.
Neither the development of nuclear weapons, nor providing assistance to
Iraq would, if proven, constitute justification for an illegal war.

An attack on Iran might prompt the formidable Iranian military to
attack U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. Thousands of our soldiers might
be killed or captured as prisoners of war. A U.S. attack against
Iranian nuclear facilities could also mean the deaths, from radiation
poisoning, of tens of thousands of innocent Iranian civilians. The
people of Iran have little control over their government, yet would
suffer tremendously should the U.S. attack. Bombing raids would amount
to collective punishment, a violation of the Geneva Convention, and
would surely sow the seeds of hatred for generations to come. Children
make up a quarter of Iran's population.

Above all, we ask you to look at the record of our actions in Iraq,
which U.S. intelligence admits is “a cause celebre for jihadists” – a
situation that did not exist before we attacked. We must face the fact
that our rash use of military solutions has created more enemies, and
made American families less safe. Diplomacy, not war, is the answer.

Know the Risks Involved in Refusing an Illegal Order or Signing This
Statement:

We knowingly and willingly make this plea, aware of the risk that, in
violation of our First Amendment rights, we could be charged under
remaining sections of the unconstitutional Espionage Act or other
unconstitutional statute, and that we could be fined, imprisoned, or
barred from government employment.

We make this plea, also aware that you have no easy options. If you
obey an illegal order to participate in an aggressive attack on Iran,
you could potentially be charged with war crimes. If you heed our call
and disobey an illegal order you could be falsely charged with crimes
including treason. You could be falsely court martialed. You could be
imprisoned. (To talk to a lawyer or to learn more about possible
consequences, contact The Central Committee for Conscientious
Objectors, Courage to Resist, Center on Conscience and War, Military
Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild 415-566-3732, or the GI
Rights Hotline at 877-447-4487.) **

Final request:

Our leaders often say that military force should be a last resort. We
beg you to make that policy a reality, and refuse illegal orders to
attack Iran. We promise to support you for protecting the American
public and innocent civilians abroad.

Our future, the future of our children and their children, rests in
your hands.

You know the horrors of war. You can stop the next one.

_______________

Because we want to display your signatures publicly and do not want
spam machines to sign the petition, we require that you log in first to
access the petition. In order to log in, you must register.

Once you are logged in, please click here to sign the new petition. If
you see a message that says "access denied" that means you are not
logged in.

_______________

_______________

_______________

_______________

2. Please sign Petition to President and Vice President below.

Dear President Bush and Vice President Cheney,

We write to you from all over the United States and all over the world
to urge you to obey both international and U.S. law, which forbid
aggressive attacks on other nations. We oppose your proposal to attack
Iran. Iran does not possess nuclear weapons, just as Iraq did not
possess nuclear weapons. If Iran had such weapons, that would not
justify the use of force, any more than any other nation would be
justified in launching a war against the world's greatest possessor of
nuclear arms, the United States. The most effective way to prevent Iran
from developing nuclear weapons would be to closely monitor its nuclear
energy program, and to improve diplomatic relations -- two tasks made
much more difficult by threatening to bomb Iranian territory. We urge
you to lead the way to peace, not war, and to begin by making clear
that you will not commit the highest international crime by
aggressively attacking Iran.

PLEASE SIGN IT NOW: Sign This Petition.

[Note: As of December 27, 2006, we had 95,537 signatures, too many for
the technology we'd been using, so we switched to a new system at the
above link. As of September 13, 2007, we had added another 12,850 at
the new location, bringing to total to 108,387. With the earlier
technology we were able to accept signatures from people outside the
US. Unfortunately the new system cannot accomodate that.]

Print out petition in Word to collect signatures in real world.

This petition #2 to the President and Vice President is supported by
and has been promoted by Gold Star Families for Peace, CODE PINK,
Progressive Democrats of America, Democrats.com, Traprock Peace Center,
Global Exchange, Velvet Revolution, Democracy Rising, Truthout,
OpEdNews, Backbone Campaign, Consumers For Peace, Campus Antiwar
Network, The Young Turks, Citizens for Legitimate Government, Counter
Punch, United for Peace and Justice, Stop the War Coalition, This Can't
Be Happening, Voters Evolt, Springs Action Alliance, Radio News
America, OrbStandard, International Socialist Organization, Voters for
Peace, Thom Hartmann Show, Environmentalists Against War, U.S. Peace
Council, Grandmothers for Peace, Justice Through Music, Campaign
Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran, World Can't Wait,
The Rational Response Squad, Idriss Stelley Foundation, Bush Free Zone,
Voice International, Foundation for the Development of Human Resources,
Tbilisi, Georgia, Political Cooperative, City Sites, Agir contre la
guerre (France), Americans Against the War (France), Spiritual Activism
Conference, Muslims for Peace (Australia), AndrewBurgin.com, Peace
Movement Aotearoa, Not in Our Name Aotearoa New Zealand, Pixel4Peace,
Liberty News TV, IntelligentFuture, CampUS Strike for Peace, We The
People United Bangladesh, Friends Committee on National Legislation,
American Voices Abroad (Berlin), American Voices Abroad Military
Project (Europe), Patrick Henry Democratic Club of America,
DareToDreamNetwork.net, The Westchester Progressive Forum, Canada
Watch, Political Cooperative, City Sites, Watching Politics, St. Pete
for Peace, Humanist Group of Southern Illinois CUF, Peace Action,
Northwest Indiana Coalition Against the Iraq War, DC Antiwar Network,
Western MA Raging Grannies and WM Women's International League for
Peace & Freedom, Women in Black - Phoenix, Campaign Against Sanctions
and Military Intervention in Iran, Vermont Peace Train, U.S. Citizens
Against War (Florence, Italy),

Add your national or international organization.