New Campaign Asks U.S. and Israeli Air, Missile, and Drone Crews to Refuse to Attack Iran
AN APPEAL TO UNITED STATES AND ISRAELI AIR, MISSILE AND DRONE CREWS TO STAND DOWN F ROM ORDERS TO ATTACK IRAN
November 2011 — Add Your Name!
We are at an historic moment when decisions are being made in the United States and Israel on whether and when to attack Iran.
These will be decisions by politicians and individual commanders and air, missile and drone crewmembers charged with the responsibility of raining down munitions in a strike that will likely kill hundreds if not thousands of Iranian people and potentially spread deadly nuclear contamination to millions in Iran and surrounding nations.
Beyond this, an attack on Iran will almost certainly bring retaliation that will result in even more human casualties and will disrupt global oil shipments, with severe human consequences around the world.
An attack against Iran by the United States and Israel will violate morality, international and domestic law and the interests of humanity. Additionally, both Iran and the United States are parties to the Kellogg-Briand Pact which forbids the use of war.
There are those of us signing this appeal who have been members of the United States and other armed forces and understand very well the difficulty of refusing to follow an order to attack. At the same time, each of us as the responsibility to preserve human life and nature in the face of inhuman and illegal orders, a responsibility defined by the Nuremberg Conventions.
We urge all of you who may be called upon to attack Iran from the air, and indeed all military personnel who may be engaged in any kind of attack on Iran, to refuse to do so.
Kathleen Barry, Professor Emerita, author, Unmaking War, Remaking Men
Judith Bellow, Fel lowship of Reconciliation
Medea Benjamin, Co-founder of Code Pink
Elaine Brower, World Can’t Wait Steering Committee, military mother
Matthis Chiroux, Iraq war resister, former Army sergeant
Mike Ferner, Acting Director, Veterans for Peace, Navy Corpsman ’69-’73
Jim Haber, Coordinator, Nevada Desert Experience, National Committee of the War Resisters League
George Haeseler, Broome County (NY) Veterans for Peace
Jane Hirschmann, Organizer of the US Boat to Gaza and the Freedom Waves to Gaza
Leili Kashani, Advocacy Program Manager, Center for Constitutional Rights
Tarak Kauff, Veterans for Peace
Nada Khader, Executive Director of Westchester Peoples Action Coalition
Dennis Loo, Author, Globalization and the Demolition of Society, World Can’t Wait
Liam Madden, Iraq veteran, former Marine sergeant
Ray McGovern, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Nick Mottern, Director of ConsumersForPeace.org
Michael Steven Smith, Esq
David Swans on, Author of When the World Outlawed War; War Is A Lie; and Daybreak
Debra Sweet, Director of World Can’t Wait
Photo: Shreyans Bhansali