This is not original material. It Comes from Win Without War, a diverse network
of activists and organizations working for a more peaceful, progressive U.S.
foreign policy.
End the March to War with Iran:
Messaging Guidance and Toolkit
We are on the brink of war — and it’s Donald Trump’s fault. We
must immediately end the escalation and replace it with a massive diplomatic
intervention.
Make no mistake: Donald
Trump brought us to the brink.
Trump entered office
with some of the most promising inroads to peaceful relations with Iran in
decades. Instead, he:
- Established a policy of
hostility and antagonism toward Iran from day one, [1]
- Hired advisors and took the
counsel of outside warmongers who have long promoted regime change and war
with Iran, [2]
- Violated the successful
multilateral Iran nuclear deal, [3]
- Engaged in economic warfare by
unilaterally imposing crushing sanctions on Iran and threatened sanctions
against our European allies, even though Iran was still complying with the
agreement, [4] and
- Increased regional tensions
through bellicose rhetoric, a “maximum pressure” campaign, and a
bolstered, confrontational U.S. military presence in the region. [5]
Now, he has chosen to
assassinate one of Iran’s most powerful leaders — an entirely unnecessary and
aggressive act of war. The march to war with Iran has been long. Donald Trump
has been at its head.
War with Iran would be
catastrophic, potentially worse than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
- War with Iran with the goal of
ending its nuclear program or changing the regime would require a massive
U.S. invasion and occupation that would pale in comparison to the combined
U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — and would be just as fruitless and deadly.
[1][2]
- Starting a war with Iran would
likely destabilize an entire region, funnel U.S. resources into an
unwinnable conflict, and unleash mass-scale human suffering on Iran’s 80+
million civilian population and beyond. [1]
- Even a military conflict short
of full-scale war will result in the continued suffering and loss of life
that has already marked decades of U.S. endless war in the Middle
East.
- If we have learned anything
from the almost two decades of destructive, futile, endless wars, now is
the time to act like it.
Only Congress can decide
whether U.S. forces should be put into harm's way.
- Bipartisan majorities in both
chambers, backed by vast grassroots support, sought to block this type of
offensive executive military action against Iran in the fiscal year 2020
National Defense Authorization Act. But even this most basic level of
congressional oversight was too much for the Trump administration and much
of the Republican party, which stripped the language in the bill’s final
negotiations. Sadly, we’re now seeing the results of that dereliction of
duty. [1] [2]
- Members of Congress and experts
have stated that the current authorizations for the use of military force
(that authorize the post-9/11 wars) do not authorize war with Iran.
[1] [2] [3]
- But even
with Congressional approval, war with Iran would be futile, disastrous,
and immoral.
We can still stop the
march to war.
- The Iranian government will
likely retaliate. The question is if we can break this cycle of escalating
violence. [1]
- Now is the time to end
all incendiary rhetoric, halt the vicious cycle of tit-for-tat
violence, and immediately engage in a massive diplomatic effort for
peace.
- To make that happen, we need a
massive display of people-power — and to speak with a unified voice.
The American people
don’t want war.
- The U.S. public does not want a
war, the only question is if Washington’s leaders will listen to them and
choose a different path.
- A Gallup poll found 78 percent
of Americans think the U.S. should rely on non-military tools like
diplomacy versus 18 percent who preferred the U.S. use military force
against Iran. [1]
- A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll
conducted this summer found only 5 percent of American voters wanted to
declare war on Iran. [1]
- A CNN poll — conducted weeks
after Trump’s military build-up this spring — found that just 32 percent
of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of Iran. [1]
- A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that
just 29 percent supported Trump’s policy of withdrawing from the Iran
nuclear agreement. A CNN poll found that 63 percent said the U.S. should
not withdraw. [1] [2]
- A VoteVets poll found that 54
percent of likely swing state voters oppose a U.S. attack on Iran, while
only 29 percent support. [1]
Win Without War, and our
allies and partners, are fighting for peace.
- Grassroots organizations from
around the country — representing the progressive foreign policy,
anti-militarism, Iranian-American communities, and more — are building a
movement to stop the war, end the crisis, and build peace between the U.S.
and Iran.
Common Questions and Responses
Didn’t Iran bring this
upon themselves with the embassy attack?
On December 27, a rocket
attack on a U.S. military base in northern Iraq killed one U.S. contractor and
injured six others. [1] Blaming the Iran-allied militia group Kataib
Hezbollah with little public evidence, the U.S. responded with extensive
bombings in open defiance of the wishes of the Iraqi government, killing 25. [2] Demonstrators, distinct from the wider protest
movement that has been ongoing in Iraq for months, stormed the U.S. embassy
compound in Baghdad [3], damaging several reception areas.
This series of
escalatory tit-for-tat military actions, in which Trump acted recklessly and aggressively,
was just one more step in Trump’s long march to war, and in no way justifies
the assassination of a foreign military leader. This was an unprecedented
and wholly uncalled for act of war with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Wasn’t Soleimani a bad
guy? Aren’t we better off without him?
Soleimani’s pernicious
record is not in question, but focusing on it distracts from the larger point:
Donald Trump unilaterally assassinated a foreign military leader knowing full
well that it would risk plunging an entire region into catastrophic, fruitless
war. Moreover, the Trump administration has offered no evidence that the U.S.
was in danger from Soleimani. Even if it did, the U.S. killed Soleimani in a
country where thousands of American soldiers are stationed who are trained and
capable of capturing, rather than assassinating, assets. By choosing to
assassinate Soleimani, the Trump administration escalated the conflict
unnecessarily. Global security was clearly not the goal.
Isn’t Iran our enemy?
The U.S.-Iran
relationship has long been fraught, and there is no question that the
governments on both sides are condemnable. But it is the U.S., and the Trump
administration in particular, that has destroyed any hopes of normalizing
relations. Trump withdrew from the successful, multilateral nuclear deal (the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA), engaged in a counterproductive
“maximum pressure” campaign, imposed economic sanctions with deadly effects on
innocent civilians, and assassinated a political leader.
More broadly, the U.S.:
- Has long engaged in aggressive
rhetoric, including countless threats of regime change, while building up
military forces in proximity to the country;
- Unconditionally supports Iran’s
regional rivals, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, undoubtedly
influenced by oil interests, think tank funders, and foreign lobbyists;
- Invaded Iraq, destabilizing the
region; and
- Sowed the original seeds of the
animosity between our countries — the current Iranian regime came to power
in an uprising against a corrupt authoritarian monarch that had been
installed in a U.S.-backed coup against a democratically-elected liberal
regime.
Social Media and Graphics
Twitter:
A war with #Iran will
harm both the Iranian and American people. It will help no one but Trump and
the war hawks he has surrounded himself with in his drive for this war. We must
not let it happen.
The calls for war
against #Iran are drowning out the voices of those who will be directly
impacted by war. Right now, we need media outlets to uplift those voices in
giving an accurate picture of what the consequences of this war will look like.
#MuteTheWarMachine
Congress must act fast
to stop the Trump administration from getting the #IranWar it’s always wanted,
a war that would kill and displace millions. Call your members of Congress and
tell them to put the brakes on war with #Iran: (202) 224-3121.
Facebook:
If we have learned
anything from almost two decades of destructive, futile, endless wars, now is
the time to act like it. Sign now and tell Congress to put the brakes on war
with Iran.
This is not a drill. A
war with Iran would kill and displace millions. Congress must act fast. Call
your members of Congress and tell them to put the brakes on war with #Iran.
(202) 224-3121.
