We Don’t Need Another War

"If you think the war in Iraq was hard, an attack on Iran would, in my opinion, be a catastrophe," said the former Defense Secretary Bob Gates. Now, many of the same Congressmen who supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are posturing to reject the President Obama’s Iran Deal. An action that could lead to a war with a country that is much more advanced and powerful than both Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately, American politics appear to be unduly influenced by the Israeli domestic politics, where Prime Minister Netanyahu is playing tough to keep together his conservative coalition. President George Washington wisely advised us to nurture good relations with all nations but never be a slave to any nation.
From the very start, Iran insisted that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes. As a United States presidential candidate in the 2007 Democratic primary debate, Mr. Obama expressed his willingness to meet with Iranian leaders without any preconditions. The United States President Obama fulfilled his first inaugural address’ commitment when he said, "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." 
Now, Congress is about to make another tragic mistake. Congress authorized the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and the war in Iraq in 2002. The U. S. led invasions toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Afghans and Iraqis and the deaths of thousands of American forces. The war in Afghanistan provided the best publicity to al-Qaeda, once confined to Afghanistan and Sudan are now operating nearly everywhere. The war in Iraq empowered the Shia majority but alienated the Saddam’s Sunni minority and forced some of them into insurgency. Today, Afghanistan and Iraq are both in worse shape than they were prior to the U. S. led invasions. Now, many of those Congressmen regret supporting the invasions. Presidential candidate Jeb Bush openly declares that his brother’s invasion of Iraq was a mistake.
“The Iran nuclear deal is a good one for all concerned,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a research professor of international dispute resolution at the University of Notre Dame. The world powers persuaded Iran to dismantle most of its nuclear program, reduce its number of the centrifuges by about 70 percent, limit its stockpile of enriched uranium to only 2 percent, stop its production of weapon grade plutonium at Arak, and turn its deeply buried nuclear facility into a research center at Fordow. In exchange, Iran gets the relief of economic sanctions, the $100 billion in frozen assets, the lifting of international arms embargo, and the continuing of nuclear research and development for peaceful purposes. Most importantly, the deal has opened the channel of communication between the world powers and the regional power of Iran to resolve other issues including ISIS in the Middle East.

The Iran Deal may not be perfect but it is the best that we have. During the Cold War, one would vividly remember the strong opposition to SALT I (1972) during the Nixon Administration and SALT II (1979) during the Carter Administration. These events are now heralded as great American accomplishments. The landmark agreement with Iran on the nuclear program will also be looked back at as a great American undertaking. We don’t need another war!

Dr. Mehdi Alavi, President
Peace Worldwide Organization


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