The U.S. and the world cannot afford another war.

The House and Senate may already have passed a resolution (H. Res. 568, S.

Res.
380) expressing the sense of Congress that if Iran acquires a nuclear
weapons capability, “containment” options are insufficient. Containment
includes diplomacy, sanctions, deterrence and inspections short of war.
Since some hawks in Israel and Washington, D.C., regard Iran’s
enrichment facilities as already “nuclear weapons capable,” this
resolution ratchets up the drift toward war.

Iran has
no nuclear weapons and no program to develop them, according to U.S.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and
the International Atomic Energy Agency. These same experts agree it
would take Iran more than a year to produce a nuclear weapon.

Ongoing
inspections of Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities by the IAEA confirm
that Iran is enriching uranium only to the levels permitted by the NPT
for electrical power generation and medical purposes.

Most
of America’s senior military personnel, including 11 retired military
generals and admirals, and two former Secretaries of Defense, have made
it clear that a war against Iran is a terrible idea. In March, on CBS’s 60 Minutes, the
head of Israel’s intelligence division said that “military action
against Iran would be catastrophic, possibly sparking a regional war
involving the U.S. and Russia.” He also called it “the stupidest idea”
he had ever heard.

Bellicose language about danger from
Iran is reminiscent of claims about weapons of mass destruction made by
politicians and hawks and uncritically reported in the media prior to
the 2003 war against Iraq. We all remember then-Secretary of State Colin
Powell’s solemn warnings to the U.N. Security Council about mobile
chemical labs in Iraq, only to learn later that these claims — and so
many others — were based on false testimony from unreliable sources.

The
media is once again reporting claims of a danger to the world (Iran)
without balanced reporting of voices against war. This is a dangerous
powder keg that can lead to a war everyone would regret. Attacking Iran
could cause gas prices to skyrocket, sacrifice more American lives, and
embroil the nation in another Middle East quagmire. War would also add
billions more to our national debt and plunge our economy back into
recession.

We must all tell elected officials: Not another war! America needs to come home and defend America!

—Mary Francis, Norman