Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) just revealed that he is introducing a measure pledging full U.S. support for Israel if Netanyahu bombs Iran.
That means that while Romney and Obama are squaring off for their final debate on foreign policy this Monday, Congress will already be preparing to promise troops, money, and political leverage to Israel for war with Iran.
Netanyahu could have no better encouragement to go ahead and start a war. Stopping Graham right now may be our last best hope to stop the momentum towards a military confrontation.
Already, Graham pushed Congress to adopt Netanyahu's redline for war this past August--overruling President Obama. Graham says after this, his next step will be to introduce an official authorization for war with Iran in 2013.
He must be stopped before it is too late.
Americans do not want another war of choice in the Middle East, and they certainly do not want to outsource that choice to Netanyahu. But if we don’t act, Congress will quietly pass this measure and it may be too late.
Help us block Graham’s proposal. Send a letter to your Senators and Representatives to tell them to stand up against war and against Graham's dangerous proposal.
I am writing to express my strong opposition to a recently announced proposal to provide unconditional U.S. backing for Israeli military actions against Iran. Senator Lindsey Graham says he is moving forward with a measure in November that would promise U.S. troops, money, and political support should Israel attack Iran. As your constituent and someone deeply concerned about the prospect of war with Iran, I ask that you take a firm stance against Senator Graham's proposed measure and provide needed leadership to prevent war and support of a diplomatic solution.
Should this resolution pass, the decision for the U.S. to go to war would be effectively outsourced to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Americans do not want to see the U.S. enter another disastrous war of choice in the Middle East, and they certainly do not want U.S. leaders outsourcing such a choice to a foreign leader. 59% of Americans oppose the United States getting involved if Israel strikes Iran according to the 2012 Chicago Council on Global Affairs survey.
Senator Graham's proposal undercuts U.S. civilian and military leaders while goading Israel to act.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff's Chairman, General Martin Dempsey, recently warned, "I don't want to be complicit if [Israel] chooses to [bomb Iran.]" According to former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, "The results of an American or Israeli military strike on Iran could, in my view, prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations in that part of the world", and "such an attack would make a nuclear-armed Iran inevitable. They would just bury the program deeper and make it more covert."
War would be disastrous for the people of the U.S., Iran, and Israel. A new study concludes that strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities would kill 85,000 Iranians. Iranian civil society is warning that war would bury the hopes of the Iranian people for democracy and human rights. Iranians are already suffering under sanctions that are increasingly failing to distinguish prohibited transactions from permitted goods like medicine and food.
We need leadership to prevent war and find a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the standoff with Iran. I urge you to stand up and be on the right side of this debate, and the right side of history. I urge you to strongly oppose the Graham resolution.
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
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