Physicians for Social Responsibility Joins in Call for Diplomacy with Iran

Physicians for Social Responsibility
Joins in Call for Diplomacy with Iran

(June 10, 2008) Washington, DC - Dr. Catherine Thomasson, former president of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), joined with others today in urging the Congress to set the stage for peaceful negotiations with Iran and decried the increasingly belligerent posturing by the administration.

“In 2007 I visited Iran and found a peaceful country in which citizens held no animosity toward the United States.  While there I visited with Iranian physicians who have seen the human costs of war.  PSR joins today with those Iranian citizens and others calling on the Congress to take responsibility for future U.S. relations with Iran.  The discoveries of the last few weeks make it clear that we cannot trust the administration with such a task, especially when so many lives may be at stake,” said Dr. Thomasson.

Physicians for Social Responsibility joins the other organizations represented at “National Call-In Day for Dialogue with Iran” June 10 to urge the U.S. government to support new policies of engagement and diplomacy with Iran. PSR supports cultural and scientific exchanges with Iran as pathways to engage Iran and to reduce tension in U.S.-Iranian relations.

PSR asks citizens to call their Congressional Representatives on Tuesday, June 10th. The toll free number is: 1-800-788-9372

• Tell them to work for direct and comprehensive talks without preconditions between the U.S. and Iran.
• The U.S. and Iran share common interests in a stable Iraq, Middle East and Afghanistan.

PSR and its more than 30,000 members urge US Representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 5056 and support hearings that will promote direct negotiations with Iran. PSR asks that they take this action with the goal of creating a new and productive dialogue between the two nations.

In May 2008 PSR hosted several Iranian physicians on a tour of the United States that highlighted the human consequences of war and promoted scientific exchange between U.S. and Iranian doctors. During the trip Iranian physicians and patients from the Iran-Iraq war presented medical and public talks in five U.S. cities.  That successful exchange can be a model for U.S.-Iranian relations.

However, in similar fashion to the case for war in Iraq, the Bush Administration is depicting Iran as a great threat to our security.  But just as no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate proclaims that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. 

Dr. Thomasson added, “Because Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program the president has changed his rhetoric to convince the U.S. public that Iran should be attacked because it is interfering with our goals in Iraq.  The Congress must demonstrate greater oversight so that America cannot be misled again.”

Dr. Thomasson can be reached at thomassonc@comcast.net or 503-819-1170.