Member Login
Let Your Voice Be Heard!
Final Push Towards Victory! Your Voice Needed Now! Take action!
Make a difference in the challenge to confront global warming and prevent nuclear war and the development and use of nuclear weapons.
The future of the disarmament agenda is on the line now as New START ratification moves forward in the US Senate.
With two Iran Amendments to the $679.8 billion National Defense Authorization Act and one to the $33.3 billion Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, Congress looks to grasp some oversight on U.S.-Iran policy. As Iran’s political stability after its June 2009 elections continues to deteriorate, these proposed actions could hurt the reformist movement that Congress would like to support. Congress should instead hold off on taking action until it is clear who will ultimately hold power in Iran for the long term.
Here are two of the Senate proposals:
Senate Amendment 1628 (S.A.1628) to the National Defense Authorization Act (S.1390), introduced by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), pictured above, asks the President to impose sanctions on the Central Bank in Iran if Iran does not respond to President Obama’s offer of engagement or suspended all nuclear activities by September 2009, and the United Nations Security Council fails to pass stronger sanctions.
Senate Amendment 1892 (S.A.1892) to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R.3183), also introduced by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), sanctions people that sell refined petroleum products to Iran valued at $1,000,000 or more and people that engage in any activity that enhances Iran’s ability to import refined petroleum products valued at $1,000,000 or more.
The current U.S. offer to engage does not come with preconditions. That is the big change in Obama policy from Bush policy, yet Congress keeps trying to insert preconditions on U.S. engagement. Congressional preconditions include: Iran must show a certain amount of interest in engagement by September 2009, Iran must freeze its nuclear program, and the United Nations must pass more sanctions. These are all preconditions, and they must all be dropped if we are going to try a new policy with Iran. The former policy of threats, sanctions and silence only lead Iran to expedite its nuclear program.
Another Senate proposal to the National Defense Authorization Act (S.1390):
Senate Amendment 1775, Victims of Iranian Censorship Act or Voice Act (S.A.1775) was introduced by Senator John McCain (R-AZ). It condemns the recent acts of censorship and violence in Iran and authorizes $30 million to the Broadcasting Board of Governors for Radio Farda and the Persian News Network, as well as $20 million for a new “Iranian Electronic Education, Exchange, and Media Fund.”
Unfortunately, this will not “support the Iranian people” as it states. Iranians that are part of the reformist movement clearly state that U.S. support will make their efforts look like an attempted U.S. sponsored coup. Iranian conservatives, President Ahmadinejad included, are saying that it is not the Iranian people that want change, but foreign governments. They are blaming the unrest on nations like the United States and the United Kingdom. This proposed amendment will give President Ahmadinejad the proof he needs to further suppress with violence the legitimate protests against his rule.
The future of the disarmament agenda is on the line now as New START ratification moves forward in the US Senate.
Tell your elected officials to cut funding for new nuclear weapons building capacities and to fund key national priorities: clean energy, universal health care, and restoring our environment.
Towards Nuclear Abolition
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) wrote an excellent report after the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference ended in May. It details the growing support from governments at the NPT-Review Conference for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. Read more »
Zero Is the Only Option
In March 2010, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and PSR docs Vic Sidel and Ira Helfand published a major new briefing paper on the global climate and health effects of nuclear war. Zero is the only option was produced for the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Read more »
Steps to Safety (for General Audiences)
PowerPoint presentation on how nuclear weapons put the United States at risk today--and how we can reduce and eventually eliminate the danger posed by the thousands of nuclear weapons still stockpiled in nuclear arsenals, the tons of nuclear bomb making material vulnerable to theft by extremists, and the specter of more nations potentially seeking nuclear weapons. Read more »
RSS Feed Privacy Policy Contact Us
All content © Copyright 2009 All rights reserved.
These amendments are clearly designed to help the Iranian people. It is not so intelligent to allow your enemies determine your tactics. Ahmadinezhad and the Iranian dictatorship will make their claims regardless. You seem to suggest the best strategy to support the Iranian people is to do nothing, or not to support them! This is TOO intelligent!!!
August 5, 2009Agreed. It is also important to oppose Senator Evan Bayh's S.908, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009. It is hard to know whether the sponsors of these bills really think they will achieve their stated purposes -- or whether they simply want a breakdown in relations as a prelude to a military strike.
August 4, 2009