The Network of Spiritual Progressives – 2006-10-12 23:41:53

If the Bush Administration believes that it can shift the elections by attacking Iran, the only thing that might restrain them would be for Democratic Party leaders to say that such an attack scheduled to influence voting, would be an impeachable offense. Could that happen? And how likely is an attack on Iran?

We at Tikkun worry that an attack on Iran by the Bush Administration, motivated in part by narrow electoral considerations (switching the discourse away from the sexual scandal of former Republican Congressman Foley with its dramatization of the sexual hypocrisy of many right-wingers who publicly rail against sexual offenses; and away from the failure of Bush’s policy of refusing to meet face to face with the North Koreans to prevent nuclear proliferation as they have repeatedly sought), could lead to a worldwide terror and war beyond anything we have seen (and we normally are very skeptical about apocalyptic scenarios).

But can anything prevent this? Well, one thing might make a difference. If the Democratic Party leadership (not the Kucinich’s and other relatively isolated voices, but the Nancy Pelosi’s and John Edwards’s and other centrists) were to announce immediately that launching a war in the weeks before an election (when there is no evidence that waiting for another few months would cause any serious damage to the US or to world peace) would be an impeachable offense.

It would be very helpful to get moderate Republicans to speak out about the possibility of an attack on Iran in the next 3 weeks before the election being an impeachable offense.

The only thing that could make that happen would be an extraordinary outpouring of public sentiment to their Congressional and Senatorial representatives demanding that they take this position publicly. And that means you and your friends.

This is not meant to be a critique of the Republicans, because at the moment the usual timidity of the Democrats is just as much responsible for Bush thinking he might be able to get away with all this. But at this moment, appealing to the Democrats and sensible Republicans is all we can do.

• Please read the articles on the possibility that the war is being set in motion right now:
http://tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/News_Item.2006-10-11.5241

• To get a fresh perspective on what is currently happening. One of the articles is by Chris Hedges, whom you may remember as the level-headed NY Times reporter who has become a leading analyst of the war in Iraq and of US military strategy.

• To call your Senators or Congressional representatives, dial 1 202 224-3121 and ask for the office of your Senator or Congressperson. In this case, timing is everything.

The Network of Spiritual Progressives is a project of the Tikkun Community