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Details
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Written by Ned Rosch Ned Rosch
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Published: 27 August 2015 27 August 2015
I
am honored to speak on behalf of Jewish Voice for Peace, which stands in
solidarity with the people of Iran, the people of the U.S., and people of
conscience across our precious planet who yearn for our leaders to courageously
move us towards peaceful relations with Iran and away from setting us on a path
that, once on it, one simple miscalculation, might lead us inexorably toward
war with Iran.
If
you thought the Iraq war was a tragic disaster, get this:
Iran
is a regional power with a strong military.
It is three times as populous and geographically much larger than
Iraq. So, multiply everything in the
Iraq War by three to get a sense of the cost of a war against Iran:
Immediate cost: $3 trillion
Long term cost, including veteran care: at least 10 trillion dollars
US troops killed: over 15,000
US troops seriously wounded: over 100,000
Iranian dead: 3 million
Iranians displaced: 12-15 million!
Let’s
be clear: the U.S. has long had Iran
virtually encircled as a result of the American occupation of Afghanistan on
Iran’s Eastern border, its invasion of Iraq on its Western border, its NATO
ally Turkey hovering on Iran’s Northwestern border, some degree of military relationship with
Turkmenistan on Iran’s Northeastern border, and multiple U.S. client states
sitting right across the Persian Gulf (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and
Bahrain, where the massive US 5th
Fleet is stationed).
Additionally, some combination of the U.S. and Israel has bombarded Iran with
multiple acts of war in recent years, including explosions on Iranian soil, the
murder of numerous Iranian
nuclear scientists, and sophisticated cyber-attacks.
Read more: Speech in front of Wyden's office