Dear Members and Friends,
During the past three days, the United Nations General Assembly in New York has been a focal point of the future and has stood as an international media forum for the presentation of unilateral perspectives. Most notably, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, has taken this opportunity, as well as his invitation to speak at Columbia University, to galvanize his support in the Middle East and increase unequivocal opposition here in the United States. It is important, as our public and media have noted, that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks be viewed for what they are?
Threats to Our Way of Life.
His statements cannot be dismissed, cast aside, or ignored. Iran is a highly sophisticated, educated society with great resources and political will coupled with religious fundamentalism. Led by President Ahmadinejad, Iran is exponentially more threatening to our nation, Europe, and the world than North Korea or any other country represented at the United Nations.
The United States, as a member of the international body of the United Nations that resolves conflicts, has collectively put forward three security resolutions and two economic sanctions to stop Iran from going forward with its nuclear program.
They have all failed.
In his opening speech in New York on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that “our ultimate goal remains the complete elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
If we fail, these weapons may one day eliminate us.
The solution is to take away the nuclear capability of Iran. This can be done in two ways: peacefully or through military action. We opt, as the world does, for a peaceful resolution that would see Iran withdraw its nuclear capability and its drive for such capability.
A robust and layered International Missile Defense System will negate Iran’s capability to threaten with nuclear weapons the United States, Europe, Israel, and other countries. Just as importantly, deploying Missile Defense systems, both sensors and interceptors, in Europe and surrounding areas will stabilize and give international entities such as the United Nations more time and collective strength to impose sanctions, resolutions, and other means to resolve this international crisis.
We as a world need to put aside politics and move forward expediently to deploy missile defense systems in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Turkey, as well as on Aegis ships in the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf.
“The Iranian short- and medium-range missile threat to NATO is here and now?. NATO must accelerate its effort to protect Europe against the threat.�?
-Chairwoman Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN), and Representative Mike Turner’s (R-OH) joint remarks made during their recent Congressional Delegation trip to Prague, Warsaw, and Brussels earlier this month.
“We strongly support working, on a bi-partisan basis, with our NATO allies to defend against the mutual threats we face over the coming months, we look forward to working with the administration and our NATO allies to develop a system that is defensive, indivisible and deters future threats.�?
We cannot trust President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to lead Iran to withdraw its nuclear ambitions nor can we afford to go to war against Iran.
We must deploy Missile Defense in Europe.
