Posted in Opinion, Letters to Editor on Wednesday, July 29th. Lancaster Online.
Lancaster Interchurch Peace Witness follows Friends Committee on National Legislation in welcoming the historic breakthrough between six nations and Iran.
We call on U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey and Rep. Joe Pitts to support this accord. It is time to end hostilities between the U.S. and Iran and construct a positive future. My writing is informed by years of residence and working experience in the Middle East.
Diplomacy is the only way to be sure that Iran does not secure a nuclear weapon. The arduous work of international negotiators, including the Iranian team, is so extraordinary that it should be lauded, not undermined.
This deal is the only way to address claims that Iran cannot be trusted.
Iran has many reasons to distrust the U.S. To name a few: The U.S. and Britain carried out a coup against their democratically elected prime minister in 1953; the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein against Iran in the 1980-1988 war; CIA records show that the U.S. was complicit in Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Iran; and after the Iranian revolution, the U.S. sought regime change. Iranians are still dying from the aftereffects of those chemicals.
In light of this history, the Vienna agreement is an historic investment in goodwill between Iran and the West, especially the U.S.
Everyone reading this letter can thank President Barack Obama and fax or phone policymakers with a simple message: “Support the Vienna agreement with Iran.”
Urbane Peachey
LIPW President
Manheim Township
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