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Tehran nukes targeted in 1st U.S. protest
Students to rally at Iranian mission to U.N. to highlight dangers
Posted: November 19, 2004
4:28 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
American college students are planning to hold the first-ever public protest in the U.S. against Iran's nuclear proliferation this weekend, organizers told WorldNetDaily.
The Iran Action Committee, founded by students at Yeshiva University in New York, is staging a rally in front of the Iranian mission to the United Nations on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in protest of Iran's rapidly emerging nuclear program. The rally will be the first public protest to deal with the threat of Iranian weapons of mass destruction, and is expected to garner students from other New York area colleges, including Columbia, New York University, City University of New York, and Queens College.
To drive their point home graphically, the organizers have assembled a realistic, twelve by five foot missile-head covered with slogans supporting the cause that will stand outside the Iranian mission throughout the protest.
Letters of invitation have been sent to several political figures, including New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Representative Henry Hyde, although the students said they don't expect either to attend.
"This is not just a national concern, it is a universal issue," David Wildman, co-chairman of the Committee told WorldNetDaily. "What makes a nuclear Iran so dangerous is its capability to strike at locations 1,300 miles away from its borders – Eastern Russia, the entire Middle East, our allies, our interests, our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq – a very significant portion the world would be at risk."
Wildman said the purpose of the rally is to "raise international awareness of the danger posed by Iran's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons and to call on the international community to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program, cease its support of terror, and enter into the commonwealth of peaceful nations."
"This will be a peaceful, respectful rally," said Wildman, "we hope that this issue can be solved on the streets, in the political arena, through the efforts and resolve of ordinary concerned citizens."
The protest comes amid reports Iran has been assembling a secret nuclear arsenal. The National Council for Resistance, a grassroots Iranian organization which has in the past accurately revealed Iranian nuclear sites, said this week Tehran was producing enriched uranium and testing biological and chemical warfare projects at a secret plant in northeast Iran which had not been disclosed to United Nations inspectors.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday he has seen intelligence corroborating some of the Council's disclosures.
Iran has consistently argued that its nuclear aspirations are for purely peaceful, civilian purposes, but the student protest organizers are quick to dismiss those claims.
"That's just whitewash," said Ariel Rosenzveig, a Yeshiva student and an organizer of the rally. "Does anyone expect Iran, a state that sponsors countless terrorist organizations and is responsible for the murder of thousands of people, to suddenly turn around and be frank and honest with the world and openly declare that it's producing nuclear weapons?"
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