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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