Amherst's new pen pal is Iran

By Bob Dunn
Staff Writer

Published on January 05, 2007

The town of Amherst recently received a letter of thanks on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran for a Town Meeting vote urging the United States not to attack that country.

--U.N. Security Council explains the Iran issue to Amherst

In a letter dated Dec. 7, Mostafa Rahmani, director of the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran, writes in part: "We would like to express our appreciation for the courageous stance of the participants of the Amherst Town Meeting in urging diplomacy with Iran and expressing opposition to any U.S. military action against our country."

The stance the letter refers to was taken at a special Town Meeting Nov. 1. Three other warrant articles were voted on that evening: one called for a stop to the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, a second called for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney and the third called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

All four of the resolutions passed that evening. Motions to dismiss each of them were introduced and defeated.

Objection over the use of Town Meeting time for geopolitical matters arises every time an article dealing with matters beyond Amherst's borders comes to a vote, notes Select Board member Gerry Weiss.

Copies of the resolution were sent to Amherst's congressional delegation; President Bush, the Iranian Ambassador to the United States; the Iranian Embassy and the members of the U.N. Security Council.

So far, the letter from Rahmani has been the only response. "At least those efforts aren't totally useless," Amherst Select Board member Robie Hubley said.

"The response shows that these gestures get noticed."

Amherst Town Manager Laurence Shaffer said that the resolution outlines a "very logical request."

"To provide for direct negotiations and to not threaten Iran ... employing diplomacy over military action is a relatively wise choice to make, given our lack of success in other venues," Shaffer said.

Hubley said that adopting this resolution was the "right thing to do" and future resolutions dealing with national issues may come before Town Meeting on a case-by-case basis.

"It's dependent on what's going on in the world," Hubley said.

Hubley did say that those who voiced opposition to the resolutions did so largely because they disagreed with Amherst taking on national and global matters during Town Meeting, rather than the relative merit of the individual resolutions.

Local versus global

Town Meeting member Larry Kelley said the session's time would be better used dealing with matters like the projected $3 million budget shortfall, rather than international issues, although he did vote in favor of putting pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the genocide in Darfur.

Shaffer said that Town Meeting can use its time however it sees fit.

"Town Meeting has the ability and authority to decide what is the best use of its own time," Shaffer said. "They can define what's of interest to them."

Kelley said he voted against the resolution in part because he felt that it ruled out taking future military action against Iran in the face of a verifiable, imminent threat.

"I'm not saying we should attack Iran ... but we shouldn't say to the entire world that we will never attack Iran," Kelley said.

"You never rule out options. I'd prefer not to have anything to do with Iran one way or the other."

According to Rahmani's letter, the correspondence from Amherst was forwarded to the office of the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad's anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli remarks, such as claiming the Holocaust was a myth and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map," have been condemned by the United States, Israel and the European Commission.

In a 2002 State of the Union speech, President George Bush referred to Iran as one part of the "Axis of Evil," along with North Korea and Iraq.

Amherst has not received any direct response from Ahmadinejad's office yet, but will be notified by Rahmani if a response is received, according to the letter.

The day after the vote was taken in Amherst, Iran test-fired at least one Shahab-3 ballistic missile, as well as dozens of others. According to globalsecurity.org, the Shahab-3 missile can carry up to a 650-kilogram warhead with a range of 1,600 kilometers.