As George W. Bush’s administration enters its last year in office, the danger of a U.S. military attack on Iran looms as a possibility. Widening opposition to the illegal U.S. war in Iraq, growing recognition that the war in Afghanistan has failed to bring stability or democracy to that beleaguered country, new tensions rising in Pakistan, escalating violence and humanitarian crisis in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, all have brought new fears but also heightened interest in the wider Middle East region, in nuclear dangers, especially interest in Iran. This resource is designed to address some of those fears, answer some of those questions and propose some ideas to prevent those looming disasters.

About the Author

IPS fellow Phyllis Bennis is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. She has been a writer, analyst and activist on Middle East and UN issues for many years. While working as a journalist at the United Nations during the run-up to the 1990-91 Gulf War, she began working on U.S. domination of the UN, and stayed involved in work on Iraq sanctions and disarmament, and later U.S. war and occupation in Iraq. In 1999 Phyllis accompanied a group of congressional aides to Iraq to examine the impact of U.S.-led economic sanctions on humanitarian conditions there, and later joined former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday, who resigned his position as Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq to protest the impact of sanctions, in a speaking tour. In 2001 she helped found and currently co-chairs the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation. She works closely with the United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalition, and since 2002 has played an active role in the growing global peace movement.

She is the Author of many books, including, Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy U.S. Power and Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer (both published by Interlink — www.interlinkbooks.com)