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The drums are beating for war with Iran. Administration sources are feeding the media with scenarios of "pinpoint" military strikes in August against Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases or a massive bombing campaign in November against Iranian nuclear facilities. We at FCNL don't know if the United States would launch a preemptive military strike against Iran. But the dangerous climate created by war rhetoric in the United States and in Iran could lead to an inadvertent war.
Threats of military attacks and regime change-while refusing to talk with Iran without preconditions-are only heightening tensions. The best way to avoid war is to talk to Iran. Former Secretaries of State Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, James Baker III, Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright have all called on the U. S. government to expand the diplomatic dialogue with Iran.
A few weeks ago, President Bush paired Iran with al-Qaeda as "one of the two greatest threats to America in this new century." This demagogic rhetoric exaggerates Iran's hostility to the United States and wrongly associates it with the attacks of September 11, 2001. But it also ignores the fact that diplomacy has succeeded in dealing with the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Libya, and other countries seen in prior times as grave threats to the United States.
 S. 2130 would express congressional support for a diplomatic surge that includes talks with Iran. We know that if Iran and the United States are talking to each other, the chance of a wider war decreases, and the hope of stabilizing Iraq increases. Passage of this bill would help lay the framework for either this administration or the next to expand talks with Iran on Iraq, Iran's nuclear program and other regional issues. Congress has yet to state strongly that the United States must engage in direct diplomacy with Iran. S. 2130 would send that signal.
TIME TO TALK TO IRAN- SUPPORT S. 2130
Call your senators to urge them to cosponsor legislation supporting diplomacy with all of Iraq's neighbors, including Iran, as recommended by the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group.
MAKE YOUR CALL
- Use our toll free number to be connected to the Hill switchboard: 1-800-788-9372.
Ask for your senator. (If you don't know your senators by name look them up first)
- If your senator is Robert Casey (PA), Richard Durbin (IL), John Kerry (MA), Susan Collins (ME), Jeff Bingaman(NM), Tim Johnson (SD), Jim Webb (VA), Lisa Murkowski (AK) you can thank her or him for having already co-sponsored the bill and ask that he or she do whatever possible to bring it to the floor.
- Once you are directed to your senators office, ask to speak to the foreign policy legislative assistant.
- After you call one senator's office, call back and ask to speak with your other senator.
SCRIPT TO HELP YOU MAKE THE CALL
Please feel free to improvise and add additional information.
- My name is [NAME] and I live in [CITY, STATE]. Thanks for taking my call.
- I'm calling to encourage Senator [SENATOR'S NAME] to cosponsor S. 2130, the Resolution for a Comprehensive Diplomatic Offensive in Iraq offered by Senator Casey.
- I urge the Senator to send a strong signal for this and the next administration that the U.S. must engage in direct talks with all of Iraq's neighbors, including Iran, as recommended by the Iraq Study Group and five former secretaries of state.
- The passage of this bill would send a strong message to this administration and the next that comprehensive diplomacy with Iran is essential to stabilizing Iraq and the Middle East.
FOLLOW UP PHONE CALL WITH AN EMAIL:
Use our website to urge your senators to take action on Iran.
AND SPREAD THE WORD!
Dozens of organizations are joining FCNL in calling on Congress to support diplomacy. At the same time that you will be calling your senators, FCNL staffers will be helping to host an event on the Hill where members of Congress, staffers, and the public will be making phone calls to talk with ordinary Iranians. Find out more about the "Time to Talk to Iran" event.
You can also help spread the word by downloading our flyer.
Reviewed:
06/16/2008
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