Action: Iran Congress Can Stop the Slide to War

Written by Friends Committee on National Legislation

Thursday, 15 March 2007 08:17

Your phone calls in the next 48 hours could stop the administration from rushing into military action against Iran.

Members of Congress from both major political parties are concerned that, given the administrations track record leading up to the Iraq war, President Bush will authorize military action against Iran. Last week the House leadership designed a legislative provision to require the president to seek congressional authorization before launching a military attack against Iran. They attached that provision to the draft Iraq war supplemental spending bill. The provision would require the administration to make a full, public explanation of the need for war and gain congressional approval before launching new military action against Iran.

But, on Monday, the House leadership deleted the no war with Iran provision from the supplemental funding bill. The congressional leadership is counting votes. Apparently, they believe there is not sufficient support in Congress to approve a bar on military attacks on Iran without congressional approval.

Take Action - Call Your Representative Today

The first vote on the Iraq supplemental bill could happen as soon as this Thursday, March 15. Please call your representative today. Ask her or him to publicly ask the congressional leadership to include language in the Iraq supplemental bill that would require the president to seek congressional approval before going to war with Iran.

FCNL has set up a special, toll free number that you can use to reach the Capitol Hill switchboard: 1-800-903-0682. When you reach the switchboard, ask for your representative by name (if you dont know your representative, look her or him up here.

Talking Points for Your Call

Im calling from (city, state). Im calling to urge the representative to stop a rush to war with Iran.
Henry Kissinger, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group have all argued that the U.S. needs to talk to Iran, not rush to war.
Will the representative call on the House leadership to add the Iran language back to the emergency supplemental bill? It would require the president to seek congressional approval before launching military action against Iran.
Thank you for your time.

Background

The president, the vice-president, and several other members of the Bush administration have been threatening military action against Iran almost since President Bush came into office in 2001. The tensions between the U.S. and Iran have increased in the last few months as a result of Irans failure to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding a halt to its nuclear enrichment program and U.S. allegations that Iran is fueling the armed insurgency in Iraq. Iran has responded with allegations that the U.S. is sponsoring armed groups working inside Iran to overthrow the Iranian government and with protests of the U.S. detention of Iranian diplomats working in Iraq.

Both the U.S. and Iran share responsibility for this escalating conflict. The U.S. argues that Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and that military action may be necessary to bring a halt to Irans nuclear program. Iran insists its nuclear program is focused only on building a domestic capacity to generate electricity, a right guaranteed under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Rather than escalating this conflict into an accidental war, both government should engage in face-to-face diplomatic negotiations to resolve their differences.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Senator Chuck Hagel (NE), and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group have all argued that the U.S. needs to engage in diplomatic negotiations with Iran, not rush into war. The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, U.S. intelligence officers, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) all agree that Iran is not on the verge of building nuclear weapons.

In early March, in a significant departure from past practice, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice authorized U.S. diplomats to participate in a meeting in Iraq that also included diplomats from Iran. We at FCNL hope the encounters that U.S. and Iranian diplomats had in Iraq in early March will lead to face-to-face negotiations over Iran's nuclear program and other issues. Further we would hope that such contact will lead eventually to a return of U.S. ambassadors to Tehran (and also Damascus). Read FCNLs letter to Secretary Rice about the meetings.

But the danger of an accidental war remains. Even as U.S. diplomats were meeting in Iraq with Iranian officials, a second U.S. aircraft carrier was arriving in the region, and squadrons of F-18 fighters began "training operations" within striking distance of Iran. Iran has now announced its own air defense exercises. The mounting tensions between the U.S. and Iran bear an unsettling resemblance to the build-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. War was not the right answer to Iraq, and war is not the answer now for resolving the U.S. conflict with Iran.

Congress can help promote diplomacy, and encourage the Bush administration to continue diplomatic engagement with Iran by supporting legislation that requires the president to seek congressional approval before launching a war with Iran.

Read more about FCNLs efforts to stop a war with Iran.