ADVENT 2007

Throughout this fall, U.S. rhetoric about potential air strikes against Iran was increasing. The main issue at stake was Iran's nuclear program, as the U.S. claimed Iran was developing nuclear weapons.

In this atmosphere, then, it was striking that on Dec 3, 2007, a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was released stating with "high confidence" that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and has not resumed it. This estimate summarizes the view of all U.S. intelligence agencies and contradicts the 2005 report that Iran was continuing work on a nuclear weapons program.

The impact of this report is not fully clear yet. Overall, the momentum for U.S. military strikes has clearly decreased and, as MCC Representative for Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine, Daryl Byler, says, "the region is breathing a collective sigh of relief."

But President Bush and some others within the Administration say that the report only highlights the need to maintain pressure on Iran and are calling on Iran to "come clean," a phrase that implies that Iran is hiding its true actions.

In the new year, the MCC Washington Office will be working with like-minded advocates to get a congressional resolution introduced calling for "direct, comprehensive and unconditional" talks between the United States and Iran, so that matters of concern to the two countries can be addressed peacefully and not through military strikes.

Many thanks to all of you who participated with prayers and petitions in the Advent campaign. We will be following up with some of the offices you contacted, and will keep you updated on the progress of the legislation as it moves forward.

PRAYER REQUEST:

Please pray that U.S. policymakers will seek a path of peaceful, diplomatic relations with Iran and that peoples in the two nations will learn to know one another as friends.

Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach
Director
Washington Office
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
920 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003
202-544-6564, ext 112