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What do Charlie Dent and David Price have in Common
with Jordan Burroughs and Sadegh Goudarzi ?
By mickielynn on 2013-07-18 10:54:22
[caption id="attachment_4715" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
l#.From personal understanding to international understanding, a devoutly wished result! Olympics photo From personal
understanding to international understanding, a devoutly wished result! Olympics photo by Reuters.[/caption] A
photograph of wrestlers Jordan Burroughs and Sadegh Goudarzi was hailed as the single image to encompass the spirit of
the Olympics. In the summer of 2012, American wrestler Jordan Burroughs defeated Iran’s Sadegh Goudarszi in freestyle
wrestling to win gold. After the match and medal ceremony, Burroughs tweeted this photo. At the same time tensions were
escalating between Iran and the US over the issues of enrichment of nuclear materials and the way forward to allow the
lifting of severe economic sanctions, while preventing Iranian development of a nuclear weapon. Fast forward to the spring
of 2013 when the bombastic President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has left office and been replaced by the most
moderate candidate allowed to run in the election, Hassan Rouhani. Although President Rouhani [sometimes spelled
Rowhani in the Western Press] won't be sworn in until next month he represents a real change in negotiating partners for the
United States. Here are some facts about Iranian President Rouhani: Before his election this spring he ran on a platform of
engaging with the world. He has promised to “pursue a policy of reconciliation and peace.” Rouhani has significant
diplomatic credentials. He served as Iran's lead nuclear negotiator in 2003-5 when the country made progress in talks with
the EU-3, temporarily suspended uranium enrichment, and voluntarily implemented the Additional Protocol of more
stringent inspections. Now in July of 2013 a Republican Congressman (Charlie Dent of PA) and a Democratic one (David
Price of NC) have just delivered a bipartisan letter to President Obama urging that the US take full advantage of this window
of opportunity for real and meaningful negotiations with Iran. The letter was signed by 64 Representatives. More than a
dozen of them were Republicans. *** Update as of this afternoon: There are now 108 signers of this letter and the deadline
has been extended until tomorrow at 5 PM. Representative Paul Tonko has signed on but Representative Chris Gibson has
not yet signed on.*** | Jordan Burroughs and Sadegh Goudarzi after the final 74 kg freestyle match, 2012 Olympics Before
the letter was delivered, yesterday, 23 religious and peace advocacy groups lent encouragement to Congress to sign on to the
letter. They were:
Americans for Peace Now Center for International Policy Church of the Brethren Office of Public Witness Come Home
America Conference of Major Superiors of Men Council for a Livable World CREDO Fellowship of Reconciliation Friends
Committee on National Legislation Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) J Street Just Foreign Policy National Iranian American Council Peace Action Peace Action West Physicians for
Social Responsibility Presbyterian Church (USA) Project on Middle East Democracy Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish
Nonviolence Tikkun/Network of Spiritual Progressives United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries Veterans for
Peace Win Without War
We learned from an article in Think Progress that in addition to the Dent-Price letter “A group of former officials from
across the foreign policy apparatus on Monday sent President Obama a letter urging him to reinvigorate diplomacy with Iran
once its new president is sworn-in.”
Signed by 29 former government officials, military officers, diplomats, and national security experts —
including former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, CAP Senior Fellow Lawrence Korb and Iran specialist
under Presidents Ford and Carter Gary Sick — The letter calls for the pursuit of new bilateral and multilateral
talks with Iran on a range of issues. The window for such talks comes after the election of Hassan Rouhani to
become Iran’s next president, which has been cautiously viewed as a potential chance for an exit ramp from the
nearly decade-long crisis over the country’s nuclear program. The most moderate of the candidates allowed to
run, Rouhani has made clear his desire to reset relations with many of the Islamic Republic’s neighbors and
reach out to the West as well.
If you want to read the text of the Dent-Price letter you can_find it here. And to summarize in the words of the letter itself:
...Even so, we believe it would be a mistake not to test whether Dr. Rouhani’s election represents a real
opportunity for progress toward a verifiable, enforceable agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that ensures the
country does not acquire a nuclear weapon. In order to test this proposition, it will be prudent for the United
States to utilize all diplomatic tools to reinvigorate ongoing nuclear talks. In addition, bilateral and multilateral
sanctions must be calibrated in such a way that they induce significant and verifiable concessions from Iran at
the negotiating table in exchange for their potential relaxation. We must also be careful not to preempt this
potential opportunity by engaging in actions that delegitimize the newly elected president and weaken his
standing relative to hardliners within the regime who are opposed to his professed “policy of reconciliation and
peace.” Likewise, it will be critical for the United States to continue its efforts to foster unprecedented
international cooperation on this issue so that the international community remains united in its opposition to
Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon...
