Support thoughtful Iran bill

The recent visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have pressured many legislators to support measures on Iran that would inhibit peaceful options for resolving the conflict. A very dangerous Senate resolution, SR 380, implicitly calls for a military attack on Iran when Iran reaches a “nuclear capability.”

A war with Iran is not in our national interest, or in the best interest of any nation.

But a tiny ray of sunshine on this dark horizon has appeared. This is House legislation HR 4173, introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., which encourages vigorous, sustained diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran. It creates a special envoy for Iran and ends the decades-long no-contact policy between U.S. and Iranian diplomats.

However, there is one important name missing from the list of co-sponsors: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. By co-sponsoring Lee’s bill to prevent an attack on Iran, and another pre-emptive war, McMorris Rodgers would join such statesmen as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who said, “I urge that we not begin a new war without a full debate, without a vote, without careful consideration of the ramifications of a third or even a fourth war in this past decade.”

We urge McMorris Rodgers to demonstrate nonpartisan leadership in preventing military confrontation with Iran by co-sponsoring Lee’s bill.

Lois Kieffaber

Spokane