Scott Ritter

A group of northern California peace activists, including several members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (such as Rita Nakashima Brock of Faith Voices for the Common Good and the Rev. Patricia de Jong of the First Congregational Church of Berkeley), have recently organized a "festival of friendship" to take place this month on September 12th. The initiative has already sparked efforts in other local communities across the country -- the Columbus Peace Fellowship (an FOR chapter in Indiana) is one example of those who have also quickly signed on to "light a candle for peace" next Friday.

This has been a powerful week of peace efforts concerning Iran. While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a historic visit to Iraq earlier this week, the Fellowship of Reconciliation's sixth civilian diplomacy delegation to Iran continued its travels around the country -- and began preparing for a meeting with former Iranian President Khatami. Delegation member Helen Lindsay of Ridgewood, New Jersey wrote from Tehran:

No War on Iran - ChicagoTonight in Evanston, Illinois, a two-week speaking tour focused on preventing war continues. The title of the tour is "The Iran Talks," and the featured speaker is Scott Ritter, the former U.N. arms inspector who became a strong critic of the Bush administration's buildup toward war with Iraq.

Ritter has been joined on this tour by former U.S. Ambassador Edward Peck, the one-time U.S. Mission Chief in Iraq, as well as Jeff Norman, the director of U.S. Tour of Duty. They are visiting a dozen cities around the country to share their foreign policy experience in the light of the prospect for a new, even more dangerous war in the Middle East.