A Dixon couple who recently returned from Iran with a group concerned about its deteriorating relationship with the United States say they believe Iran is being demonized in preparation for a military attack.

"When we started hearing noise about a possible attack on Iran, we felt we wanted to have more impact than we did on Iraq," said Hank Brusselback, a painter, sculptor and house builder who has lived in Dixon for about five years. "We felt like citizen diplomacy was a new direction."

Brusselback and his wife, Gaia Mika, a psychotherapist, spent the last two weeks of May traveling through Iran, with stops in Tehran, Qom, Esfahan and Shiraz, with 19 other Americans from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

The Nyack, N.Y.-based group traces its history to a 1914 conference in Switzerland by Christians who sought to prevent the outbreak of World War I. According to its Web site, it has supported conscientious objectors, has organized alliances between Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and others, and supports movements for organized labor, civil rights, pacifism, national independence and disarmament.

Since 2006, the Fellowship for Reconciliation had led "citizen diplomat" tours of Iran to counteract what is says are threats from the United States. "FOR believes in diplomacy and dialogue, in reaching out to the humanity in all people, especially those demonized and labeled as enemies," says a recent news release. "It is precisely because Iran has been depicted as 'evil' that FOR is traveling to Iran at this time."

"If I hadn't studied fairly extensively before I went, I would be a lot more surprised (than) if I were just informed by the mainstream media," Brusselback said in a recent interview. "I would have been very surprised by the diversity of opinion about the government there, the empowerment of women (and) the fact that there's a Jewish community there."

Despite ostensibly anti-Semitic remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Persian Jews who met with the Americans told them that "if Israel were to attack Iran, that they would have no mixed feelings about defending their country," said Brusselback. "They said they've been in Iran for 3,000 years and they're Iranian."

Although the U.S. media focuses on Ahmadinejad and allegations Iran is building nuclear weapons, the real power lies with Iran's "supreme leader," the Ayatollah Khamenei, who has issued a fatwah "saying it goes against the Koran to build nuclear weapons," Brusselback said. "People should know that's what he thinks because that's where the buck stops."

Mika, who joined her husband in Dixon 11/2 years ago after retiring from a teaching position at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said she has done work with peace and justice groups for years and traveled to Colombia in 2003 with another group from the Fellowship for Reconciliation. In Iran, she said, "What I was most struck by is how complex the society is and how complex the situation is. ...

"Of course, the situation is so oversimplified by the kinds of rhetoric that is going on between the two countries right now," Mika continued. "But I think I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a lot more possibility for movement toward an indigenous democracy — a democracy that would make sense for Iran — than I thought that there would be."

Rules for dress for women, for example, are not as rigidly enforced as she expected. Although some women wear more restrictive hijabs or chadors, in cosmopolitan Iranian cities, "many women wear beautiful headscarves and they're pretty far back on their head and you can see a lot of their hair, so even though there's a law that says your hair shouldn't show, it's not enforced right now," she said. "It seems to be true in Iran that when there's more threat coming from outside — this is what the people told us — the greater the oppression is inside, and, of course, that's what happens in any country really, if you think about it."

Mika said she came away from Iran, believing that it is no threat to the United States. Even U.S. intelligence agencies say there is no indication Iran is making nuclear weapons, she said. Even when Iraq used chemical weapons against the Iranians in the 1980s, Iran did not retaliate and has always behaved rationally in its international relations. Although Iran has a large number of ground troops, Mika said, it has a tiny navy, an almost insignificant air force and no missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Although Iran's scant military force might threaten Israel, "they certainly know that Israel has between 200 and 300 nuclear weapons," she said. "So let's say Iran did develop a nuclear weapon, which they won't, but even if they did, they're not going to use it. They're not stupid."

Mika and Brusselback have already spoken to several regional groups about their trip. They are scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. July 1 at the Bareiss Gallery, 15 N.M. 150, Taos. Anyone who wants to reach them can contact Mika via e-mail at gaia.mika@colorado.edu.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.