Washington Times: Talk To Iran

Talk to Iran

By: Cyrus Bina and Sam Gardiner

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Washington Times

Markets have been watching every move of President Bush and the Israeli government to decipher whether war with Iran is in the making. Few expected, however, that the equivalent of a green light for war would come from our Democratic-controlled Congress. That is what Congress is preparing to do through a resolution calling for a de facto naval blockade in the Persian Gulf to prohibit Iran from importing refined petroleum products.

 

Bad Timing: Covert War on Iran

If you haven’t read it yet, take the time to read Seymour Hersh’s blockbuster article in The New Yorker about US covert activities in Iran. 

This article is important for a number of reasons.  At the very least, it should be read because Seymour Hersh is an investigative journalist in a class by himself–he received a Pulitzer Prize during Vietnam for breaking the story of the My Lai massacre, he uncovered much of what we know about the Abu Ghraib scandal, he broke the story of last year’s Israeli strike on a Syrian nuclear site, and most recently he has revealed valuable information about US covert activities in Iran. 

Some Allies Disappoint on H.Con.Res. 362

Yesterday I posted a blog entry praising Rep. Waxman’s (D-CA-30) constituency for making the Congressman aware of their views on the current Iran situation. In an interview, the Congressman seemed to have a good grip on the thoughts of his constituency. His recent actions, however, make me question whether or not the opinions of his Iranian American constituents actually play a role in his cognition.

The Challenge of Universal Human Rights

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ten years after its enactment, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at the United Nations, saying:

Where do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.  In the world of the individual person: the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Wikipedia victory

In a March 19 email to NIAC, Wikipedia promised to “indefinitely halt” all editing on Wikipedia articles, “Trita Parsi” and “The National Iranian American Council.”

In Wikipedia’s own words, “It seems clear that a small group of people, if not possibly a single person posing as several, has been consistently trying to re-add…questionable, poorly sourced information about your organization [NIAC] and its president. In addition to being possibly libelous, it is strongly against the policies of our project.”

Why can’t VOA Persian be as good as the English version?

As I read an article on Voice of America’s English website that objectively discusses sanctions as a strategy of foreign policy, I couldn’t help but ask myself, Why is it that VOA Persian can’t uphold that same standard of journalism?

Fallon’s Retirement has unclear implications for US-Iran War

On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that Admiral William Fallon, the 41-year navy veteran and commander of US Central Command (CentCom) requested permission to retire, and that Secretary Gates approved his request.  Last week, Thomas Barnett of Esquire Magazine published a revealing piece speculating that Fallon might be pushed out because he “was the strongest man standing between the Bush Administration and a war with Iran.”

Eli Lake misquotes NIAC

On March 6, Eli Lake, a self-described neo conservative writer for the New York Sun, falsely reported that the National Iranian American Council, when “queried” about Parnaz Azima, had “no comment.”

Last week, a revolutionary court in Tehran sentenced Azima, an Iranian American journalist, to a year in prison for spreading “anti-state propaganda.”  Lake’s story, ‘Filthy Trick’: Iran Targets 95-Year-Old Mother of Journalist, is about the Iranian government’s abuse of power.

Lake’s story also includes —oddly enough— a paragraph about NIAC.

Disrupting Discourse

On February 22, Amnesty International hosted a panel presentation and discussion titled, “Human Rights in Iran: How to Move Forward,” in Beverly Hills, California. The event was disrupted by Mohammad Parvin’s MEHR-Iran organization, various monarchist factions, and members of the outlawed Iranian Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK); and was cancelled after the opening remarks.

Download Farsi version in PDF 

NIAC Attacked on the Hill

Well, they’re at it again. At an event last Friday on Capitol Hill, entitled “Iran’s Strategic Concerns and U.S. Interests,” supporters of the outlawed terrorist organization Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) made an unsuccessful attempt to create a spectacle by attacking NIAC and its founder Trita Parsi. In the end, though, these supporters of a U.S.-Iran war ended up only embarrassing themselves.