Iranian Alert -- January 9, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy. Many even want the US to over throw their government.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

Who is Gary Sick, and what is his agenda on Iran? -- Here's a good article though older. Mr. Sick is one of the strongest supporters of the Islamic Republic, having been a board director of the AIC (American Iranian Council) funded by the IRI, Oil companies they've called for full restoration of ties with the IRI. You may also remember Sick from his 'octobor surprise'.

http://www.mehr.org/nro.htm

Working for the Mullahs
Iranian experts in the U.S. parrot Iran’s official line.

By Mohammad Parvin

Columbia University associate Professor Gary Sick — famous for his October Surprise conspiracy theory whose subsequent investigation cost American taxpayers millions — used his podium as moderator of the Gulf-2000 online community to turn the attention of hundreds of academics, journalists, and NGO members to the Mission for Establishing Human Rights (MEHR) in Iran, a grassroots- and low-budget group I established dedicated to publicizing and ending human-rights abuses in Iran. Sick inexplicably forgot to mention that he serves on the board of directors of the American Iranian Council, an organization funded largely by oil companies that calls for unconditional restoration of diplomatic and business relations between Washington and Tehran. Many Iranians in both the United States and Iran describe the American Iranian Council to be the Islamic regime's unofficial lobby in the United States.

Specifically, Sick and some colleagues accused MEHR of working against freedom of speech and claimed that MEHR was a group for "militant monarchists." His allegations were untrue. MEHR is a registered non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status not affiliated with any political party or group. Indeed, unlike Sick, MEHR refuses to accept oil company money. The conference that so piqued Sick's invective was MEHR's September 1, 2002 commemorative conference in Los Angeles. Fourteen years previous, the Islamic regime liquidated more than 5,000 political prisoners (at a time Muhammad Khatami was Minister of Islamic Guidance and Culture). The forum attracted more than 500 Iranian Americans and was bipartisan in support of human rights. Both Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D., Ca.) and American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Rubin (a Republican) gave keynote speeches in favor of judging the Islamic regime by its record, and not by the empty words of a few self-described reformists. Other congressmen wrote letters of support. Sick seemed especially upset that MEHR has sought to file human rights law suits against prominent figures in the Islamic regime.

Free speech is the right of Sick and others who may not uphold our human rights standards because we live in the United States and not in the Islamic regime of Iran. But what is troubling is that Sick and others in the American academic and intellectual community seeks not only to limit but also to completely restrict debate and discussion.

Sick posted numerous attacks on MEHR, Sanchez, and Rubin, but repeatedly refused MEHR the right of response. For Sick, consideration that the Iranian people might want a secular, democratic government is too dangerous to even be discussed; such might contradict his personal beliefs that envision legitimacy for a regime which oppresses ethnic and religious minorities, and unabashedly has funded a 23-year-old wave of terror stretching from the alleys of Tehran to streets of Buenos Aires.

After initiating vitriolic attacks on MEHR and conference speakers, Sick refused to allow MEHR to cite description of the massacre by none other than Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, Ayatollah Khomeini's principle deputy, in his memoirs. (Montazeri, by the way, remains under house arrest in Iran; Khatami's "reformist" Minister of Culture banned publication of his memoirs inside Iran). Unfortunately, what Sick seeks to do in his online community — ironically funded by Open Society — many professors and journalists increasingly do in their classrooms and newspapers. It is no coincidence that Genieve Abdo reported critically from Tehran and was expelled, but Los Angeles Times correspondent Robin Wright, who parrots official rhetoric labeling Khatami "the leading reformist in Iran," has unfettered access.

Thousands of Little Orphans, Many Wandering Streets in Search of Help

January 08, 2004
Misna
Misna.org

The earthquake that struck Bam orphaned thousands of children, many of which are wandering the streets in a state of confusion. Attention was brought to the little victims of this devastating disaster by the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), which sent specialised assistance to the scene.

According to the organisation for minors, 1,800 children have lost both their parents and over 5-thousand one parent.

A photographic identification service has in fact been started to return these children to their families or to establish contact with the closest relatives of the minors.

Some child psychologists and specialists in facing situations of post-traumatic stress were sent by the UICEF to Bam, where they set up the first four tents for children to play together and receive psychological assistance, while another twenty tents will be set up in the next few days.

The UNICEF also provided basic necessities, such as water purification tablets, containers and covers, as well as 416 ‘school kits’, which consist of scholastic material to organise classes in situations of emergency. The earthquake in fact destroyed 131 schools in Bam and neighbouring areas.

An aid worker of the British ‘Save the Children’ organisation, interviewed by ADN Kronos, confirmed that Iranian authorities have admitted the disappearance of many children that survived the quake. The volunteer however underlined that many of the children could be with relatives in other cities and that inquiries are underway to rule out the existence of any child kidnapping markets.

http://www.misna.org/news.asp?lng=1&id=104139

Note how Michael Ledeen refers to Gary Sick deep in his article on another slandering supporter of the Tehranosaurs:

June 4, 2003, 9:10 a.m.

Academic Standards

A Middle East scholar has his way with the truth.

If you want to understand how low academic standards have fallen, I can give you a fine case in point. A few weeks ago, I was slandered by a professor from Brown University by the name of William Beeman. He's an anthropology professor, and the head of the Middle East studies program at Brown, and in addition to his scholarly work he churns out polemics for the Pacific News Service and such out-of-the-way publications as the Beirut Daily Star.

In his PNS slander ("The Unknown Hawk," May 8), Beeman claimed that I had advocated the military invasion of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, that I was the dominant force behind Operation Iraqi Freedom, and that I advocated "total war." He then presented a quotation that he said had come from me:

Total war not only destroys the enemy's military forces, but also brings the enemy society to an extremely personal point of decision, so that they are willing to accept a reversal of the cultural trends,? Ledeen writes. "The sparing of civilian lives cannot be the total war's first priority ... The purpose of total war is to permanently force your will onto another people."

Unlucky. I never said it. Of course, I never said most of the other things he slimed me for, either: never called for military attack against Iran, Lebanon, or Syria — indeed I have said over and over again that I'm against it. So I posted a reply on the PNS website, pointing out that he had it all wrong, to which he "replied" with three long fulminations, basically confessing malice — he announced that he had hated me for years, because of an imagined slight during a terrorist "game" videotaped in 1980 — but never bothering to address his lies about my work.

Unlucky again. One of the other bloggers tracked down the quotation to another NRO author. So when, a couple of days later, the San Francisco Chronicle published his slander as an op-ed, I wrote to the editor to say that Beeman had falsified my ideas, and had, in fact, known he had done it before the op-ed was published, since this misquote had been documented on a website discussion of that very article.

Within hours of my letter to the Chronicle, Beeman sent me, the Chronicle, and PNS an apology for the misquote (not for the other slanders, however), and both published it promptly. PNS even invited me to contribute an article of my own to their site, which I intend to do. And you might have thought that would be the end of it.

You'd have been wrong. A couple of days ago he went back on the attack, this time in the Beirut Star, of all places. This time he was out to make me into a monarchist, a supporter of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran. It's a tough case to make because there's no evidence for it. No problem for Beeman; he just invents it: He says that I spoke in Los Angeles at a "rally for monarchists." Wrong. It was a meeting of the Iranian-American community of southern California, including all the political tendencies of the community; He says that I am "frequently photographed with Reza Pahlavi." Wrong again. It may have happened, but I can't remember a single occasion;

And when his imagination runs dry, he says that although my intention is "clearly to restore the Pahlavi dynasty," I'm "exceptionally careful about making this pronunciation openly or in print." He reads my mind!

He invents other things, too. He says I was a founder of the Coalition for Democracy in Iran. Wrong again. I was asked to participate in its activities well after its creation.

And so forth. He's an inventive slanderer who nonetheless holds an important tenured position at one of most prestigious universities. To his credit, he doesn't just invent things about other people; he even gets his own academic record wrong. If you go to his vita on the Brown University website, you'll find that he takes credit for organizing something — and being paid for it — under the auspices of the "Office of Net Analysis" at the Department of Defense.

Unlucky yet again. There is no such place. He meant to say "Net Assessments," the Pentagon's think tank, often branded as a hawkish outpost from which the likes of Paul Wolfowitz draw inspiration.

Just for extras, back in March he wrote that Bill Kristol was the editor of something called the National Standard.

Maybe this sort of thing is stylish in today's postmodern academic universe, where feelings trump facts and accuracy is all relative. Maybe I'm wrong to think that university professors ought to check a fact or two before sliming someone with whom they disagree. Beeman certainly had my e-mail address after his first fiasco, and could — should, in my view — have asked if I were a closet monarchist. But no, he liked the way it sounded, and so he said it.

It may well be that Beeman's academic work is better than his political sorties. Let's hope so, because if his peers were to judge his scholarship based on his journalistic forays, they'd regret their tenure decision. But this is unlikely to happen, since he's part of a network that holds the same view of accuracy as he does.

I knew that Beeman's slander was on the way at least a week before it arrived, because there was a little announcement on Gary Sick's web page — which goes out to Middle East hands that share Beeman's and Sick's fondness for the tyrannical regime in Tehran — saying that Beeman was looking for dirt on me, and anyone in possession of damaging material on any aspect of my life should send it on to Beeman. Gary Sick was the creator of one of the most monstrous hoaxes in recent American political history, the myth of the "October Surprise," according to which the Reagan electoral team used secret back channels to the Iranian regime to prevent the release of the American hostages in order to win the 1980 election against Jimmy Carter. After an exhaustive investigation, the whole thing was found baseless. Today, Sick — remarkably enough, a professor at Columbia University — does all he can to help Iran's leaders gain friends in the United States.

One final note. Last Friday I got an e-mail from a reporter at the Beirut Daily Star, saying he was coming to Washington, and asking for an interview. I suggested that he send me the questions by e-mail and I would respond in writing. When he arrived in Washington on Monday, he tried again to get me to do it on the phone, and I again said it would be better to do it in writing. I haven't seen any questions from him, although he said he'd get them to me very quickly.

I don't expect to see them. After all, the Star publishes William Beeman.

Isn't that where all top Ivy League professors like to see their essays published?

— Michael Ledeen, an NRO contributing editor, is most recently the author of The War Against the Terror Masters. Ledeen, Resident Scholar in the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, can be reached through Benador Associates.

U.S. Ready to Talk to Iran on Nukes, Terror

Friday, January 09, 2004

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration declared its willingness Friday to talk with Iran on that nation's nuclear program, human rights record and support for violent opponents of peace between Israel and the Arabs.

Iran's acceptance of U.S. assistance after an earthquake "has opened some opportunities for dialogue with Iran," Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

In fact, there already have been contacts in which these issues have been discussed, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

There is no plan to widen the contacts, but U.S. policy is "to engage Iran on specific issues of concern in an appropriate manner if and when the president determines he wants to do so," the spokesman said.

Despite denouncing Iran two years ago as being part of an "axis of evil," President Bush authorized relaxing restrictions on delivery of equipment and money to Iran to help relief efforts after the disastrous Dec. 26 earthquake there. Iran turned down the offer, as well as a visit by a high-level American delegation, but on Thursday Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said, "Iran is ready to negotiate with all countries, and America is no exception."

Speaking on Iranian state television, Kharrazi also said that if the United States were to adopt "a new approach to Iran and is ready to interact with us based on mutual respect and the principle of equality, the atmosphere will change remarkably."

The United States and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since Iranian revolutionaries took over the U.S. Embassy in 1979, took U.S. diplomats hostage and held them for 444 days.

Iran has not shut the door to receiving the U.S. delegation later, and it welcomed a team of 83 U.S. aid workers.

Powell, in an interview with Abu Dhabi TV, said, "There are still serious political differences between the United States and Iran." But, he said, Iran's acceptance of earthquake assistance "showed that in a crisis like this we could cooperate, and maybe that will lead to other areas of cooperation."

At a news conference Thursday, Powell said Iran's response was not a "political breakthrough, but it was, nevertheless, a human breakthrough."

And so, Powell said, "We will see what happens in the future with respect to our relationship with Iran."

One test of whether there may be a diplomatic thaw is whether the State Department allows Iran's U.N. ambassador to travel to Washington next week for meetings with members of Congress.

Within the administration there has been a protracted debate between two views of Iran. One is that reformers are gaining strength and would like to respond to the Iranian people's yearning for democracy. The other view is that fundamentalist religious leaders still have the last word and have no intention to ease up on their stern policies or to seek better relations with the United States.

Iran's support for anti-Israel militants remains a big obstacle to a U.S. dialogue. On Friday, Boucher would neither verify nor deny reports that Syrian planes returned home from missions to transport earthquake relief supplies to Iran with munitions for Hezbollah (search), an Iranian-supported Lebanese group that has been fighting a cross-border war with Israel.

"I don't think I am in a position to talk about information that foreign intelligence services may or may not have," Boucher said.

He said Iran's support for groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, through Syria, remains a problem.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,107953,00.html

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