Greetings Kublia Khan,
Please confirm your anger is directed at the professor and indicate which book.
Some of his students have alleged that he plagiarizes their writings and presents them as his own.
Let’s sidestep Cliff’s impression of Amirahmadi’s emotional state. This is a hot issue and people are bound to get angry. Accuracy and relevance of assertions are what matter and Professor Amirahmadi’s assertion is relevant but not particularly accurate. The Iranian Regime’s propaganda has global, not regional reach. IRIB1 and 2 are on satellite just to name a few state run Iranian media outlets. Hate propaganda in the ME is feeding terror across the world not just the region and such propaganda should come to an end. Cliff suggests Amirahmadi tries to use the localized nature and lack of official legitimacy as a counterpoint when the assertion only strengthens Cliff’s argument. Amirahmadi is trying hard to bring the United States and Iran closer together both politically and economically and is willing to forecast a bogus future to do it. This interview is no exception. Now this may or may not be a function of his plagiarizing his student’s works… I’d imagine his students are less motivated to distort analysis than he is. Let’s take a closer look at how wrong the Professor forecasts of U.S. Iran relations has been:
SOURCE:www.amirahmadi.com -- The Iranian Parliamentary Elections and US-Iran Relations, EXCERPT – March 2004
The good news is that the environment of US-Iran relations is slowly but surely changing in a positive direction. Iran helped the United States fight al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Saddam Hussein. Tehran has also generously contributed to the Iraqi and Afghan reconstruction funds. Iran has signed the Additional Protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and is cooperating with it, though many problems remain to be resolved. Iran now officially accepts a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
HUMINT: Virtually every assertion Amirahmadi has made in the above paragraph has turned out to be a serious point of contention, not reasons for optimism. FIRSTLY… Politicians and pundits in early 04 surmised Iran was being unhelpful in Iraq. These days, Muqtada al-Sadr says openly that he will side with Iran and use his militia if the West reacts firmly to Iran’s nuclear noncompliance. SECONDLY… Sadr’s overt Iran-Iraqi Militia alliance is ultimately the result of international pressure on Tehran for consciously deciding not to comply with additional IAEA protocols Amirahmadi sees as reasons for optimism back in March 2004. LAST BUT NOT LEAST… And of course, Mahmood Ahmadinejad’s statement regarding the eradication of Israel and Israelis overshadows any official policy to support the Middle East Peace Initiative.
This glimpse of Amirahmadi’s views lead me to believe that wherever the Professor finds reasons for optimism, the rest of us should expect each situation to devolve into international crisis.