I had a feeling there was something wrong with Rob Sobhani. In my blog, (Rob Sobhani (Senate Race): A Wolf in sheep’s clothing? Can Iranians trust him?), I put several questions to Mr. Sobhani asking him to clarify his stance on sanctions against Iran; his energy work with the Republic of Azerbaijan; his pro-Saudi statements; his pro-Israel statements; and what appeared to be gross and defamatory exaggerations against the Iranian people. My detailed points are in that blog, and you should read them before supporting Sobhani or giving him $1.
Mr. Sobhani, who has an account here at Iranian.com, and who was given notice of my blog prior to its publication chose to say nothing and instead has had a handful of followers try to drag the issues into irrelevancies (with one claiming that I am Trita Parsi from the National Iranian American Council!).
It’s a simple point Mr. Sobhani: If you want votes and support from the Iranian community, show us your prior statements on sanctions against Iran. Show us when you stood up to be counted against anti-Iranian discrimination. Show us that you have the independence to stand up to the Israeli Lobby when they make remarks calling for the ‘mass starvation of Iranian’ or the ‘annihilation of Iran.’
Mr. Sobhani is still being afforded the chance to respond to that original blog — he is running for Senate and these things matter.
I did some more digging and found that Sobhani had generalized that professional Iranian women in Iran normally become prostitutes!
Sobhani, who is from Kanasas, may have missed that in 2007 the Kansas City Police Department made 341 prostitution-related arrests, but Iranians don’t go around suggesting that every woman from Kansas is a prostitute. However, Sobhani doesn’t seem to see it that way; he generalizes about the whole country of Iran and Iranian women in particular.
Below is a letter I found where Iranian students were calling for his ouster. The students don’t seem to have been successful, but it is clear that Rob Sobhani is not for the Iranian community.
Iranians can do better than this guy, and let that be a message to the next Manchurian Candidate they try to get us to support.
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Iranain-Americans request to Expel Adjunct Professor Rob Sobhani from Georgetown University
by Koorosh Arfaian
The Ezine DOT Net
January 6, 2003
To: Georgetown University, Office of the Provost Georgetown University Office of the Provost
Professor James J. O’Donnell Suite 650,
Bunn Intercultural Center Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057-1014 Voice: 202-687-6400 FAX: 202-687-5103
email : provost@georgetown.edu
http://www.petitiononline.com/rsobhani/petition.html
Dear Professor James J. O’Donnell,
It should be brought to your attention that one of your professors, Mr. Rob Sobhani, has been slandering Iranians on repeated occasions. On May sixth, at a seminar sponsored by the Hudson Institute and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and again on May seventeenth, at the University of Washington in Seattle, Mr. Sobhani delivered a speech that included a very damaging, untruthful, and anti-Iranian statement. The specific comment of concern can be found below, highlighted and in bold.
Rob Sobhani: “There’s a young lady here in the United States who is in her mid thirties. She’s a Deputy Secretary of Education in the United States, an American Iranian. That same 30-something in Iran has to prostitute herself to make ends meet.”
Mr. Sobhani’s irresponsible and inappropriate statement implies that Iranian women are prostitutes, however competent they might be. His allegation is both false and malicious. What is more, the statement was made on two separate occasions, indicating that its use was not a careless, accidental, or isolated incident but was part of a systematic, deliberate attempt to defame a targeted community.
The Iranian-American community is outraged. Legal action against Mr. Sobhani is under consideration.
Where Georgetown University is concerned in this matter is in the extent that the institution supports Mr. Sobhani, financially, academically, and publicly. Mr. Sobhani has been hurting the Iranian community for years. The offensive and profane comment in question is only one example of Mr. Sobhani’s persuasive technique. His manner of argument uses the degradation of the image of Iranians to that of a helpless, backward people as a tactic to gain support for his political agenda. The consequences of Mr. Sobhani’s method are that he demonizes the Iranian people, generating hate, racism, and prejudice. By hiring Mr. Sobhani, Georgetown University is providing him with a platform from which to speak and to propagate his views. Mr. Sobhani’s public presence and authority as an “expert on Middle Eastern affairs” is founded on the academic prestige of a Georgetown University professorship. In giving Mr. Sobhani’s voice legitimacy, Georgetown University contributes to his anti-Iranian campaign.
We, the undersigned, request that Georgetown University expel adjunct professor Mr. Rob Sobhani and to ask that Georgetown University publicly announce that the institution does not support or share Mr. Sobhani’s views.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
