A very pale shade of green in Iran
Atimes / Atimes
16-Feb-2010 (6 comments)

"Where were the Greens of Tehran? 1. On the Internet reading about the
Trojan horse plan; 2. On YouTube learning about the 'action'; 3.
Chatting online in the afternoon about where to meet in the morning." -
Iranian blogger Alireza Rezaie.

"To ignore the democrats and
fail to support them in clear and strong terms would be a sign of poor
political judgment ..." - Amir Taheri, Wall Street Journal.

Iran's
"democrats" (the Greens) were deafeningly silent as Iran celebrated the
31st anniversary of its revolution last week. Those actually in Tehran
for the occasion saw hardly any sign of them. The reason, according to
Taheri, is that the clerical "regime" is being replaced by a military
dictatorship. (US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apparently reads
Taheri: she has taken now to parroting his "military dictatorship". But
it's not smart to believe Taheri, as explained below.)

Taheri
writes that "The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] controlled
Tehran with the help of tens of thousands of club-wielding street
fighters shipped in from all over the country ... For the first time,
the regime had to transform Tehran into a sealed citadel [creating] an
atmosphere of war in the divided city."

Taheri adds: "With the
Internet shut down and foreign radio broadcasts jammed, t... >>>

recommended by IranMilitaryForum.net

Share/Save/Bookmark

 
Darius Kadivar

@MeyBokhor_Manbarbesuzan ... So ?

by Darius Kadivar on

I did not say that I shared all of Amir Taheri's views.

Ostaad who is fully Supportive of the IRI was often quoting Amir Taheri and posting his articles precisely in the News Section which surprised me at the time and which made me guess his new identity under the new avatar of IranMilitaryForum.net ( until further notice I assume it is the same ol' Ostaad with whom I have been swashbuckling in the past).

As for  views expressed by Amir Taheri's and those of Shaul Bakhash ( husband of Haleh Esfandiary) I am fully informed on their differences of opinion particularly towards how best to deal with Iran.

I believe both have their reasons and arguments shaped by their own experiences and professional, financial and sentimental networks they have weaved over the years both inside and outside Iran.

Shaul Bakhash and Haleh Esfandiary also have had their share of criticisms for having been too soft in their assessments regarding the Islamic Republic until Mrs. Esfandiary was to experience first hand the dungeons of the Islamic Republic during a visit she made to her mother only to be arrested on grounds of espionage. Most probably unfounded.  

I consider both Mr.Shaul Bakhash and Mrs. Haleh Esfandiary as respectible Academics in their right and have followed and continue to follow their writing and intellectual contributions over the years :

Haleh Esfandiary on BBC Hard Talk:

Iran's opposition 'has no real leader' (bbc)

Dr. Haleh Esfandiary and with the participation of John Limbert (Former US Diplomat to Iran) and Historian Shaul Bakhash:

Gholam Reza Afkhami HISTORY FORUM

But I also know that because of their Academic Interests, that Shaul Bakhash and Dr. Haleh Esfandiary have also flirted with various groups and think tanks in Washington ( including NIAC/AIC without necessarily being members of this organization ) and like all Iranian Diaspora organizations be them academic or politically oriented have seeked in their own right financial aid or influence on Capitol Hill in order to get their views noticed or have some influence on the United States Foreign Policy in regard to Iran. The Famous (or Infamous) Democracy Fund whose exact value seems to tickle everyone's imagination on it's exact figure which some claim is something like $75 million others like the less Reliable Flynt Leverette claims is something like $400 million has been a subject of scrutiny and envy by EVERYONE on Capital Hill including by those who like NIAC's Trita Parsi hypocritically have been benefitting from the Democracy Fund while denouncing the Iranian Opposition at large ( MKO, Monarchists, Secular Republicans) of seeking their share of the Cake.

Just to remind those who have ridiculously drawn parrallels between Iraqi Ahmad Chalabi and Reza Pahalvi in their attempts to seek Regime Change that this Fund was first initiated under former Democrat President Bill Clinton by the mid 1990's and NOT the Bush Administration and it's Neo Con Advisors.

Nor has this money EVER been aimed at Buying Arms for the Iranian Monarchist Opposition. The MKO or their Iraqi counterparts may have had other intentions in seeking their share of financial help given their own record of military actions against their former allies they brought to power in the first place ( by that I mean the MKO's involvement in the Revolution's victory, the Hostage Taking of the US embassy etc ) but in the 30 years of Royalist Resistance the Iranian Monarchists have never resorted to Terrorist Acts. Not even in the early years of the Revolution where they tried to organize a Coup like Nojeh to overthrow the Mullah's. The Targets aimed during Nojeh were not civilian but governmental or military and undertook by former Generals who perfectly new what were the targets that could be realistically and legitimately be considered for the success of their operation ( which as we all know failed ).

Even the Tabarzin French Boat that was highjacked by Royal Sympathizers in the early 1980's :

VILLA DUPONT: How royalists seized an Iranian gunboat off Spain by CK

Was a Military Operation undertook by loyal officers and sympathizers of the Imperial Army and during which Not a single person was hurt not taken hostage. The Ship was taken custody symbolically in order to protest against the Islamic Regime and create hope for Regime Change given the disastrous road that Iran had taken since the Islamic Republic was installed. Given that Iran at the Time was at War with Iraq and that Western Powers were helping Both Sides, this operation was an attempt to also denounce the West's Indifference to the chaotic situation created by this new conflict that was begining to count it's first victims including young 9 year Old Children sent to the War Front to clean the mine fields and die with a plastic key to paradise while our so called bold Mullah's could pave the way for their tanks on the blood of the young martyres they created. None of these acts were ever denounced by Western Governments and at best Amnesty International and other organizations would timidly report on the dark realities of the Mullah's regime which contrasted to all their hypocritical uproar when the Shah's regime was denounced for the Savak's brutality.

Despite all the Tabarzin Operation ended well because the Iranian Royalists aim was not to keep the Ship in custody but raise international awareness on an opposition still ready to fight the mullahs and overthrow them but also express their outrage on the continuation of a bloody War and Europe's and the United States indifference to the sufferings of Iranian People.

The Boat was delivered safely to the French Authorities with a note that they had abandoned the Ship so that it could be delivered to Iran in it's fight against Saddam Hussein.

Iranian Royalists Sir are PATRIOTS and not some Treacherous organization like the MKO YOU people want to associate us with on grounds that the Islamic Republic is Legitimate and supported by the people.

We were Against the Revolution and it's outcome from the Very Start unlike the MKO. That they turned their cult like organization into an opposition group with the help of Saddam Hussein and then have tried to buy some credibility on Capitol hill by sharing their knowledge on Iraq's Nuclear Programs and WMD is not of our problem. That they happen to bump into our people on Capitol Hill because they have been seeking to speak to similar congressmen like Senator BrownBack in order to get hold of that fund before all others does not mean that the monarchists and MKO share the same vision of how to use that money does it ?

Qo Now If you are trying to reduce all monarchists ( or the cause and ideals they pursue and which I share) to individuals be them journalists like Amir Taheri or intellectuals like Abbas Milani ( who is rather a Constitualist in my humble opinion than an advocate of the Monarchy or Pahlavi Apologist) who have or may continue to flirt with certain neo cons like Michael Leedon or Richard Pearl as a means of dismissing what they stand for and that is the restoration of the 1906 Constitution in Iran ( if they are Constitutionalists) or the Restoration of the Monarchy under someone like Crown Prince Reza as Constitutional King ( which is precisely what I advocate without the slightest shame) I would say you are being biaised in your judgment and for good reason.

We probably do not share the same Vision of Iran's history nor probably share the similar goals for it's political future.

I do not claim that my vision or aspirations are superior to yours or vice versa but that we do not pursue the same path and probably not the same ultimate aim even if they may share a common denominator and that is the establishment of a democratic system of government in our home country. I hope that is our common denominator that is ...

But I won't shy away from your accusatory tone or what you consider as justifed critics towards My Assessment of Mr. Taheri's support for the Green Movement.

Firstly let me say that I have never been a supporter of the American Neo Con's be them the Religious right or Jewish Lobbies in the US no more than I have had ANY What So Sympathy for the So Called Grass Root "Iranian American" Organizations such as NIAC or AIC which have served at worst as Lobbies for the Islamic Republic of Iran or at best as Apologist of this Clerical Regime which has been running our country for the past 30 years by drinking on our people's blood but also has resorted to all sorts of mischievous acts against the Iranian Opposition all tendancies confounded through cold blood assassinations and executions as most recently of the two young Iranian students accused of being monarchists.

I shall not repeat the links regarding such acts contrary to Human Rights and contrary to any Fair Political or ideological rivalry that could exist in any society including democratic ones. I will simply refer you to my Comment PAY BACK TIME in the following Blog:

//iranian.com/main/blog/mona-19/video-human-rights-council-review-iran

For while our Opposition figureheads were being assassinated in cold blood and despite the Islamic Republic's Black Record of political assassination:

Dialogue of murderA cautionary tale that must not be forgotten  By Cyrus Kadivar

we at worst have been talking to people on Capitol Hill in an attempt to have access to the White House. This had already started under the Clinton Administration hoping to gain political and moral support for the opposition so as to see the Western Powers denounce Iran's Regime's and undermine it if possible through financial help for the opposition to beam in propaganda programs into Iran through Satellite TV like in LA or through more professional media outlets like VOA Persian or Radio Liberty which have been used to great effect during the Cold War in encouraging Velvet Revolutions like in Prague or Tchekoslovakia in the 1970's. The outcome of such efforts have been more effective on the long run than any other violent operation since it aimed at advertising democratic values and informing the population in the Communist bloc on the true nature of their regime and counter their propaganda which ultimately led to the apperance of local advocates of regime change or social movements like Solidarnosc in such countries like Poland in the early 1980's.    

What was wrong with that ?

This effort was pursued under the Bush Administration and I believe with justification. We are not responsible for other countries domestic choice of President are we ? That overnight a new American administration puts someone like Rumsfeld replaces the likes of someone like Madelaine Albright who was clearly Hostile to the Monarchist cause by acknowledging the 1953 Coup and making excuses to the Islamic Republic ( as if these clowns were legitimate to speak in the name of Dr. Mossadegh or the National Front figures (Shapour Bakhtiar or Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar) their regime overlooked their cold blooded assassination) is Not our problem.

We have always been seeking to over throw a Regime we consider to be illegitimate and do that through either a Coup if necessary or national upheaval if preferably but NEVER through a military intervention.

NEVER did Reza Pahlavi or the Monarchist figureheads or Constitutionalists in exile even utter Military intervention.

That Events accelerated with the unpredictable Sept 11th Tragedy and turned the newly elected Bush Adminstration into a paranoiac government aimed at waging a War against Terror and using their own Terminology "Axis of Evil" to designate the raugous regime's THEY wished to associate because of their so called nuclear ambitions and programs based on MKO intelligence services ( that proved wrong for Iraq BUT Very True concerning Iran and North Korea ) is not our fault is it ? ...

NEVER did Reza Pahlavi EVER suggest in his interviews or speaches to the nation that he ever endorsed a Military Invasion or Surgical Strikes on Iran or it's Nuclear Installations. That some of his supporters may have wished such a scenario or even some LA TV's which have Absolutely nothing to do with the Official Stance of the Constitutional Movement or the Crown Prince's Office may have called for it has nothing to do with the Crown Prince.

Listen to what Abbas Milani ( A constitutionalist also accused of Pro Monarchist ties) say about  "Surgical Strikes" on Iran:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRtVqeQPPIY

Milani like Azar Nafisi was accused by Hamid Dabashi a supporter of NIAC and it's advisory board like the Sadri Brothers of being a Neo Con War Mongeror.

WHO ARE WE KIDDING HERE ?

SATIRE: Hamid Dabashi & George Galloway "Get me Out of Here, I'm a Celebrity"

Dabashi and Galloway on the Palestinian predicament in Gaza:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkgMBqJ3deY

Galloway justifies Clampdown of protestors after the Elections in Iran on Press TV:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL3yhzV2wWU&feature=player_embedded

Hamid Dabashi Interview with Dr. Ahmad Sadri ( Close friend of Trita Parsi and on NIAC advisory board):

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chjy9JCHRp0

Flynt Leverett & Hamid Dabashi: Iranians do not want to overthrow the Islamic Republic:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJw7bGr6qvA

Hamid Dabashi ( With one of the Sadri Brothers member of NIAC) , Seminar on Iran's 2009 Election:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFo1TR0Tq50

Dabashi was boasting about the Palestinian cause with no other than George Galloway a few months before the Green Movement Ever Appeared and now presents himself with his phoney programs called the Green Weekly bashing monarchists as if they were jumping on the Band Wagon of the Green Movement.

 

And it did not stop him to befriend both Flynt Leverett and George Galloway who has been Hailing ahmadinejad's victory on his weekly program on the IRI Press TV in London.

 

We Monarchist have no political party anyhow. Simply a Constitutionalist party in exile that simply organizes debates and reunions to think about the future of Iran and develop ideas.

We have nothing to do with a cult Ridden Organization like the MKO whose followers fanatically burn themselves in demonstrations for their Self Proclaimed President and his ideology.

When did you guys see monarchists burn themselves for King and country ? Or behave like Terrorists or take arms against their own people like the MKO did ?  

YOU GUYS PERFECTLY KNOW THAT IS A PURE LIE on which ALL IRI APOLOGISTS on Capitol Hill who have seeked to legitimize the Islamic Revolution of 1979 on grounds of Reform ( realistic or not) tried to spread in order to bad mouth the monarchists by linking them to the MKO and their dubious agendas. NEVER did Reza PAhlavi EVER Sit at a common table with the Rajavis in the past 30 years or claim any sympathy for their organization other than express concern for the human rights situation in Camp Ashraf (where young children and old men and women were being mistreated and gunned down by Iraqi soldiers )only on grounds of humanitarian aid and because they are Iranians like you and me.

YOU PEOPLE PERFECTLY KNOW THAT BUT CONTINUE TO PLAY ON WORDS !

Because YOU want to create inexistent ideological and political ties between us and this terrorist organization in order to boast about YOUR Legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian Diaspora and public opinion In Iran because YOU consider the  Islamic Republic or it's Revolution as justified by drawing parralels with the French Revolution.

Well I have news for YOU. the Shah Was NO King Louis XVI nor was Shahbanou Farah Marie Antoinette. THEY LOVED AND CARED FOR THEIR PEOPLE :

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Shahbanou Farah and School girls (1970's)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah Greeted by "Bandari" People of Persian Gulf (1970's)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE:Farah chatting with a local lady in Gilan Province (1970's)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Shah visits Nursery in Tabriz (1960's)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah Pays Respect to Baloutch Sunni Minority (1970's)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Shah meets Kurdish Representatives (1948)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah Comforts Tabas Earthquake Victimes (1978)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah visits compatriots inflicted with leprosy (1970's)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah Helps Clean Village Sewage System (1970's)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah visits village wives and children (1970's) 

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah Greeted affectionately by girls in Luristan Province (1975)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Farah and Quashgai Kids (1976)

ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE: Shah and Soraya Share meal with worksman's family (1956)

Something that Crown Prince Reza Has definitively Inherited from his Great Mother the Shahbanou and that is Humanistic Values and Care for his fellow compatriots:

PRINCE OF PERSIA: Crown Prince Reza and Iranian Asylum Seekers, London (2005) 

Now if YOU People want to Reduce Reza Pahlavi's 30 years Efforts to help Unite Iranians against a Regime which has been the Worst thing that Iran has experienced since the Mongul Invasion and has been UN IRANIAN on ALL ACCOUNTS and to distorting our national symbols starting with our Flag where the Shiro Khorsheed has been replaced by an Un Iranian Arab Sickle !

FINE !

WE HAVE NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF !

From the Very Advent of Sept 11Th the Crown Prince insisted that the world and america should not confuse the Iranian People and their Evil Regime ( which the President had dubbed as belonging to an Axis of Evil). He insisted that Iranians had been the first in the middle East to hold candle Vigiles for the Victimes :

PRINCE OF PERSIA: Barbara Walters Interview with Crown Prince Reza (2002)

He even wrote to the president Bush when the US was expelling Iranians visiting their families and friends in the US on grounds of retaliation to the Axis of Evil.

Lastly I even FULLY ENDORSE the Crown Prince's metaphore regarding The "Eye of the Octopus" is in Tehran when refering to the Regime's Terrorist activities and it's tentacles in the middle East. 

It has NOTHING to do with Bombing Iran and it was NO secret of the Islamic Regime's help to the hezbollah or the Hamas. At the time the Al Qaeda's appearance on the world Terrorist List was something that caught everyone by surprise including the worlds experts on terrorism.   

So Go tell NIAC and it's Irresponsible Leader and clueless expert on Iran Trita Parsi ( who left Iran at the Age of 5 ) That We did not wait for the Tragedies of Sept 11Th to create an organization overnight with dubious intentions of preserving the Islamic Republic and glorifying the Revolution Anniversary which was NEVER a HAppy Event to begin with ( The Unhappy Anniversary by Trita Parsi) ...

PRINCE OF PERSIA: Crown Prince Reza and followers in London (1989)

Nor did we wait 30 years to express  that Iranians had nothing to do with the Terrorist Regime that claims to represents them.

It is never late for Khatami, Moussavi, Karroubi and even Trita Parsi to join the common and LEGITIMATE Cause to Overthrow the ILLEGITIMATE Regime in Iran and It's ZAHAK KING KHAMENEI !

REZA's CALL: An Iranian Solidarnosc... by DK

Others have already :

RESPONDING TO REZA's CALL: An Iranian Solidarnosc in the Making ... by DK

For it's the Only Thing to do to End this MORBID COMEDY that is called the Islamic Republic and which has Lasted TOO LONG !

BOOK: EVEN AFTER ALL THIS TIME By Afschineh Latifi ( A Memoir )

but I doubt Any of These Reformist Olaghs of the Islamic Republic claiming to lead the Green Movement Are Ever Going to learn from their mistakes.

Ex President Mohamed Khatami Opposes secular democracy:

//iranian.com/main/2010/feb/mohammad-khatami

And Iranians will continue to suffer because Of YOUR POOR CHOICE !

So I repeat it if necessary regardless of what Amir Taheri sincerity or not or his shortcomings as a journalist or of what others say or think about him:

I WAS, AM AND WILL BE FOR REGIME CHANGE !

Best,

DK

PS: Taheri wrote an excellent book out of print today about the Life of the Shah in the early 1980's which I highly recommend:

THE UNKNOWN LIFE OF THE SHAH by Amir Taheri

In addition he was one of the First to denounce on French TV the plight of the Bahai's in Iran when other respectable academics and journalists were silent. For That I have respect for him as a journalist.


MeyBokhor_Manbarbesuzan

@Darius Kadivar: The only green movement Amir Taheri...

by MeyBokhor_Manbarbesuzan on

The only green movement Amir Taheri supports are the dollar bills supplied to him by his masters to spread outright lies. See below for a resumé:

1. Taheri, who was once editor of a strongly pro-Shah Iranian newspaper during the seventies, left the country after the revolution. Strongly opposed to Iran's current government, he wrote a 1989 book called Nest of Spies: America's Journey to Disaster in Iran. Shaul Bakhash, a specialist in mideast history at George Mason University, reviewed the book for the New Republic and discovered important sections had been fabricated.

2. In 2006, Taheri claimed the Iranian parliament had passed a law requiring Jews and other minorities to wear special badges in public. The story was picked up all over the world, most prominently by the New York Post, the Drudge Report, and Canada's National Post. It turned out to be false.

3. Elena Benador, PR agent for Taheri (as well as Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Ledeen, Laurie Mylroie, Richard Perle, and James Woolsey) defended Taheri. Benador explained that, when it comes to Iran, accuracy is "a luxury...As much as being accurate is important, in the end it's important to side with what's right. What's wrong is siding with the terrorists."

4. Six days after the Iran story was retracted, Taheri met with George Bush at the White House as part of a group of "Iran experts."

5. Norman Podhoretz, wrote an article called "The Case for Bombing Iran." To argue a nuclear-armed Iran could not be deterred, Podhoretz quoted the Ayatollah Khomeini: “We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.” Podhoretz later used the quote on the Lehrer Newshour, as did Michael Ledeen in National Review.

6. Shaul Bakhash (see #1 above) was surprised by the quote, never having encountered it before and finding it out of character for Khomeini. The furthest back the quote could be traced was a book by Amir Taheri.
7. As reported by the Economist, Bakhash recently wrote for a private newsletter that no one can find the book Taheri claimed as his source in the Library of Congress or a search of Farsi works in libraries worldwide. The statement itself can't be found in databases and published collections of Khomeini statements and speeches.


Darius Kadivar

The Author is NOT Amir Taheri but Allen Quicke

by Darius Kadivar on

Misleading Title ... Even if he quotes Amir Taheri ( who unlike Allen Quicke fully supports the Green Movement)


AsteroidX

delete

by AsteroidX on

delete


Souri

What a shame!

by Souri on

This article-new is one of the most insulting post that I have read here. Have a little respect for the people of your country who are fighting for their freedom while you are sitting here in front of your computer, analyzing a force which will win anyway, any day from now.

I never fully supported the Green movement, but insulting my people is something that outrage me at any time!


Darius Kadivar

How are You Doing Ostaad ? ;0)

by Darius Kadivar on

LOL