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SAY “NO” TO IRI LOBBYISTS
http://ghandchi.com/134-no.htm
IRI lobbyists try to create an image that Iran was the loser of 9-11 by masterfully showing Iran as equivalent of IRI, and position of Iranian-Americans as equivalent to IRI lobbyists, which are total fallacies. I would hate to use words like winner or loser, when talking about the WTC tragedy, which was a crime against humanity of the scope of Auschwitz. But the WTC event showed the plight of Iran and Iranian people to the whole world. No event in the last 23 years has had equal impact on showing the whole world what Islamic Fascism has been to Iran and Iranians. Even the Soviet mass murders in Poland or Chinese Cultural Revolution did not have such an impact in showing the political reality of Communist fascism. Maybe only the concentration camps of Germany had been something equivalent to show a fascist movement in one single scene. This is what I wrote about the sad WTC event when it happened:
http://www.ghandchi.com/87-aboutWTC.htm
And I do not need to say more except that it is such a dishonest approach by IRI lobbyists trying to use a fallacy to show Iran as equivalent to IRI and the position of Iranians abroad as the position of IRI lobbyists. After WTC, the Iranians abroad are fed up with IRI lobbyists speaking on their behalf to the US Senate and other international organizations. We Iranians should voice our position that the IRI lobbyists are *not* speaking on our behalf. The atrocities of WTC was no different from the murder of BakhtiAr, Ghasemloo, Foruhars, MokhtAri and many other dissidents in the hands of IRI. It was not different from the death threat to Salman Rushdie and the terrorists collecting of money freely in Iran to pay a hit man to kill Salman Rushdie. If that is not harboring terrorism what is? The world knowing all these is not a loss for Iran and Iranians. But it is a loss for IRI and its lobbyists who attack all their opponents with personal insults or MKO or Monarchist labels to cover the fact that they are the collaborators of Islamic Republic of Iran in the US when Iran is in the middle of one of the biggest pro-Democracy movements in its history. In fact, this shows they are working for IRI and not for the Iranian people:
http://www.ghandchi.com/131-independence.htm
IRI lobbyists have been whitewashing Islamic Republic of Iran for 23 years, going from one chamber of US Congress to the other, without ever mentioning human rights violations in Iran, without ever mentioning the slaughter of BakhtiAr and Ghasemloo, Foruhars and MokhtAri, and so many other dissidents, without ever mentioning the death threat against Salman Rushdie, without ever mentioning the torture in Evin prison. Either they are on the payroll of IRI or are working for IRI for free out of political error of cultural relativism:
http://iranscope.ghandchi.com/Anthology/universal.htm
They never think that the ones in Evin prison are the ones who do not have anybody to speak on their behalf to the world and the IRI has its newspapers, lawyers, radio, TV, UN rep, and diplomatic missions everywhere and Iranian-Americans should not be worried about IRI being heard well in the US. Why don’t they worry that the pro-Democracy movement of Iran is not heard on the US press. When was the last time anybody saw a program on US TV about the chain murders of Foruhars, MokhtAri, and other writers or the slaughter of BakhtiAr and Ghasemloo. When was the last time you saw any US TV network to have an interview with someone like Heshmat Tabarzai who is risking his life inside Iran working for a democratic secular republic in Iran:
http://www.ghandchi.com/73-Underdog.htm
Yes with WTC, whitewashing IRI is not that easy anymore. So now IRI lobbyists try to say that they do not like IRI either (although in their articles you can look hard and not find anything about murder of Iranian dissidents or death threat to Salman Rushdie or torture in Evin or stonings on the streets). And they say that their concern is US-IRI relations. They do not say anything when Ayatollah Khamenei and Iraq call to use Oil as a weapon against Israel and not sell oil to any country for one month if they have relations with Israel. But if the US and Europe say the same thing and use oil as a weapon and not buy oil for one month from Iran until it stops harboring terrorism, killing dissidents, stopping tortures of opponents. or allowing those who have made death threat to Salman Rushdie to freely collect money for killing Salman Rushdie, IRI lobbyists think that is not proper. Why is it OK for Iraq and Khamenei to do it as oil producers but it is not good for US and others to do likewise as oil consumers? Can their political scientists answer this questions or it is like the axis of evil thing that IRI calls the US as “Great Satan” for 23 years and they do not protest it but US government calls IRI an Evil and they are all up in arms. These are political questions that need answers and cannot be evaded by calling people monarchist or MKO or any other personal attack and labels:
http://www.ghandchi.com/84-Next.htm
The IRI lobbyists are trying very hard to distract the attention of Iranians abroad from supporting the pro-Democracy movement in Iran and they are doing it under the banner of improving US-Iran relation. They try to accuse their opponents as people who want US invasion of Iran. But following letter to President Bush signed by many opponents of IRI lobbyists is asking President Bush not to invade Iran and instead to help the pro-Democracy movement of Iran. These are people risking their lives in Iran using a civil disobedience movement to replace IRI with a secular democratic republic. Tabarzadi and others are people like Foruhars who were doing the same nonviolent civil disobedience movement before their slaughter by IRI agents. But of course this does not stop the IRI lobbyists to call their opponents as MKO or Monarchist or any other label they can think of, rather than facing the difference we have with their political stand:
http://iranscope.ghandchi.com/Dr_Massali/TheLetter.htm
IRI lobbyists try to falsely accuse their opponents as people who push for the deterioration of US-IRI relationship, whereas anybody knows how since hostage-taking, IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) has not responded to any initiative for improving relations and has repeated “Death to America” slogan on every Friday prayer in Tehran. Have we heard “Death to Iran” slogan every week by US authorities:
http://www.ghandchi.com/88-Normal.htm
As far as the bad relations of IRI and the US, it has nothing to do with the Iranians who oppose the IRI lobbyists. All that we have done has been saying that “US-Iran relations should be *conditioned* on human rights in Iran”. Frankly the US has been trying to establish its relation with Iran despite our asking for the HR condition, and the reason this relation has not worked out has nothing to do with us. In fact, there has not really been any real sanctions against IRI. Mossadegh’s government fell after a short span of the West not buying oil from Iran. How could IRI still be around for 23 years in a unipolar world if there was a real sanction on IRI. Basically this means there has not been any real sanctions against IRI. But IRI lobbyists try to use personal attacks to call their opponents all kinds of names and call us MKO or Monarchist or anything they can think of to justify their own failure to establish that relation. US even was interested in concessions with IRI when they used the word “Evil” to call IRI after IRI calling the US “Great Satan” for 23 years. But it still did not work out. I think the real reason it is not working out is because the pro-Democracy movement in Iran is very strong and IRI likes to keep this US-Iran relation around to distract the attention of Iranians inside and outside of Iran from the strength of this movement and IRI lobbyists are playing in the hands of IRI when they call their opponents as MKO, Monarchist, etc which dismisses the real nonviolent movement of the likes of Foruhar in the past and Tabarzadi and others now who are working hard to replace IRI with a democratic republic:
http://www.ghandchi.com/89-IRIApologists.htm
This propaganda of IRI lobbyists distracts the support of Iranians abroad for the pro-Democracy movement inside Iran. And as noted this is why IRI keeps using “Death to America” slogans to keep this cat and mouse game with the US when IRI men inside chant “Death to America” in Tehran’s Friday prayers, but the IRI men come to the US and ask Iranian-Americans to help IRI to improve its relations with the US. This is a real masterful distraction from the pro-Democracy movement both inside and outside Iran using two opposing but complimentary tricks. For us opponents of IRI lobbyists, our interest is just to note the human rights issues in Iran and even if tomorrow, US has an embassy in Iran, we would do the same. So the whole push of IRI lobbyists to focus Iranians abroad on the US-IRI relations is to distract the Iranians to see the reality of pro-Democracy movement in Iran, a movement which is heading to replace IRI with a democratic secular republic:
http://www.ghandchi.com/129-Understand.htm
Frankly if Iranians in the West do not separate themselves from IRI lobbyists, the image of Iranians is going to deteriorate in the world public opinion and Iranians are going to be viewed as a rogue nation, the same way some other nations had been viewed for a long time when they were identified as supporters of their fascist states. But Iranians are not a rogue nation and we have been the first to oppose all the terrorism of Islamists and IRI including the hostage-taking, death threat to Salman Rushdie, killing of dissidents and Evin tortures and stoning in Iran. Yes Iran and Iranians have been the victim of IRI for 23 years and IRI lobbyists try to show us as accomplices of IRI and try to say we were the losers of 9-11 and not IRI when the fall of Islamic Fascism started with the fall of Taleban:
http://www.ghandchi.com/63-Should_Happen.htm
Let’s see if they can answer to these issues with logic to defend their *political* stand rather than attacking their opponents as X or Y, MKO or Monarchists. Who cares who is writing an article here or there. The issue is a *political* issue for Iranians abroad which can impact both Iranians inside Iran and abroad. Let’s not distract our attention from supporting the pro-Democracy movement in Iran which is one of the most important democratic movements we have had for centuries. I hope those who are not paid agent of IRI, and are lobbying, to start lobbying for the Iranian Pro-Democracy movement and not for Islamic Republic of Iran using every kind of cosmetics to make IRI acceptable to the US. We have people who are risking their lives standing up for a new republic in Iran right at this moment. Let’s support them:
http://www.ghandchi.com/18-Theocracy_be_Voted_out.htm
Iranian people have opposed the terrorism and killing of dissidents before WTC and have risked their lives to go to the streets in Tehran to support the American victims of WTC tragedy. We are a nation that is fed up with Islamic fascism and terrorism and we should not allow IRI lobbyists to speak for Iran and Iranians unless they change their stand and speak for Iran’s pro-Democracy movement for a secular democratic republic and not for the Islamic Republic of Iran. We should all be vocal about it. Our goal is not deterioration of relations between Iran and the US or between Iranians and Americans. Our goal is to make sure the world knows Iran and Iranians are *not* represented by IRI and its lobbyists:
http://www.ghandchi.com/69-change.htm
Sam Ghandchi, Publisher
IRANSCOPE
April 7, 2002
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