On 5/11/07, s.artesian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
There is a critical, crucial, highly relevant distinction between opposing
imperialist attack, defending a society from destruction, literally,
at the hands of "modern" capitalism, and uncritical cheerleading.
History makes that perfectly, and painfully clear to even casual
observers.
The question arises.. does one wait till the situation is 'acute'
before one begins to 'defend'?
Any read of the daily newspapers informs us that the saber-rattling
contues towards Iran with new 'situations' all the time. Here's one of
the nastiest propaganda pieces I've seen in a while, with the Middle
East director for the Woodrow Wilson Center being... well, here's the
article:
DO NOTE: When I read this almost identical story the other day, this:
"She's not involved in politics and has done nothing to justify her
incarceration in prison," he said.", read similarly, with another
sentence which has been redacted: "This isn't someone involved in
"regime-change activities'. (I guess that's a bad buzzword now)
BULL!
The director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center
IS, BY DEFINITION, involved in regime-change activities.
There you have it, one of the Iranian 'Chalabis', already making deals
for who's going to run the Iranian government, while the 'left'
quibbles amongst themselves and wait for the bombs to fall... on
someone else. Always someone else.
I'm not cheerleading, I'm being proactive... protagonistic, thank you.
lcm
Iranian-American academic being held in notorious Iran prison
By Anna Johnson
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt — An Iranian-American academic who works at a
Washington-based institute is being held in a notorious prison after
being prohibited from leaving Iran for more than four months, the
institute and her husband said Wednesday.
Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East Program at the
Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, was sent Tuesday to Evin prison
after she arrived at Iran's Intelligence Ministry for questioning, the
center said.
Iran has not confirmed that it is detaining Esfandiari, and officials
in Tehran could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
"This is extremely disturbing news," said Esfandiari's husband, Shaul
Bakhash, in a telephone interview from their home in Potomac, Md. "I
never expected they would jail a 67-year-old woman."
Her arrest comes as Washington and Tehran are locked in a bitter
standoff over Iran's disputed nuclear program and involvement in Iraq.
Although the two countries broke off diplomatic relations following
the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, tensions between them
have escalated sharply in the past year.
Other Iranian-Americans have also been prohibited from leaving Iran in
recent months including journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for the
U.S.-funded Radio Farda. Another American, former FBI agent Robert
Levinson, disappeared in March after going to Iran's resort island of
Kish, and his whereabouts are unknown. Tehran says it's continuing to
investigate.
Speaking about the two Iranian-American women, the State Department
said it was working "closely" with their families to try to secure
their release.
"If the regime is willing to harass these innocent people, it's just
an insight into the kind of government we're dealing with," said
department spokesman Sean McCormack. He refused to discuss specifics
of their cases.
The Wilson Center said three masked men holding knives threatened to
kill Esfandiari, who was in Tehran visiting her 93-year-old mother, on
Dec. 30 as she was on her way to the airport. They took her baggage,
including her U.S. and Iranian passports, the center said.
For several weeks, she was interrogated by authorities for up to eight
hours a day, according to the center. Most of the questioning focused
on the activities of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center.
"Although Dr. Esfandiari went home every evening, the some 50 hours of
questioning were unpleasant — to put it mildly — and not free from
intimidation and threat," the center said.
Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, director of the Wilson Center, wrote to
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Feb. 20 to ask that
Esfandiari be allowed to go back to the U.S. But Hamilton — who was
co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group that recommend the Bush
administration talk to Iran — did not receive a response, the center
said.
Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace in Washington, said the Tehran government is
imprisoning, intimidating, and alienating those who seek to understand
their viewpoint, and then complaining that Iran is misunderstood and
media coverage is biased against it.
"Haleh was really providing a service at the Wilson Center by bringing
in scholars and analysts from Tehran, many of whom were sympathetic to
the Iranian government, and letting their voices be heard in
Washington," he said. "By detaining her, the Iranian government only
eliminates an advocate for diplomacy and strengthens the voices of
those in Washington who say the regime is too cruel to be engaged."
Sadjadpour said Esfandiari was one of the few Iran scholars who
traveled to the country frequently and interacted with people from
across the political spectrum.
"The notion that Haleh is a threat to Iranian national security is
beyond preposterous. ... Despite all their talk about being
compassionate, Ahmadinejad's government is going back to the cruelty
of the revolution's early days," Sadjadpour said.
"The regime feels it's sending a message to the U.S. government that
there are repercussions for its democracy promotion efforts in Iran.
But in the process they've increased the ranks of those in Washington
who argue that the Iranian government is made up of radicals and
engaging them would be a mistake. "
Esfandiari, who has been living in the U.S. since 1980, was allowed a
telephone call to her mother after she arrived in at the prison
Tuesday, the center said.
Bakhash, who is a professor of Middle East history at George Mason
University in Virginia, said he believes there has been a "huge
misunderstanding."
"She's not involved in politics and has done nothing to justify her
incarceration in prison," he said.
The Wilson Center is a nonpartisan institution established by Congress
in 1968 and funded through private and public funds, according to its
Web site. Its Middle East program focuses on several areas, including
"analysis of internal domestic and social developments in Iran; the
aspiration of the younger generation for reform and expansion of
individual liberties," according to the site.
