Hassan Daioleslam

Hassan.dai@yahoo.com

Shortly before the Washington Times article ¹ about NIAC’s lobbying activities was published (by Eli Lake, Nov. 12^th 2009), Trita Parsi who is the president of this organization recruited a professional Washington PR firm ² (Brown Lloyd James). This was done in an effort, not to clear his name, or dispel the notion that NIAC did indeed have ties with the Iranian regime, but rather, to launch a media blitz targeted at me (also the target of his lawsuit).  Ironically, the tactics being used by NIAC and Parsi share an uncanny resemblance to those used by the regime itself when attempting to dispel its own critics. Remember the “death to America” slogans every time they found themselves in a debacle!

In April 2007, I published my first article about Parsi and NIAC. Immediately, several government-related newspapers ³ in Tehran came out defending Parsi and attacked me. One of them called NIAC the “Iranian lobby in Washington”. The governmental press tried to present my report as an attack by “Zionists” and “Neocons” against NIAC.

In my reports I wrote that Trita Parsi and his associate Siamak Namazi were leading a pro Iranian regime lobby disguised under an Iranian-American organization with no official stance on political issues.  The evidence discovered in Trita Parsi’s law suit against me further support my published findings. My background and my political beliefs have no bearing on these evidences and are irrelevant to the question of Parsi’s lobbying efforts.

While the aim of Trita Parsi and NIAC’s PR campaign has been to present me as a war monger who is out to get Barak Obama, it is rather instructive to look through the smoke screens, and at the historical record.  When I first published my findings about NIAC in 2007, most people did not even know who Obama was.   In fact, the story I have been telling, begins with Trita Parsi working as the foreign advisor,⁴ confidant and assistant of then Congressman Bob Ney, an ardent pro-war politician who was credited for the phrase “freedom fries“⁵ (in protest of French government anti-war stance).  Such associations must feel embarrassingly inconvenient at a time when Parsi is trying to line up with the progressives and left.  Noteworthy to remember that Parsi’s PhD mentor has been Francis Fukuyama, who was considered the father of Neo-conservatism.

A second aspect of Parsi’s recent campaign is to intimidate me and anyone else who dares to criticize him. For the past 2 years, NIAC’s lawyer has been busy sending cease and desist letters to various media outlets, threatening them of legal action. The last example is the Washington Times that received⁶ two such legal threat notes.

According to the minutes of NIAC board meeting⁷ in 2008, the lawsuit was brought against me to “fold” me. The most shocking example of NIAC’s bullying is their response to one of my article published in June 2008 exposing how they spent the NED grant funds in Iran. Instead of responding to my report, Dokhi Fassihian, NIAC’s former executive director informed⁸ Trita parsi that she will contact NED official to use their important resources and “hit me hard”: “I would talk to NED immediately about this and perhaps consult them on how to address this. They will have more resources and avenues to hit him hard.”

Trita Parsi and NIAC must realize that the facts in the case are independent of who I am and what I believe. These facts are not about “neocons”, “war mongers”, “Israelis”, “Zionists”, “right wings”, MEK”, “monarchists”, and many other smoke screens in their PR campaign.  These facts are directly based on Parsi’s writings, communications and actions.  NIAC’s repeated failed efforts to put a gag order on the discovered facts do not change the nature of these documents either.

Let me, one more time, and with utmost clarity state that:  I am not a monarchist.  I have never been a member of MEK, and I have never had any cooperation, coordination or affiliation with that organization. I have sent my articles for publications to venues with all types of ideologies and political positions.  Some have decided to publish it, and some have not. I have no control on that.

It is about time that Trita Parsi, NIAC and their associates realize that this is not about me. It is about the truth. They should believe that people see through the smoke screens.

Notes:

1.       Washington Times, Eli Lake, November 2009 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/13/exclusive-did-iranian-advocacy-group-violate-laws/

2.       Read Jennifer Rubin’s article at: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/172412

3.       See this document: several government-related newspapers

4.       See these NIAC’s internal documents: http://iranian-americans.com/2009/11/1548.html

5.       http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/index.html

6.       http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/11/the_iran_lobbys_war_on_voice_o.asp

7.       NIAC 2008 board meeting http://iranian-americans.com/docs/Part3/MinutesOfNIAC022208.pdf

8.       Dokhi Fassihian’s email http://iranian-americans.com/docs/Part3/Dokhi.pdf

Hassan Daioleslam is an independent Iran Analyst and writer. He is well published in Farsi and English and has appeared as an expert guest in the Voice of America-TV as well as other Persian media. His website is at http://english.iranianlobby.com/

He could be reached at: hassan.dai@yahoo.com