@@ U.S. expands aid to Iran's democracy advocates abroad @@
Arash
May 29, 2005
U.S. Expands Aid to Iran's Democracy Advocates Abroad
By Steven R. Weisman
Email: weisman at nytimes.com
Email: lettes at nytimes.com
Washington -- The Bush administration is expanding efforts to influence Iran's internal
politics with aid for opposition and pro-democracy groups [code word for US-UK-Jewish
funded terrorists] abroad and longer broadcasts criticizing the Iranian government,
administration officials say.
The efforts are being carried out quietly to avoid provoking Iranian leaders, officials
say, adding that they reflect the administration's frustration over stalled diplomatic
efforts to get Iran to dismantle what the West suspects [West's lies, lies...] is a
nuclear weapons program and to end its support for Islamic militant groups [code word for
those people who are standing up to the Anglo-Jewish global terrorist-colonialists].
So far the resources directed toward these efforts are small, including $1.5 million late
last year and $3 million this year, some of which is to going to exile groups with
contacts inside Iran. No money has gone directly inside Iran, the officials say, but they
say that could change and note that the sums could grow.
Conservatives in Congress, in parts of the administration and at some research centers
have long advocated a policy of trying to change the government in Iran, but only recently
have they secured financing. Their discussions have been increasingly public, but only in
the last few weeks have top administration officials begun answering questions on the
policy.
Earlier this month, the Voice of America (http://www1.voanews.com/persian/index.cfm)
increased the time it broadcasts its government-financed satellite programs into Iran, now
repeating its one-hour news program four times a day. Voice of America said a recent
telephone survey in Iran, where satellite dishes are widespread though banned, showed that
10% of respondents said they watched the program.
Broadcasts this month included interviews with a student leader and a well-known poet and
political activist who criticized Iranian clerics for barring hundreds of candidates from
the presidential election next month.
R. Nicholas Burns (former representative to NATO, and member of the Council on Foreign
Relations), under secretary of state for political affairs
(http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/6198.htm), called the expanded efforts a "second track"
paralleling diplomatic initiatives on Iran's support for terrorism and its nuclear
program. He said the administration was "taking a page from the playbook" on Ukraine and
Georgia.
In those countries, the United States gave money to opposition and pro-democracy groups,
some of which later supported the peaceful overthrow of the governments in power.
Asked whether American funds may soon go to groups inside Iran, Mr. Burns said: "We're
certainly not there yet, because we don't have a platform to do it, and the country isn't
free enough to do it. It's a much more oppressive environment than Ukraine was last
autumn, during the Orange Revolution".
Administration officials, acknowledging the broad support for nuclear rights in Iran, said
they did not necessarily expect a more democratic government in Iran would be amenable to
giving up nuclear activity, but said they hoped to change Iranian behavior by pushing for
democracy.
The officials acknowledge that distributing funds to groups with contacts inside Iran
could be tricky. Various groups have conflicting agendas, from those allied with the
family of the shah of Iran, who want a restoration of the monarchy, to others once allied
with Saddam Hussein of Iraq, whose government waged a war with Iran in the 1980's
[MEK/MKO/NCR http://www.iran-interlink.org ].
Iranian officials have been quoted in the country's official news media as criticizing the
United States' new efforts as an attempt to interfere in its internal affairs, but
administration officials maintain that supporting independent groups does not constitute
such a step.
And some Iran experts say the financial assistance would tend to publicly discredit the
recipients. "Anyone who wants American money in Iran is going to be tainted in the eyes of
the Iranians", said Abbas Milani (http://www.stanford.edu/~amilani), director of the
Iranian Studies program at Stanford University, who has held informal discussions with the
administration.
But others say the Iranian groups should decide for themselves.
"Many Iranians have shown they are not embarrassed to take American assistance", said
Michael Rubin (http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/rubin/rubin.php), a former Iran adviser
in the office of the secretary of defense, who advocated aiding Iranian groups before
leaving office last year. "We just have to make sure they're not just pocketing the cash
and doing nothing [for Israel] in return".
Articles of Jewish Sayans 'Michael Rubin' & lobbyist "Eleana Benador"
http://www.benadorassociates.com/rubin.php
Michael Rubin, a member of the Jewish Middle East Intelligence Bulletin
http://www.meib.org/rubin.htm
Michael Rubin, a member of the Jewish AEI
http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.83,filter.all/scholar.asp
A nice article on Sayan 'Michael Rubin' by USAF Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski (She
worked for more than 4 years at the Pentagon, and knows a lot of these Sayans)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski76.html
When he was at the Pentagon, Mr. Rubin was part of a group of conservatives there and in
Vice President Dick Cheney's office who favored strong American support for dissidents and
others who might one day overthrow the government in Tehran. The State Department tended
to resist their proposals, fearing they would disrupt diplomatic efforts to improve
relations with Tehran.
The exile groups have their own focus. A grant of $1 million has gone to the Iran Human
Rights Documentation Center, a United States-based organization that says it has
connections with dissidents inside Iran [US-UK-Jewish funded terrorists are now called
dissidents]. The grant is intended to gather information on rights abuses [All of us with
brains know very well that how much Westerners cares about the Human Rights, don't
we!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse /
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagram_torture_and_prisoner_abuse /
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_X-Ray / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre /
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Green /
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki / 'Tiger Force'
Sadistic War Crimes:
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/acd66d6e600169df?hl=en /
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazing / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment /
The Scalping Party:
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/c019ae738abb9ade?hl=en ] since the
Iranian Revolution of 1979, the center says, but also to support pro-democracy groups
inside Iran.
"We have many contacts in Iran, and we have even engaged in human rights training of
people in Iran," said Payam Akhavan, a director of the project. "We are not interested in
regime change or overthrowing the government. But we hope to build grass-roots civil
society and democratic consciousness among the Iranians".
So far, meanwhile, the State Department has channeled $500,000 through the National
Endowment for Democracy, a semi-independent group set up by Congress, to create databases
and publications on human rights, business enterprise and women's rights. But none of that
money, the officials say, is going to groups inside Iran.
An administration official said the State Department was also studying dozens of proposals
for spending $3 million in the coming year "for the benefit of Iranians living inside
Iran." He said these included broadcast activities, Internet programs and "working with
people inside Iran" on advancing political activities there.
"We've got some fantastic proposals," said the official, explaining that he was authorized
to speak about this subject only on the condition that he not be identified. "We will have
no problem spending the $3 million. We could probably even spend more."
He said it might be possible to transfer funds directly into Iran, but said the Treasury
Department would have to waive federal laws barring financial transactions with Iranians.
"Treasury is fully in tune with the administration's goals and they're working to find the
best ways to do it", he added.