Smells Like Desperation, Michael Rubin

Michael Rubin must really be scared. Actually the whole neocon establishment must be, as they've recently pulled out big guns to attack my organization, the National Iranian American Council, and its allies for defending the wishes of Iranian pro-democracy and human rights activists.

The father of failed regime change funding as a former advisor to Donald Rumsfeld on Iran and Iraq and, Rubin helped pioneer the U.S. effort to bring "democracy" to Iraq and the greater Middle East in 2003. We all know where that got us. Five years and thousands of lives later, the U.S. is trapped, Iraq is in shatters and democracy has become a dirty word in the Middle East.

If Rubin and his cronies had their way, the same fate would fall on the people of Iran. No wonder Iranian pro-democracy activists have rejected Rubin's help.

Last year, Secretary Condoleezza Rice disclosed the existence of a $75 million State Department "democracy promotion" program in Iran. In response to the disastrous impact this decision has had on Iran's civil society, NIAC teamed up with human rights and foreign policy groups to educate Congress about its implications for Iranian NGOs.

Today, both lawmakers and the U.S. government have started to see the realities of this unfortunate program. Anxious not to perpetuate US blunders of the past -- beginning with the 1953 CIA-led coup of Iran's first democratically elected leader Mohammad Mossadegh -- Congress is taking a second look at the funding, while Secretary Rice has taken the program out of the hands of political appointees in the Administration and given it to professionals within the State Department instead.

Rice's decision shows that even the Bush administration has come to realize that this money is hurting the very people it aims to assist.

Rubin must have sensed that Congress is no longer willing to act precipitously based on faulty intelligence and the recommendations of a few hardliners like himself. Frankly, it's about time.

Rubin says he is an expert on Iran. Rubin says he has the best interests of the Iranian people in mind. Rubin says the Iranian people want the $75 million, though he admits the program isn't effective anyways.

Before taking him at his word, however, think back to Rubin and the neocon's record: They said they could bring democracy to Iraq through a U.S. preventive attack. They said they had the best interest of the Iraqi people in mind. And they promised the American people that war would be a cakewalk and that America would be greeted as a liberator.

But in his efforts to defend a failed program, Rubin has had to resort to character assassination against NIAC and our efforts to prevent war with Iran and put the interest of Iran's civil society ahead of Rubin's personal agenda.

Rubin attempts to create a false link between NIAC's work with Iranian civil society (funded by the National Endowment for Democracy - NED) and his own "regime-change" fund, while accusing NIAC of seeking to end funding for U.S.-Iran broadcasting such as Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Farda.

The reality is that there are smart ways to help Iranian civil society and there are incredibly stupid ways. NIAC, through funding from NED, had chosen the former.

For several years, NIAC had worked to build bridges between American and Iranian NGOs (an endeavor for which NIAC, one of the largest Iranian American organizations in the U.S., is uniquely qualified). The key, however, has always been to let our non-political capacity-building programs be driven by the demands of the Iranian NGOs -- not by U.S. ideologues like Rubin who neither know Iran nor care about Iran's civil society.

The difference between the $75 million and NIAC's work is made clear by the Iranian NGOs themselves. Our cooperation with Iranian NGOs progressed satisfactorily for several years. All of that changed once the $75 million -- and the explicit political agenda that went with it - was announced. The $75 million completely changed the atmosphere in Iran and prompted the Iranian government to clamp down on all Iranian NGOs. Our counterparts in Iran -- who had benefited greatly from our collaboration in the areas of NGO management, for instance -- began shying away from having any contact with U.S.-based organizations, even with those like NIAC who oppose the State Department program.

Though we were disappointed, we fully understood and respected their decision. After all, the Iranian NGOs had no choice. Michael Rubin's regime change money had put their safety at risk and they were now forced to limit their contacts with the outside world.

Desperate to defend his failed policy, Rubin came after NIAC. He falsely claimed that NIAC opposes funding for Radio Farda and VOA. But eradicating or reprogramming the $75 million does not spell the demise of these entities. The base funding for Farda and VOA comes out of a separate pot, under the Broadcasting Board of Governors. In fact, many opponents of the State Department's $75 million program advocate reprogramming the money to U.S.-Iran broadcasting and cultural exchanges. But they also point out that there is a significant need to raise the quality of these outlets since their journalistic standards have suffered greatly over the past two years and caused the credibility of Farda and VOA Persian to plummet among Iranians.

In consideration of these facts, Rubin's allegations have the distinct smell of desperation.

His insecurity is well founded. Rubin, in his dogged support for the Iran democracy funding ,hardly stands up to the likes of Noble Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, investigative journalist Akbar Ganji, Woodrow Wilson scholar Haleh Esfandiari, and Human Rights Watch, who have spearheaded the campaign to end this misguided program.

We wonder how much contact Rubin has actually had with NGOs in Iran, which have found themselves increasingly isolated as a result of the U.S. policy he advocates. If he truly is in touch with the people of Iran, he must simply not care about their welfare or respect them enough to heed their calls.

Dr. Trita Parsi is the author of "Treacherous Alliance - The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the U.S." (Yale University Press). He is also the President of the National Iranian American Council. Emily Blout is the Acting legislative Director at the Council.

Comments

[jdoconnell]

Re: Trita Parsi's "Smells Like Desperation, Michael Rubin," (11/20/07, there is no factual basis for Mr. Parsi's claim that the journalistic standards of Voice of America Persian and Radio Farda have "suffered greatly over the past two years" and caused the credibility of the two broadcasters "to plummet among Iranians."

As Mr. Parsi must surely be aware, VOA's audiences inside Iran
have skyrocketed in the same time period he claims they have fallen.

According to the latest national phone survey conducted in November -
December 2006, representative of around 90% of the adult population in
Iran, the weekly audience for VOA Persian TV was estimated at 20.2%; the
"all-media" weekly audience (TV and radio) was estimated at 24.1%. In
addition, VOA Persian's website continues to be one of VOA"s five most
frequently visited sites, despite stepped up efforts by the Iranian
government to block access to it. Just last week, VOA Persian's weekly
online question of the week drew over 10-thousand responses.

But more than these statistics, listen to Elahe Sharifpour-Hicks, who
spent ten years working as the Iran researcher for Human Rights Watch.

She says that at a recent international human rights conference in Istanbul attended by many women rights activists from Iran, the role of VOA Persian programs was repeatedly praised. She also says two of the Iranian activists said: "VOA programs have changed the life style in the Iranian family". One of them, who asked for anonymity, said "these days Iranian people after work go home directly to follow the VOA programs". She also said that while the Iranian elites and intellectuals follow the content of VOA Persian programs with a critical approach, these programs are the only source of information for the majority of the middle class.

VOA's Persian programming may not be all that Mr. Parsi wants. But VOA's audience is inside Iran itself. And their voices are the ones that count the most.

Sincerely,

Joe O'Connell
Voice of America

[tbone99]

The truth is the U.S does not want a democracy -in Iraq , in Iran or anywhere else .It wants puppets.Ngo's are way too grassroots and threatening to the U.S.agenda - which is to obtain control of a country's resources through financing a strongman to direct the military to positively eliminate grassroots participation.
Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior and the U.S from inception has been based upon military force , not participatory democracy.

[Boobaloo]

Rubin has only one interest: destroy Iran and/or install another pro-Israeli regime like the disasterous Shah. Rubin cares not for America or Iran or the people of either nation, his only concern and priority is Israel and Jewry.

[CorkExaminer]

Ah the calm voice of sanity. Everyone should read Treacherous Alliance. The research and analysis is astounding and it will revolutionize your view of the ME and many things will start to make sense. An example: revolutionary Iran stood almost alone against the world in the war against Saddam: which country saved it? You will be surprised--read this book and see how our chains are being yanked (again).

[joja]

Yeah, but just think of all the Lexuses & vacation homes in Maui that $75 million bought for the employees of the private firms that got overstuffed no-bid contracts from Karen Hughes while she was running State and were responsible for brainwashing -- er, "educating" -- Congress about the need to invade Iran. THAT was money well spent!

Since when has this regime been right about a singe fuckin' thing its predicted or done? The only thing we can depend on from the Neocon dumb fucks is that they will fuck up everything they touch!

[Tator]

Israel will take out the Iranian nukes and Iran will be a non-issue.

[altohone]

I understand this disputed $75 million does not include funds for the at least three anti-Iranian groups we are funding and arming... the Kurdish offshoot of the PKK, the group some call a cult operating from a central Iraqi compound we protect, and a group operating from Pakistani soil.

Support and funding for these groups too must be stopped or redirected.

I hope Congress actually acts on your groups suggestions... their recent actions suggest they are more inclined to support the neocon agenda while giving lipservice to collaboration and diplomacy.

[researcher]

if you have oil and your country is muslim and you are not a puppet of the USA you can bet we americans are trying to figure out a way to get that oil.

calling your military terrorists is just the first step to getting your oil.

we are imperialists and our society thinks might makes right. conbine that with a dumbed down society and our leaders can do just about anything they want.

trust me on this one americans care more about the rising cost of gas for their suv's than dead or wounded or tortured or raped iraqis.

we even call our mercenary army soldiers heros for what they are doing to the iraqis.

christianty died on the cross.

[Counterglow]

Is there anything at all you can let a neo-con within touching distance of that he won't bugger up? These idiots can't even match the performance of a broken clock. The clock's right twice a day; these morons are still trying to be right for the first time in years.

Oh, wait...smearing their opponents with lies, invective and vicious personal attacks. They're good at that. I stand corrected.

[MikeDu]

Shall we remind the neocons that it wasn't until AFTER they invaded and subdued Iran's next door neighbor that the Iranian hard right was swept into power by popular vote? Democracy in action! After all their practice the idiot neoclown right should be familiar with the concept of 'unintended consequences' by now.

Besides, considering their militaristic/messianic/zenophobic proclivities I'm surprised the neocons aren't supporting like-minded regimes around the world. I guess there's only room for one modern messiah in the middle-east.

[PKSSK]

Please continue to educate the American people on the realities of the Iranian situation. Unfortunately, we cannot rely on our mainstream media, nor those in Congress, who continue to keep all of us in the dark rather than inform us of the truth, like a real democracy.

[zull2]

Think the neocons are more concerned with you spreading Democracy, as opposed to "their" Democracy? It's like they think if they can get the US to attack one more country, occupy it, that suddenly their experiment in Iraq will work, and that will prove that their entire philosophy works. The thing is, it isn't even working here in the US! Why would it work anywhere else?

The neocons really are a loony bunch.

[Hass]

Gee, could it be that Rubin and his ilk have another agenda that they're hiding under the rubrik of "democracy promotion"?

Why isn't there a fund to promote democracy in, say, Saudi Arabia? Or Egypt or Jordan or Azerbaijan or Pakistan or . . . ?

Rubin has already dismissed the Iranian dissidents who criticized the $75 million funding as not genuine. His agenda is to fund the sort of dissidents that he approves of - the sort that want to topple the regime in Iran rather than promote democracy or human rights. He couldn't care less about democracy or human rights - he just wants to see a nice, pro-Israeli regime in Iran that will quitely do Israel and the US's bidding, just as in Jordan and Egypt and elsewhere, even if these are hardly democratic by any standard.

[JoDeeVa]

Thank-you, Mr. Parsi for your thoughtful and informative blog. I fervently hope this information and the efforts of the NIAC get more attention. The actions of Michael Rubin, Condoleezza Rice and the neocon agenda are frightening for Iran and the U.S. Unfortunately, it feeds on the paranoia and ignorance in regard to past U.S./Iranian relations.
Many Americans still view Iran through the distorted lens of "the hostages" and don't really understand America's role leading up to that with our involvement in the Shah's regime and the Iran Revolution. Our government's policies did not consider the effect on the Iranian people. Our actions then drove many Iranians away from pro-democracy efforts, most especially those supported by the U.S. And, they don't understand the subsequent impact it had on U.S. foreign policy and politics in the election of President Reagan, with "Contra/Irangate" and it's ultimate impact on Central American politics. (Not to mention the U.S. support of both Iran and Iraq against each other and others historically, most certainly to our own advantage; as well as our almost blind support of Israeli interventions in the region in other cases, with our actions!)

One need only consider our past actions in the middle-east and globally when looking to Pakistan's current turmoil to understand the devastating impact of U.S. intervention on foreign governments. To continue down this path into military intervention and funding of "regime-change" in Iran will not only bring about de-stabilization in Iran, but will further inflame the unrest in the entire region. Who knows what other "behind closed doors" deals, such as those in "Contra/Irangate" are in the making that will affect other countries in the aftermath?
Americans need to inform themselves about our foreign policies and interventions in other countries and I applaud the NIAC in their efforts to help us meet that challenge!
I'm posting a link to this blog on my own and have printed it out to pass along to others, with links/information about NIAC.
Again, thank-you!