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Has Washington found its Iranian Chalabi?

 
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espandyar



Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 236

PostPosted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 5:52 am    Post subject: Has Washington found its Iranian Chalabi? Reply with quote

By Laura Rozen

October 6, 2006

This past summer, an op-ed appeared in the Washington Post under the byline of Richard Perle, the influential former Pentagon adviser who was a chief booster of Ahmed Chalabi in the run-up to the war in Iraq. As he had prior to the invasion of Iraq, Perle urged the Bush administration to shun appeasement and take an uncompromising stand toward Tehran; as with Iraq, he argued that a hard line was critical to help the population overthrow a brutal regime. And once again, Perle had an exile leader he wanted America to know about: Amir Abbas Fakhravar, “an Iranian dissident student leader who escaped first from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, then, after months in hiding, from Iran.”

Fakhravar, Perle wrote, had believed George W. Bush’s promise to Muslim dissidents that “when you stand for liberty, we will stand with you.” Now, as the administration was mulling whether to negotiate with Iran, Perle worried that “the proponents of accommodation with Tehran will regard the struggle for freedom in Iran as an obstacle to their new diplomacy.”

It was a rousing call to arms for conservatives, many of whom are convinced that American interests in the Middle East depend on fomenting an uprising in Iran, and who have been frustrated in their search for just the right allies. The Iranian opposition is deeply fractured, and a number of its leading figures are explicitly against U.S. intervention. Iran’s best-known dissident, journalist Akbar Ganji, rejected invitations to meet with administration officials on a recent U.S. visit, and asked instead to see the United Nations’ Kofi Annan and Noam Chomsky. “I advocate change of the regime in Iran,” Ganji told me in July. “But that regime must be changed by Iranians themselves.”

Enter Fakhravar, who is more inclined to say exactly what the hawks want to hear. He told me that Iran’s president wants to wipe Israel off the map, and that “any movement or any action whatsoever” by the United States would “help or enhance the people to rise up.” All the student movement in Iran needed to overthrow the regime, he said, was “a little bit of coordination, organization, and training.”

A virtual unknown both inside and outside Iran when he arrived in the United States in May, Fakhravar has in the months since then ascended to prominence at a dizzying clip. By midsummer he was rushing from testifying on Capitol Hill one moment to an Iran opposition gathering at the White House the next, meeting regularly with policymakers and influential advisers, chatting with the former Shah’s son on his cell phone, and generally being touted as the young, idealistic face of the movement to overthrow the mullahs.

But Fakhravar may be a false messiah. In interviews with more than a dozen Iranian opposition figures, some of them former political prisoners, a different picture emerged—one of an opportunist being pushed to the fore by Iran hawks, a reputed jailhouse snitch who was locked up for nonpolitical offenses but reinvented himself as a student activist and political prisoner once behind bars. Fakhravar and his supporters vehemently deny such allegations, saying that the attacks are motivated by petty jealousy and a vendetta by Fakhravar’s enemies on the Iranian left.

For those like Perle who want the United States to eschew diplomacy in favor of backing regime change, Fakhravar is an essential link in the argument for confrontation with Iran. Rather than reminding Americans of Chalabi, who is now known to have orchestrated much of the Bush administration’s bad wmd intelligence, they’d like to summon memories of the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan sought to embolden and unify dissidents in the Soviet Union. But by choosing Fakhravar, they may have inadvertently accomplished the opposite, exposing the ruptures in the pro-democracy movement and throwing into question the notion that America’s problems with Tehran will be solved by a saffron revolution.



By all accounts, Perle’s rapport with Fakhravar started more than two years ago, when Fakhravar was in and out of Evin, the infamous Tehran political prison where Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured to death in 2003. From prison, Fakhravar had been calling the Persian-language pro-monarchist, anti-regime satellite stations broadcast from Los Angeles. Manda Shahbazi, an L.A.-based businesswoman and exile activist, told me that she heard one of those calls, was moved by Fakhravar’s plight, and managed to contact him. She then talked to Perle, who promptly mentioned the Fakhravar case at an Iranian opposition forum in Los Angeles in May 2004. In short order, Fakhravar called Shahbazi and asked to be put in touch with Perle. When Fakhravar left Iran this past April, his first stop was a Dubai hotel room where he met Perle.

“In my eyes I saw the prince of light,” Fakhravar told the New York Sun a few weeks later. “I could see in his eyes he is worried for our people as well as the American people and this is very important and this is very special.” Perle helped arrange for Fakhravar’s entry into the United States and organized a private lunch for him at the American Enterprise Institute; among those attending were State Department and Pentagon officials, selected journalists, and prominent Iran hawk Michael Ledeen.

[IMG]http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/11/fakhravar200x156.jpg
[/IMG]

Shahbazi, meanwhile, was working to connect Fakhravar with top exile leaders in L.A. and around the world. She had platinum contacts through her father, Yaddolah Shahbazi, a prominent businessman who served as an adviser to the Iranian prime minister during the twilight of the Shah’s regime (and who, for Iran trivia fans, launched a shipping company together with Iranian and Israeli investors that at one point employed Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iran-Contra arms dealer).

Shahbazi also did some contact-building of her own: In August 2005, according to filings with the State Department’s Office of Protocol, she gave Liz Cheney—the vice president’s daughter and a senior State Department official overseeing the Iran-Syria Operations Group—a Persian carpet valued at $4,000, as well as a glass plate engraved with a quote from Dick Cheney about Iran. The rug was among the dozen most valuable gifts bestowed on U.S. officials by foreigners in 2005. When I asked Shahbazi about it, she said she didn’t remember it.

In July of this year, Fakhravar joined Ledeen and other Iran experts in testifying before a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee; that appearance caused him to miss the gathering of Iranian opposition activists the White House had convened that day. It was an only slightly extraordinary day in a schedule replete with official meetings and engagements at Iranian opposition gatherings, where Fakhravar regales audiences with tales of his time in various prisons and his escape, along with his plans to unite student activists.

For Mohsen Sazegara, it all seems a bit much. A soft-spoken Iranian dissident thrice imprisoned in Iran and now based in Boston, Sazegara was reluctant to comment on Fakhravar, saying he had nothing against the young man. When pressed, he told me that Fakhravar was at best a marginal player whose life story has been exaggerated by his allies. For instance, no one “escapes” from Evin prison, Sazegara said; instead, Iranian political prisoners can apply for temporary furloughs, and on one of them, Fakhravar simply decided not to go back. Cina Dabestani, a Virginia-based exile who sometimes translates for Fakhravar, told me that Fakhravar attended law school while in prison, and, at Shahbazi’s urging, went awol after an exam. His escape from Iran—which Fakhravar has claimed was undertaken despite an order to have him shot on sight—involved a regular flight from Iran to Dubai, according to several sources.

Iranian journalists and former fellow inmates also claim Fakhravar was never a political prisoner to begin with, but was locked up for a nonpolitical crime—“unchaste acts” involving fellow students—and then cultivated friendships with student dissidents. “Student circles and journalistic circles don’t recognize him as a student leader,” says Najmeh Bozorgmehr, the Financial Times’ Tehran correspondent who closely followed the 1999 pro-democracy student protests, the Tiananmen Square of Fakhravar’s generation of Iranian dissidents. Adds Hassan Zarezadeh, a journalist and human rights activist who now lives in Canada, “He accidentally got arrested and got interested in politics and opportunistically tried to get close to the center of power and get famous that way. He was never part of the student movement.”

Even more suspicious to some dissidents is the story of how Fakhravar first connected with his U.S. supporters. “I have been arrested 12 times since 1999, and I have never seen anything like this,” says Zarezadeh. “It’s impossible for a political prisoner to have a phone,” he adds, let alone use it to call the foreign press, the exile broadcasters, and a top Pentagon adviser.

Some dissidents believe they do have an explanation: “As far as the other political prisoners were concerned, he was an antenna for the security of the prison and for the security services,” Bina Darab-Zand, a recently released human rights activist, told me when I reached him in Tehran in late August. Nasser Zarafshan, one of Iran’s most prominent human rights attorneys and also recently released from Evin, echoed that claim. “He has been working for the police,” Zarafshan says. “In prison, everybody knows that.” Perle’s office referred questions to Shahbazi, who told me that Fakhravar got the phone by paying bribes; she refused to discuss details of his escape from Iran, saying that it would make it harder for other political prisoners to get out.

I met Fakhravar recently in an office lent to him by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a small Washington think tank that promotes U.S. intervention to support reform in the Middle East. With his gray suit, freshly shorn hair, and eager-to-please manner, the 31-year-old cut a figure remarkably different from the Fabio-like photos on his website (whose tag line reads “Love, Iran, Freedom”); he could have been a newly minted Ph.D. moonlighting on the Hill. But there was also an air of anxiety about him, a kind of Talented Mr. Ripley quality, as if he were struggling to perform a role. He spent the better part of an hour recounting his life, primarily a series of prison stints he said he had endured starting when he was 17 and in medical school. During the ’99 uprising, he said, he had been serving his compulsory military service in a Tehran clinic, but had managed to be in contact with the student protesters.

When I asked about his critics’ claims, Fakhravar threw his arms up in frustration. He said that among Iranian political prisoners, there is deep division between liberal and leftist blocks, and that Zarafshan and other leftists had “started rumors” about him that were “all false.” He opened his laptop to show photos of himself on a New York street talking with the dissident Ganji, then autographed a copy of his book, Scraps of Prison, printed by an L.A.-based Persian publisher. It is one of three books for which Fakhravar says he has been persecuted, though none of them appear to be widely known. On his website, Fakhravar says he was on the shortlist for a literary prize, the Paulo Coelho award, but there is no evidence that such an award exists—a point first raised on the blog “Moon of Alabama.”

Fakhravar urged me to call exile leaders, including the Shah’s son, who would vouch for him. The people he claims as his allies back in Iran, however, seem less than eager to embrace him. Ahmad Batebi, one of Iran’s best-known student leaders—pictured on the jacket of Scraps of Prison alongside Fakhravar—has distanced himself from him on his blog. Another key activist whom Fakhravar says he worked with, Akbar Mohammadi (the two are shown together in a picture on Fakhravar’s website), recently died on a hunger strike in Evin prison. When I tracked down his sister, Nasrin, she emailed me that Fakhravar and her brother were “not very close.” Fakhravar, she wrote, “is a young man seeking for fame.”


Laura Rozen reports on national security and foreign policy from Washington, D.C as a senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a contributor to other publications. She writes the blog War and Piece.
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My comments on this!


1)I believe there are some good people around Farkhravar with very good intentions. Oldman is an excellent example.

2) I also believe that there are leftist who try to discredit Fakhravar, like Mohammad’s sister who is Haze komonist kargari.

I also support the line Fakhravar is pursuing!

Now,

I do not see fakhravar as a student LEADER. I know for fact that he has dismissed well established organizations that has been involved in the student leadership.
I also dislike that fakhravar is depending on the Hawks and have compromised with them. To have paid office with paid job is very alarming.

I do believe that the opposition can have short term cooperation with different
entities but as long as they are in line with our national interest.
Ledeen and his crew have proven that they are not in line with our interest.
Even though MPG members have had speeches in AEI we strongly objected Ledeens conference and mobilized an international protest, which many believe was end of ledeen in Iranian communities.
This is a exampel of a healthy opposition.

Fakhravar have too many claims that he cannot prove, it is yet to be seen any activity inside Iran by fakhravar. Yet he claims to be the leader, which is nonsense! As far as I know the only group who has publicly showed activity inside Iran is MPG but I hope to see more people put their money where there mouth is.

I wished that Fakhravar could have pursued a line where he as a simple activist coordinated with other groups involved, but I think he got out of touch with reality. I have stated many times and I will do it again, kas nakharad poshte man joz nakhone angoshte man! Perle, Ledeen....
are not Iranians and care only so much for Iran and Iranians.

Fakhravar have made some fatal mistakes which has been very harmful for his reputation and the movement.In fact his mistakes will even hurt groups like MPG who purse the line of regime change. In order to organize for a free Iran, activists must rely on each other as end of the day Ledeen or perle will not be there to save one!
While I dismiss some point in the article unfortunately for Iran, I must agree on some valid points!
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Joined: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 1672

PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:26:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: "a blank" Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Fwd: Re: [freeandseculariran] FAKHRAVAR AND MY MOTHER
To: sosiran97



Dear Siavash:
Unfortuntely this is a common problem with us Iranians, we make up stories, comments, about a person without any proof or basis, because of the way a person's eyes look, or the way they combed their hair..... I believe those females that called in, were either from NIAC, or the regime... the main purpose was to make a good person (so far I haven't seen any evidence showing otherwise) look not just bad, but really criminal!! It is really sad, after what Fakharavar has gone through, now the supposed "opposition groups" are persecuting him instead of supporting him. Just because someone meets with Perle...... I think we are bunch of f....... shallow people... no wonder the ragheads are enjoying their life for 27 years?????????
blank
sosiran97 <sosiran97> wrote:

Ms. Firouchka,
I had no idea that one could look at Fakhravar's eyes and tell us for certain that he is "Kolahbardar" (Con man)! But your mother apparently is even more expert than that. Not only she can sense the characteristic of "Kalak" (deceitfulness) in the eyes of Fakhravar, she is able to pick up traces of "Haroomzadeh" (bastard) in him. Interestingly enough and so fascinatingly, I might add, you are also able to tell us that Fakhravar is Charlatan by just listening to the tone of his voice!

Your ability and that of your beloved mother is truly amazing. And then the poor modern detective forces around the world and in the west can only rely on their futile lie-detecting mechanical toys and in courtrooms across the world they hire expensive lawyers and bring about many jury members to determine the commitment of a crime!

Only if Mr. Reza Pahlavi had been advised by you and your mother, I'm sure he would have avoided meeting such questionable character (Fakhravar). But then again, Mr. Reza Pahlavi must also be smart and clever enough to realize and conclude the same as you and your mother have. The question then is, why has Mr. Reza Pahlavi held his peace and not exposed Fakhravar and letting all Iranians know how suspicious Mr. Fakhravar is! I doubt Mr. Pahlavi would betray his own compatriots by keeping such alarming and import information to himself! Unless, of course, being a man, he does not have that "women's instinct"!

Interestingly enough, I was watching RangarangTV yesterday and I noted three different women called and spoke on the air. One said that she was able to look at Fakravar's face and tell that he was a liar and a mozdoor (paid-agent) of IRI. That was all the evidence she provided. The second lady called and tied Fakhravar to agents of Israeli Mossad and Neo-conservatives in U.S. because, she said, he had met with Ledeen and Perle. The third lady indicated that Fakhravar is a Monarchist because he had met with Mr. Pahlavi. Assuming the "women's instinct" has been distributed fairly and equally among all female gender, some may conclude that Ledeen, Perle, Reza Pahlavi, all the Neo-cons and Mossad are working with the mullahs and they are all together and that is why Mr. Pahlavi hasn't alerted us of the conning and deceitful attributes of Fakhravar. If the three women were accurate, due to their "womanly instinct", that would reduce the possibility of a war against Iran to zero. Only if Ladan Afrasiabi knew this fact, she would have never started the anti-war movement Smile Oops! ignore the feminine name of Ladan please Smile

Here I was thinking all along the that the most important problem we have is the Islamist regime of Iran and not the apologist and semi-democratic Ganji. Something must be wrong with me. Only if I were a woman, I wouldn't be so blind, afsoos (sigh) !

Thanks for the enlightening info.

Siavash

Oh, BTW, do you know any of the opposition members who baselessly labeled Saeedi Sirjani as IRI agent before he went back to Iran and subsequently was executed by IRI? I bet those opposition members must have been all men and lacked the powerful instinct.

----- Original Message -----
From: Ms firouchka firouchka
To: JavidIran
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 3:31 AM
Subject: [freeandseculariran] FAKHRAVAR AND MY MOTHER


SOMETHING VERY FUNNY AND REAL !!!!
I WAS WATCHING THE SHAHRAM HOMAYOUN PROGRAM WITH ABBAS FAKHRAVAR. I WAS THINKING HOW MUCH HIS FACE (FAKHRAVAR) GIVE ME THE FEELING OF DISHONESTY AND HIS EYES TELL ME NOTHING BUT FOXY PERSON EVEN THE TONE OF HIS VOICE GIVE ME A SENSE OF SHARLATAN !!! WHILE I WAS THINKING ABOUT ALL THESE; MY 91 YEAR OLD ,ALERT AND SMART MOTHER WHO WAS WATCHING THE SAME PROGRAM ,LOUDLY ASKED ME; WHO IS THIS YOUNG BOY ? HE SEEMS VERY DISHONEST " WITH A VERY HAROOMZADEH EYES" IT IS SO CLEAR FROM HIS EYES AND FACE THAT HE IS A VERY " KOLAHBARDAR" . SHE ADDED THAT HIS FACE AND EYES AND THE WAY HE TALKS GIVE ME NOTHING BUT DO NOT TRUST AND HE SEEMS VERY "KALAK"!!!!
I WONDER THE AMERICANS WITH ALL THEIR INTELLIGENT COULDN'T FIND A PERSON WITH AT LEAST MORE DESCENT FACE AND LOOK ,WITH A SOFTER VOICE ? HE COULD HAVE AT LEAST A SYMPATHETIC FACE AS A FORMER PRISONER . OR MAY BE HE HAS BEEN CHOSEN WITH SOME PURPOSE ?!!!! THEY KNOW IT BETTER !!!!!
ANY WAY HE DOES SEEMS TO ME NOTHING BUT A CON ARTIST AND IT IS AN INSTINCT. I DO NOT THINK HE IS WORTHY MORE THAN INSTINCT JUDGMENT. I THINK HE IS DIVERTING THE ATTENTION FROM THE REAL PROBLEM " AKBAR GANDJI ".
WELL THEY SAY " THE WOMEN INSTINCTS USUALLY IS VERY TRUE" !!!
BEST
FIROUZEH
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