Iran’s chief lobbyist in the US will take over the State Department’s Iran portfolio, reports Ed Lasky at The American Thinker. John Limbert replaces Dennis Ross, who “has moved to the National Security Council and has not been heard from since,” Lasky observes.
It is an alarming appointment, especially after Iran thumbed its nose at the Obama administration’s humiliating efforts to propitiate it. Writes Lasky:
Limbert is not a neutral arbiter; he serves on the advisory board of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).
What is the National Iranian American Council?
The Council is widely considered the de facto lobby for the Iranian regime in America. It opposes sanctions on Iran, soft-pedals any controversial events in Iran, and counsels “patience” regarding Iran’s stance towards its nuclear program. The NIAC has been at the forefront of lobbying against continued congressional funding of the Voice of America Persia service, Radio Farad, and grants for Iranian civil society.
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The NIAC staunchly opposes any military attacks on Iran. In other words, it all but serves as Iran’s embassy in Washington — though the NIAC vociferously disputes this characterization. However, there is very little sunlight between the views of the regime and the NIAC.
The NIAC is also headed by the controversial Trita Parsi. Who is Trita Parsi?
He was born in Iran, but moved to Sweden at the age of four. He pursued a career in international relations, eventually leading him to found the National Iranian American Council (more on that tie later).
Parsi serves as an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute, a “think-tank” that serves as one of the public-relations agencies for the Muslim world in Washington.
Parsi also is the author of the book The Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States, which was an expanded version of his dissertation thesis. The book was warmly endorsed and recommended by none other than John Mearsheimer, Zbigniew Brzezinski (who served as Parsi’s dissertation adviser), and the former Foreign Minister for the State of Israel who has become an appeasement-focused dove, Shlomo Ben-Ami — recently seen speaking at the J Street conference. Treacherous Alliance delves into anti-Semitic canards regarding Jewish control of policy in Washington.
The Iran problem is the decisive issue on the American strategic agenda: if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, the strategic balance in Western Asia shifts decisively for the worse. And the Obama administration has just put an apologist for Iran in its top slot.
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
