ORGANIZATION

Natalia

I have. Couldn`t find any of them. All I could find for members were cocktales and events invitations. If you know were exactly to look, please let me know. [I actually wonder if all those endorsing it so gladly know the answers or have even asked such questions at all...]

Zion have you been to

their web-site to find many of the answers to your questions?

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia (AKA)

Internets......I went looking

for the comment posted by MasoudA to better understand your response to him but I did not find it on the thread. Did it get deleted?

I am confused........

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia (AKA)

My respect and admiration

My respect and admiration goes out to Trita Parsi and his team for educating American policy makers and the general public regarding Iran. Without the efforts of individuals such as Trita the sea of obfuscations, misrepresentations and serial distortions would largely go unchallenged...Good job and keep up the good work since it is appreciated by the overwhelming majority of Iranians not only in the US but inside Iran itself - the US is the world's only superpower and vis-a-vis Iran it is absolutely crucial that there be an alternative voice to the hateful and ignorant tirades which dominate the airwaves and Pentagon dogma....

Kind regards, Sadegh

OY VAY Zion!!!

Oy Vay!

Questions

If I may intrude in this joyful feast of self congratulations, I have a couple of questions that I would like to pose and would appreciate any informed answers:

First, I don`t get the `National` in the `National Iranian American Council`. What does that mean? Why is it there? Why not just `Iranian American Council`? How is this different from a normal `Iranian American Council`? Was there a nation wide campaign among most Iranians Americans all over the United States that eventually lead to this council, or was it just a bunch of guys who decided to form this in Washington? Or does the `National` refer to the Iranian state?

A propo the same name, how does this council work? Can anyone be a member? Can anyone of Iranian origin be a member? Can any member potentially get on the board of directors? Is there a board? How are they chosen? Who decides the over all policies? How often does the leadership change? Does it change at all? or is it just like the case of Iran a private issue and a permanent position?

If the board and the chief are chosen on a regular basis by open and fair elections, say all those who (rightly) mistrust the current policies decide to join the council, actively vote and by their numbers set the tone and the policies. Is that at all possible?

Thanks.

respond not smear

Have you noticed that NIAC’s arguments against Hassan Dai has never been based on the content? They have resorted to the exact tactic they have accusing Hassan Dai of: Smearing, defaming, accusing. Why don’t you just respond to the accusations so the rest of us who do not like pissing matches can put this behind us?

MasoudA

You quoted from the NIAC chief, "USA will pay dearly if it attacks Iran. He was threatening America in our behalf".

Now, I don't know if your quote is correct or what not, but Richard Clarke, who served on 3 different Presidents' roster in one form or another, pretty much inferred the same thing as late as yesterday, on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Now, do we also assume that Mr. Clarke could be on Mr. Ahmadinejad's payroll?!.

You may be jumping the gun a bit, but there is no doubt that another badly/weakly planned attack on Iran, may have graver consequences both militarily and economically for the U.S and its allies, than it is so lightly believed by some Neo-Cons!.

I praise NIAC ...

If you don't know NIAC look who is opposing them. Dinosaurs left from Shah regime, Zionists and MEK traitors and Neo cons and just Cons!! That's credit enough to me.

Tarita is an intelligent man who cares about Iran. I also know first hand how professional and intelligent is Ms. Emily Blout.

I thank both of them and NIAC for their devotion to Iranian_American cause.

Best of luck to them.

Smarty pants Anonymous8 ;-)

Not so fast smarty pants:

1- Geez: //www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gee...

2- Jeez: //www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jee...

No resist...RESIST ;-)

dear internets,

I don't know what you wrote before, but I just thought I point out that your last word is correctly spelled "Jeez" not "Geez". :)

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Good indeed

"...NIAC Good people, good work.."

Certainly very good at steering clear of any criticism of the Islamic Republic.

Dear Editor...

Excuse me!. I corrected someone in here for the incorrect use of the phrase "cease & desist" which was written erroneously as "cease & decease", and then my post which was tongue-in-cheek, gets removed/deleted?!. What was so inflammatory about doing so or was it calling some of the posters in here as reactionary "yahoos" (including myself)?!. If these are too stomach churning/offensive for your moderators, next time I will be emailing you flower petals and Aab Golaab instead of writing a dig!. Geez!!!!!.

Thank You NIAC, now get to work, we have a war to stop!

Thank You NIAC!

I am upgrading my membership

I didn't know they were also good looking people - because of that I am now upgrading my membership :-)

I am supporting NIAC for as long as they do what they are doing; helping Iranians. Well done, guys! Please keep up the good (and much needed) work.

Zion, you are lecturing us about "openness" and "unwise" ?

...

NIAC Rocks

Just meet for 10 minutes one of the leaders of NIAC and you will easily see why we love NIAC. Finally a voice for Iranian-Americans. Of course, we have to keep them in check and make sure they don't become corrupt, disorganized, or start to be just a subset of the voices of Iranian-Americans. But these things happen in a process, and as long as you're a NIAC member, you can help ensure that they don't go a direction that would hurt us all.

And NO ONE I know in NIAC likes the IRI. These are people who have the taste of the American system of government (with its good and bad) and are passionate about making sure Iranian-Americans have a loud and reasoned voice in D.C. It is with their success that we can create an America in which Iranians living in Iran will find hard NOT to have relations with.

Eiman

I am so excited...

to see the progress we've made towards making a modern community that stays away from labeling and calling names and getting closer to become result-oriented. The results that come from any individuals or groups regardless of political affiliations, race, gender, religion, ethnicity, language, and so on. It is not only a NIAC thingy, it is the awareness that we are gaining :O). Go NIAC! We support you as long as you stay true to your mission statement.

//www.niacouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=316&Itemid=93

At Least.....

Cheer up people. At least they're not pictures of Ross Mirkarimi....

Fred and Zion are spot on. I

Fred and Zion are spot on. I can't wait for the lawyers to discover the truth on the background of this man.

Correction: with us or against us.

Sorry the correct quote is you are either with us or against us.

Some people remind me of

Some people in the Iranian.com remind me of Shabaan bee mokh. Probably most people know who and why :)

NIAC is a great Iranian organization for peace and properity of the Iranian people in the US and Iran. Thanks for the pictures.

Reply to Redwine

Dear Redwine, Check up "daghighan" in the dictionary and write it hundred times, it might help and would keep you busy as well. As for not seeing any "political activists" and not getting the gist of the story, that too might be the side-effect of not being sober. These people are active against sanctions that are ruining the Iranian population and against war of the type that has killed over a million in Iraq, in case you might have been missed that too.

Thank you NIAC and thank you CASMII for standing up and fighting for our country and for the world peace.

You are either with us or without us?

Great job NIAC. Keep it up.  As we say in Farsi, be koori-ye cheshm-e hassood-aw.

Bush has been giving stupid speeches and stupid slogans for the past several years and his bigotted followers keep regurgitating it.  Today we hear him comparing his so called war on terror to WWII.  This while US's greatest ally -- the UK -- has abandoned the term war on terror for couple of years.  As long as he is commander in chief he can talk BS and we have to give it weight because well, he is commander in chief. But just because he says so doesn't make it so.

Trying to group NIAC with Islamic Republic is about that stupid statement of you are either with us or without us.  Now go figure.

Red Wine jan, the people in this group go and lobby US Govt about Iran and try to educate them about what is real and what is hog wash.  When you open the news and hear Ahmadinejad being compared to Hitler to validate that bombing Iran is a good solution which will yield a "peaceful" middle east, someone has to tell them they are dreaming! They try to explain simple things, not complex political stuff, simple stuff.  Does that make sense now?

NIAC support is not about trust; its just good strategy.

By analogy with a game of hokm, a player can:

 1. Assume his partner is in league with the other team. This strategy has NO chance of a win.

2. Assume his partners is on the level, even though this is in doubt. This strategy has SOME chance of a win.

No amount of unproven accusations can change this logic.

National inclination

Despite our differences born out of political inclinations, religious dogmas and the general outlook on life,  it never ceases to amaze me how very similar we Iranians are. Take for example this mini debate on NIAC and by extension CASMII which has been brewing below the surface for some times now and it is slowly coming to surface. We Iranians, irrespective of all the signs and contradictory signals, love to see thing as we wish them to be not as how they actually are.   Take for example the Islamist Revolution or for that matter Khatami, despite all the signs we kept wishing ‘em to be what we wanted them to be and of course they were not.  During the eight year bloody reign of Khatami when intellectuals, political activists, student leaders were murdered and all the other sad stories that we are all familiar with, this national mentality of ours made it almost a high crime to even criticize Khatami.  If one dared to do it even out of the reach of the Islamist enforcers in Iran the hypnotized Khatamites took it upon themselves to protect the name of their Islamist idol from any indiscretion. Just flashback to that not too long ago and remember all the Khatami  mesmerized glorifiers , not a single one of those people, at least to my knowledge, has come forward to unequivocally take back  his/her contribution to that eight years of devastating national binging, let alone apologize.  And the bygones are bygone mode quickly sets in without any national lessons learned ready to experience the already experienced and failed again and again.  Given our national predisposition, lets allow a pinch of skepticism and criticism until proven otherwise and even there after.  I think Benjamin Franklin sums it up best: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Thanks JJ

For showing your true face as well those of many others who have come out of woodwork on this very page. BTW, you sure went to their offices in the DC at your own initiative. YOU DON'T NEED INSTRUCTIONS :o)

A Question

I have a question: Given that the Islamic Republic of Iran has zero chance to perform open lobbying in Washington, how do you think it would try to do its lobbying? In what ways are the demands and main focus of this group different from what the main demands and focus of a hypothetical in-cognito IRI lobbying group would have been?
The situation of this group is not that of a neutral group regarding the interests of the Islamic regime in Iran, whether that is intentional or just accidental. The Islamic regime in Iran is the core of Islamo-fascim today.

Why doesn`t this group answer openly to the criticims that have been made against it and legitimate doubts that have been raised about its objectives and history, as Fred has mentioned? Why does it have to exort to threaten all its critics with legal action instead?

Giben its track record, this kind of premature support of this group is unwise and ill advised. Much more caution needs to be applied at the present time. Wouldn`t you agree?

...

حالا اين خانمها و اقايوني كه عضو اين گروه هستند ،دقيقن چه كار ميكنند؟من هر چي نگاه ميكنم ،كسي رو نميبينم كه فعال سياسي باشه ،فرهنگي هم كه نيستند ،پس داستان چيه ،قشنگ يكي از اين اقازاده ها بياد توضيح بده تا ما هم ملتفت بشيم.
عزت زياد

Great to finally "see" the new NIAC

Thank you Jahanshah for this photo essay. NIAC's work is truly instrumental for our generation and actually being able to "see" the faces of the team is a treat.

What is also a "Treat" is NIAC's plush offices! Of course, what I am comparing it to is the summer of 2002 which I spent in DC as one of NIAC's legal interns and our office back then was a space we shared with literally 10+ other organizations.

We had one desk, 2 chairs and 2 computers, and one phone, but a TON of energy. I am proud to see, that what was at the core of the organization back then, is what is still fundamentally driving it today.

Keep up the good work guys!