Iranian-American group: Ad sends a wrong, dangerous message
CNN / Charley Keyes
27-May-2010 (2 comments)

Washington (CNN) -- Have you seen Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waving at you as you drive around your city?

The Iranian leader -- or at least his photograph -- zips around the nation's capital on the side of buses. And he's also popping up on billboards from Miami to St. Louis.

Ahmadinejad seems to be smiling and waving. But the words are deadly serious.

"Iran makes a KILLING every day we wait" the ad says. The word "KILLING" is in all caps and dark letters next to a barrel of oil and a pile of American dollars. It takes a closer reading to learn the advertisement supports clean energy legislation pending in Congress and an end to U.S. dependence on oil imports from countries like Iran.

"It's obviously a bus ad. You can't have a long essay," said Eric Sapp, executive director of the American Values Network, creator of the ads. "We wanted to get people's attention."

Some of the estimated 1 million Iranian-Americans in the United States are paying close attention. And the National Iranian American Council is demanding the ads be removed, calling them insulting, simplistic and destructive.

Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, is meeting this week with the American Values Network. In a letter, Abdi said the ads are provocative and look like they are advocating war against Iran.

"We take issue not with your ultimate goal of combating climate ... >>>

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The Americans Values Network

by IranMilitaryForum.net on Thu May 27, 2010 03:34 PM PDT


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The NIAC letter to AVN

by IranMilitaryForum.net on Thu May 27, 2010 03:30 PM PDT

Today NIAC sent the following letter to the president of the American
Values Network:


May 24, 2010

Mr. Burns Strider,
President

American Values Network

 

Dear Mr. Strider,

We are writing to raise our deep concerns regarding a provocative ad
campaign your organization has undertaken that is insulting to the
Iranian
people and the Iranian-American community, and contributes to a toxic
political
environment that could help pave the path to war with Iran.  We strongly
urge you to reconsider and remove
these advertisements.  

All throughout the East Coast, buses have been plastered with the
face
of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a billboard that screams menacingly “Iran is
making a
KILLING.”  At first glance, this seems
like an advertisement paid for by a hawkish organization calling for war
against Iran.  However, on closer
inspection, the ads actually call for passage of climate legislation by
Congress.

We are alarmed by these ads because, while they attempt to play upon
antipathy towards Ahmadinejad, the real victims are the Iranian people
and the
Iranian-American community. These ads are insulting to the Iranian
people who
suffer from the brutal policies of the Ahmadinejad government and are
hurtful
to the Iranian-American community who, on this side of the Atlantic, are
the
primary victims of Ahmadinejad’s policies. 

To equate the entirety of Iran to Ahmadinejad, whose legitimacy is
questioned by the Iranian people, is a dangerously simplistic view.  It
discredits and ignores the organic civil
rights movement in Iran, and is hurtful to those of us of Iranian
descent who
proudly call America our home and have contributed greatly to American
life.

These advertisements also undermine your own goals.  Exploiting
serious national security tensions
for the purpose of advancing an environmental agenda is
counterproductive
because in doing so, you inadvertently help pave the way for the worst
environmental disaster of all—war. 

We are sure you agree that war is among the worst environmental
catastrophes known to man.  The
environmental impact of previous wars is well documented—it includes the
often
permanent destruction of land and water resources, immense carbon
emissions by
military equipment, and significant consumption of fossil fuels and
non-renewable energy resources. 

We are perplexed that a progressive, faith-based organization would
promote ads that are fundamentally at odds with a key progressive and
moral
objective– that is, avoidance of further wars in the Middle East.

We deplore the abusive policies of the Iranian government and Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, and are deeply concerned by the abuses endured by the
Iranian
people at the hands of Iran’s rulers. 
But we are also deeply concerned by the horrors that would be imposed
upon not just Iranians, but on the American people and the world
community,
should the United States go to war with Iran.  

However valid it may be to connect the United State’s energy policy
to
its national security, it cannot be done in a manner that advances the
case for
war.

Indeed, it was not long ago that a fabricated atmosphere of fear
convinced the American public that a disastrous war of choice with Iraq
was
unavoidable.  Today, the consequences of
that war for humanity and for the environment are clear to all. We
should be
working together to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated.

We take issue not with your ultimate goal of combating climate
change,
but rather with the destructive manner in which your message is being
delivered
and the unintended consequences it may help produce.  Therefore, we
strongly urge you to
acknowledge the consequences of your ad campaign and to take immediate
action
to remove the ads in question.

Sincerely,

 

Jamal Abdi

Policy Director, National
Iranian American Council


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