White House People Harassing Journalist

James Risen is the target of White House People

The White House People are upset that New York Times journalist James Risen exercised his right to free speech.  As reported by Alex Park in Mother Jones:

In State of War, Risen revealed a secret CIA operation, code-named Merlin, that was intended to undermine the Iranian nuclear program.  The plan...was to pass flawed plans for a trigger system for a nuclear weapon to Iran in the hopes of derailing the country's nuclear program. 

U.S. & Iranian Interests Aligned Against the Taliban?

Interesting news item about the origins of the Taliban and their relationship with Iran and Pakistan, from CNN 1998:

Pakistan was the first of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government, and as many as 40 percent of the militia members studied in religious schools in Pakistan.

This would have been good to know when planning retaliation for the bombing of the USS Cole or the 9/11 attacks.  Do you think that Mr. Clinton or Mr. Bush read this story?  Could any of their dozens of advisers mention to them that the Taliban is largely composed of people from Pakistan?

On another note, it seems critical to understand that the Taliban and Iran were involved in a mini-war with each other.

from PBS, 1998

We were told that the U.S. bombed Afghanistan in the hope of killing bin Laden after his gang bombed U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.  Would it not have been useful for 500,000 Iranian military members to help the U.S. government fight their war against the Taliban in Afghanistan?

Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush & Mr. Blair had the chance to gain assistance from a powerful enemy of the Taliban and chose to go it alone instead.  Why did they turn against a potential partner in Iran and create further division between the Middle-East and the West?

Only a few people truly know the reasons for these actions.  Unfortunately, they are probably not going to let us in on the secret, leaving us to speculate about their behavior.

Sanctions Backfire On Those Imposing Them

File under: oops.

Western sanctions against Iran have had a dramatic negative effect on the U.S. economy.  In addition to restricting the Iranian people's access to trade, the two-decade long policy by the West has hurt people in the West.
 
According to the National Iranian-American Council the U.S. has lost one million new job opportunities thanks to the inability of the North American people to engage in trade with the Iranian people.

Is it worth putting up with twenty years of economic chaos because a few dozen politicians in the U.S., U.K., Israel and Iran are upset with each other?  

Find the full report at the NIAC.

A Little Freedom for Victims in Iran

A very interesting story out of Iran about a convicted murderer being forgiven by the victims mother...and spared execution.

Mothers of the murderer and victim embrace.  AP Photo/ISNA, Arash Khamoushi

The victims family was urged by many in their town to pardon the murderer and accept a financial award.  Iran will still send the convict to prison.    

From the AP.