NIAC Is The Propaganda Arm of Iran, Not a Human Rights Organization’

https://en.dailymail24.com/2017/12/06/niac-is-the-propaganda-arm-of/

They wine and dine members of Congress at monthly dinners. Their members serve on the boards of successful, well-respected organizations run by Iranian-Americans. They claim to be the voice of moderation and friendship.

In reality, NIAC is the propaganda arm of Iran, strengthening its position inside the United States through outreach, propaganda, disinformation articles, character assassination attacks against critics, and intimidation of dissenters through lawsuits.

The Department of Justice should investigation this lobby group for its failure to register under Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), expose their frauds and destructive role in the US, and inform Congress and the administration about their destructive roles as agents of influence for Iran's intelligence.

Challenge

NIAC claims to be dedicated to strengthening the voice of the Iranian Americans and promoting greater understanding between Americans and Iranian people. In fact, NIAC has been acting as a de facto lobbyist for the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act ((22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq.)  This law requires agents representing interests of foreign powers in a political or semi-political capacity to disclose their relationship with the foreign government, as well as related activities and finances. NIAC, led by the Swedish-born activist Trita Parsi, is likely in violation of the relevant provision. As a key and overtly pro-Iranian voice advising the Obama administration on the nuclear deal  with the Islamic Republic, NIAC consistently voiced the interests and point of view of the "Reformist" faction of the regime, represented, in part, by the current president Hassan Rouhani.   

While in Lausanne during the JCPOA negotiations, Trita Parsi put himself forward as a member of the Iranian negotiating team, and repeatedly boasts of his access to Iranian regime leaders. He has dined with Iran's former hardliner president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, met with the brother of the current president Hassan Rouhani, corresponded and maintained close ties with  Foreign Minister Zarif, dating from Zarif's previous position as Iran's Permanent Representative to the United States in New York. That level of access suggests trust on the part of the normally suspicious regime. Furthermore, a shady family that had financed NIAC,  started by Parsi in 2002, stood to gain financially from the sanctions relief, as they openly backed the deal.  The Namazis, who peddled influence between the White House and Teheran, ultimately overstepped the boundaries and have been arrested by the regime.  Parsi continued pro-regime fabrications through the years since NIAC's inception.  Most recently, Trita Parsi fabricated (in allegation) that green card holders from the seven countries designated by the most recent immigration suspension were being asked about their views on President Trump upon entering the airport.  He then doubled down on this mendacious claim.  

Contrary to the popular view, the Reformists are no more moderate than the hard-liners such as the previous president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and are yet another group of people played by the ayatollah-led regime. NIAC was consistently deceptive in advocating the potential consequences of the nuclear deal, and attacked critics of the deal, such as the well-known dissident and journalist Ahmad Batebi, for their public concern. NIAC-affiliated public figures, such as Muhammad Sahimi, had attacked critics of the deal as right-wing pawns and pillars of the Israel lobby in the U.S., an argument that directly reflected the rhetoric of the regime itself and furthered its interests through a character assassination campaign. Trita Parsi himself had visited President Obama at least 33 times, and remained his leading adviser.

There is evidence to believe than rather than being an organization and an individual sympathetic to the Regime, NIAC and Parsi actively aided Iranian intelligence. For instance, a report from Iranian American Forum, based in London, claims that a secret message delivered by Trita Parsi to their office in September 2011 was identical to a secret message delivered to Washington in 2007 by the regime's envoy Salman Savafi. Both messages warned against designating the IRGC (The Iranian Revolutionary Guards) as a terrorist organization because it would wreak havoc in Iraq, and also jeopardize the possibility of improving relations with Iran.  Separately, an unclassified Pentagon report described NIAC's collaboration with two Iranian intelligence agents, who were invited to give a Congressional briefing (links to report included). Meanwhile, most recently, a number of senior defense and intelligence officials have come forward  against designating IRGC as a terrorist organization, in a language similar to the two messages cited above, particularly warning that such designation could endanger US troops in Iraq and endanger the fight against ISIS. Given the close connection between NIAC and the previous administration, one can easily surmise NIAC's role in making that impression and continuing to play the role of the regime's lobbyist in preventing unfavorable policies.

Above-mentioned Trita Parsi unsuccessfully sued a noted Iranian American journalist Hassan Daioleslam for defamation, where Mr. Daioleslam argued in his articles that NIAC is an unregistered lobby group. A treasure trove of documents on Mr. Daioleslam's website unveil the intricate web of deeply rooted and personal relationships between NIAC members and regime families. More recently, they demonstrate how NIAC is deceitfully trying to divorce the West's view of Iran from its obvious connections with North Korea.  Furthermore, NIAC appears to be the only widely known group representing interests of Iranian-Americans, and has gained renowned in the US educational and cultural institutions. For that reason, perhaps, only Reformists in Iranian prisons are promoted in the NIAC-sponsored English language press, and for the same reason the voices of the NIAC-sponsored “dissidents” drown out and shut down the voices of legitimate anti-regime critics throughout the United States.  

. Prior to the lawsuit, NIAC was registered as a (501) ( c) (3). Despite the fact that NIAC spent only about 5% of their activity on human rights advocacy and the remainder on lobbying activities in violation of their status, the State Department did not require them to register as foreign agency and did not refer them to the Department of Justice.  In court, NIAC and Trita Parsi were both sanctioned for systematic abuse of discovery process and repeated false and misleading declarations to court. Interestingly, this abuse of process included the altering of 1400 emails referencing the word "lobby".  In fact, Parsi himself used the word "lobby" to describe NIAC in documents obtained by Eli Lake. Additionally, NIAC and Parsi withheld vital documents on numerous occasions and made false comments before the court.

The sanctions were upheld on appeal.  Many Iranian Americans, as well as the governmental press in Iran, consider NIAC to be the"Iran lobby".  This organization, and its director Trita Parsi, pretend to be the leading voice of the Iranian Americans in the United States, in reality representing the interests of a state that promotes terrorism, ignores sanctions, engages in systematic and widespread human rights abuses, and has utilized the money released by the Obama administration towards developing its illegal ballistic missile program.  NIAC-affiliated entities have engaged in a pattern of shutting down the dissent by Iranian dissidents and other critics who have come out against the regime and who have criticized the Reformists.  NIAC and its individual members release deceptive missives, which paint a distorted portrait of the Islamic Republic's regime and excuse away its anti-Western, anti-Israel rhetoric.

Suggested Response

NIAC, rather than representing the interests of Iranian Americans, promotes the interests of an openly adversarial and threatening regime, all tax-free. Its duplicity and intentions should be unmasked and exposed.

In fact, after the oral argument in the above-cited case,  Judge Wilkins states:

“I got to tell you that your client is lucky that I was not the District Judge, because you will be here appealing much more severe and higher sanctions, because I think he (the District Court judge) had extreme patience in dealing with lots of misleading and false representations and countless times when your client was trying to slice the baloney very thin, as far as trying to parse what their obligations were.”

Given the strong signal from the judiciary, the Department of Justice and Congress should launch an investigation into NIAC's and Trita Parsi's deceptive and insidious activities in violation of the United States law, and contrary to U.S. interests.  A hearing examining its pattern of duplicity, character assassination attacks on critics, and self-serving agendas that in no way help the interests of the Iranian American community will bring to light its many instances of violations, and likely, tax evasion. It may reveal the illicit funding of its pro-Iran agendas by figures within the regime itself. Finally, it may give grounds for a recommendation that the State Department should require NIAC be designated as a foreign agent, and that the Department of Justice should investigate NIAC, Trita Parsi, and other relevant subsidiary groups and individuals for fraudulent activities, tax evasion, and other violations.

The Department of Justice should investigate NIAC's and Tria Parsi's failure to register under FARA and require them to do so immediately, while strictly enforcing the periodic reporting requirement in the interests of national security. Likewise both NIAC and Trita Parsi should be charged with perjury and obstruction of justice and investigated for their lies under oath and tempering with evidence during the course of the trial.  

Anticipated Outcome

The Islamic Republic's aggression against the Western, and particularly U.S. interests, takes many forms, but not the least of them is "lawfare" against critics, information warfare, the shutdown of popular dissent at home and abroad, institutionalized espionage, and high-positioned agents of influence. Not-for-profit cultural organizations purporting to represent intercultural understanding and the interests of particular communities are an excellent vehicle to promote these active measures of swaying public opinion, influencing decisionmakers, and dictating pro-Iran policy to the U.S. government and institutions. Exposing these instruments of the Islamic Republic for what they are will shred their credibility, and give opportunity to pro-freedom, pro-Western institutions to arise among Iranian-Americans, and will give voice to the Iranians that are looking to defend the interests of the United States, rather than its adversary.

Why America First Policy Requires US to Push Back Against Russia

My article published on Daily Mail 24:

https://en.dailymail24.com/2017/10/29/why-america-1st-policy/

The US may very well be perfectly fine with living and letting live. It may very well be entirely happy to let someone take play world policeman for a change and focus on providing for its own citizens and protecting its borders. It might be for the best if other countries sorted out their issues among themselves. But it's all a pipe dream.

Russia is not going to let the United States to live and let live. It's not about Putin's stay in power or pursuit of dominance in the Middle East, or the restoration of the Russian Empire.

It's about the simple fact that we are under our attack within our own borders, and Russia will not stop until it brings the US to ruin.

How would that scenario look? Alarmingly, the picture emerging is not too far from where we are now: a nation, lost in confusion, unable to tell propaganda and fake news from reality, its political leadership torn apart by endless scandals and investigations, with its citizens trusting foreign leaders more than they trust their own.

Russia has proven to be a danger, playing both parties against each other, sowing chaos, confusion, and aggressively attacking US interests internally and externally. Its Kaspersky software has been used as an espionage tool across various government agencies, endangering our information. Hacking into voting machines and attacks on various political entities was a crude attempt to compromise the integrity of our democratic election problems, and to cause months of finger-pointing and social divisioins.

Over the years preceding this election, Russia continued aggressive active measures, which ranged from bribery of nuclear trucking companies, to espionage through highly placed officials in an attempt to get to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to aggressive hacking and propaganda measures which intensified through election. Under the Obama administration, Russia sent its "diplomats" on fishing expeditions around our sensitive infrastructure, even in such unusual vacation destinations as Kansas.

Additionally, Russia has presented a direct threat to our interests and security abroad. Russian intelligence aggressively targeted US diplomats in Moscow and Eastern Europe, which included such unprofessional and belligerent actions, as physical attacks, including one that left a diplomat badly beaten outside the Embassy, and having to be evacuated, poisonings, severe destruction of property, and harassment that went far beyond the expected annoyances from the old Soviet KGB playbook expected in that part of the world.

Strategically, Russia continues to present a threat wherever it goes, directly interfering with US interests in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. In Syria, Russia constructed a base, while supporting Iranian militias, adversarial to US interests, attacking US-backed groups, and presenting a threat to the Straight of Hormuz, a strategically important trade rout for US and her allies. At numerous points throughout its presence in Syria, US and Russia neared a point of direct conflict, while Russia continued provocative actions, involving airplanes and submarines. In Afghanistan, Russia supplies Taliban with fuel and even weapons, despite the fact that NATO, including the US, is actively fighting against Taliban. Thanks to Russia's assistance, the Taliban has made significant territorial gains, even as the US surged its own forces inside the country.

Additionally, Russia continues to supply Iran with weapons, now also selling S-400s to Turkey, a country that also presents a significant challenge to US interests in Syria. And Russian government oil company is moving in on the oil fields taken over by the Iraqi forces, IRGC, and Iran-backed militias from the Kurds in Kirkuk, which endangers vested US business interests. Russia's attacks on Ukraine, including cybersecurity attacks, are widely viewed as potential dry runs for similar attacks on US infrastructure, including the electric grid.

And that's not including the aggressive lobbying against the Magnitsky Act, the cruel adoption ban that forbids dangerously ill Russian children from being taken in by American families, the non-stop brainwashing of the Russian citizenry against Americans, the troll farms, which makes old school Soviet propaganda seem like child's play, and the authoritarian actions against foreign NGOs, as well as government-linked hostile takeovers of US hedge funds and other financial institutions in Russia, well documented by Bill Browder and others.

All of that paints a rather dreary picture of the US-Russia relationship, with only one side systematically pursuing hostility and instilling hatred against not only the government of the other, but against all of it institutions, the fabric of society, and way of life. Russia is not acting like a potential partner, even on a strictly limited and professional level. It's looking to undermine every goal and pursuit of the United States, and to cause an internal collapse. The appeal of hardcore Communism is no longer quite as potent, though to be sure, the Soviet Union's fellow travelers took strong root in the academia, governments, the media, and think tank world.  But non-ideological confusion of values and internal social and political divisions are just as destructive, and have met with a deplorable level of success. Intersectionality, radical movements, and fake pseudoright=wing and pseudo-left wing organized groups and violent events all have the classic Soviety-style footprint on them, and a number of articles have come out to show how Russia had duped unwitting Black Lives Matter activists into organizing events that ended up benefiting Russia.

For that reason, placing America First, and American interests first, requires a strong, unequivocal, coordinated, and systematic response to Russia by President Trump, who needs to start enforcing Congressional sanctions he signed into law this summer immediately, members of both parties in Congress, who need to put aside political differences and focus on the common goal of defending US national security and political integrity, our media, who needs to focus on exposing Russian connections wherever they are, and not just to the benefit of one party over another, our institutions, including think tanks, who need to be more alert to the foreign money, lobbyists, and other pro-Russia influences, and finally, US citizens, who need to start learning to spot propaganda that benefits the foreign state, and stop giving in to the divisiveness being sown by bots, trolls, and Russian agents of influence at every opportunity.

We need to keep America great, not make Russia great again.

US has an interest in justice, freedom, and accountability around the world

We frequently criticize our leadership for failing to take leadership on human rights, particularly on countries that do not come to mind as issues of top priority "strategic importance".

First of all, defending democratic principles and freedom is always of strategic importance. The question only is what is the proper way to do that.

Second, I would sincerely like to commend Senator Ted Cruz for taking a very vocal and assertive stand on behalf of an opposition leader imprisoned for his participation in the election process in Cambodia. Not only did he condemn his act, but he clearly promised to take very specific measures should justice not prevail, in holding the Cambodian government accountable and blacklisting them from coming to the US, an embarrassing and effective step outlined in the Global Magnitsky Act to protect human rights defenders.

Also, kudos on guaranteeing that he would work with other members of Congress and administration - and thus holding our own government accountable on doing the right thing.

I hope to see that this example will start a new foreign policy - one where the US places its interests in justice, freedom, and accountability first.

Why We Need To Push Back on Abductions by States

One reason to enact legislation penalizing countries for arbitrary detentions and arrests of US nationals: it would give us additional leverage and put the US in a position of strength during negotiations.

The Limitations of Current Human Rights Legislation in the US

I will be writing on this topic a lot more in the next few days, but for now a few quick thoughts on human rights and counterterrorism laws in the US:

* The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act is applicable only to human rights defenders, and only when their abusers are foreign nationals. If there is a US-based company or firm that is promoting or is compliant with censorship abroad, it cannot be held accountable under that particular provision in the US.

* The most recent sanctions against Iran, North Korea, and Russia (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act), essentially designates IRGC as a terrorist organization.

The IRGC will be placed on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists following these procedures becoming law and US President Donald Trump taking the engagements necessary. The following is a list of the actions stated in this House resolution:

All assets and property in the US belonging to IRGC-linked individuals and entities will be frozen.
No American individual or entity has the right to establish financial, business, services or other affiliations with any individuals directly or indirectly associated to the IRGC.

No American individual or entity has the right to violate these sanctions through intermediaries or bypassing these procedures.

All individuals and entities having any relations with the IRGC must be sanctioned. Considering the fact that the IRGC officially enjoy a variety of connections and associations, this will effectively be paralyzing for Iran. One such example is the IRGC Khatam al-Anbiya group that is currently cooperating with more than 2,500 economic firms. All these companies will be sanctioned, rendering any relations with them illegal.

As these measures place the IRGC under secondary banking sanctions, practically no financial institution will be permitted to provide direct and/or indirect banking services to IRGC-linked individuals and entities. No foreign bank will cooperate with any Iranian entity that is in any way related to the IRGC and/or its affiliated entities.

 The issue here is not so much undesirable designation as enforcement. The administration needs to consistently place any individuals associated with IRGC on sanctions list and make it into a frequent and very public embarrassment.

Likewise, there are many groups and individuals in Iran, associated with terrorism and human rights abuses who are not IRGC and are not affiliated with it. They, too, should not be overlooked.  Quick research will reveal that many such low level individuals are employed in the police, serve as doctors in prison, judges, and others, who facilitate all sorts of horrible activity with no legal repercussions.
Although much of the current human rights legislation aimed at curtailing human rights abuses in Iran is aimed at protecting human rights defenders, the regime does not distinguish between human rights defenders and everyone else. Random people are swept up on trumped up charges, such as "national security" violations and under blasphemy laws. Highlighting and exposing the abuse of blasphemy laws to cover up abuse against human rights defenders should be a top priority for the US and anyone concerned with the horrific abuses in Iran.

Similarly, human rights legislation aimed at other countries, such as Venezuela and North Korea, should be reviewed and updated periodically. One recent piece of legislation aims to blacklist individuals associated with abuse of participants in the massive 2014 anti-government protests, forgetting that much has happened since then, and neither opposition activity nor human rights abuses stopped with that particular episode.

Finally, there is no US legislation penalizing either states or individuals for arbitrary detentions,serious human rights abuses, and extortionism involving the abduction of US nationals. The closest that we have is a serious of reporting requirements by the executive branch to Congress, which does nothing to pressure the culprit states such as Iran, North Korea, or Turkey that extrajudicial torture, arrests on trumped up charges, and disappearances of our citizens and permanent residents will not be tolerated. I would recommend in strongest possible terms legislation holding states and individuals involved accountable for such acts of aggression against the United States.

Priorities, Priorities....

You know what's sad? The fact that Cruz's priorities for Congress from January are identical to October, and most of the things on that list are still nowhere near done, and some things haven't even started.

Band-Aids for Open Wounds

Emotional dependence on public posturing and band-aids for open wounds means the substance of the issue never gets addressed and things get a lot worse even as we think we are doing the right thing and making them better. #IRGC #Iran

Decertification is Not Enough; We Must Declaw and Defang Iran to Prevent Greater Bloodshed

Let me spell it out: whether you recertify or decertify, stay or go, unless Iran is completely and utterly isolated, all this running commentary are merely pinpricks and distractions.

Iran has ALREADY secured major investments from European firms and has strong commitments from China, its top trading partner.

Russia is providing Iran with weapons.

North Korea is likewise cooperating on ballistic missiles.

Unless US ALSO gets China on board, our own sanctions will have very limited effect.

The reasons any sanctions were working against Iran before the nuclear deal was precisely because Iran was basically brought to its knees and treated as an international pariah.

Going after IRGC would, in this context, have to mean more than just shallow designations and rhetoric. It would mean: "shoot on sight". IRGC and ALL OTHER militant Iranian entities and proxies would have to be regarded as adversaries, not just annoyances.

Our entire strategy would have to be reoriented not merely towards fighting Hezbullah and other Shi'a groups in the battlefields in Syria but going after them everywhere with the goal of obliterating them entirely.

Nothing in what Trump or any of his associates are saying shows any such determination.

Throwing the issue back to Congress means that MAYBE the administration would be willing to sign off on some of the sanctions bills (provided they are not lost among unrelated pork and watered down by leftist interests - which they are likely to be).

Congress can fund and defund programs related to our mechanisms of war or impose sanctions and recommend entities for blacklisting. Congress cannot by itself redirect all of foreign policy.

Unlike many who are giddy with excitement about the upcoming and belated decertification, I view this discussion as a waste of time along the lines of the 'too little-too late" department.

If we are serious about this, we are going to have to do A LOT MORE than pat ourselves on the back for largely symbolic gestures. We are going to have to drag our allies on board; we are going to have to push the president's national security team towards reorganizing against all things Iran, we are going to have to view what's coming as a non-lethal total war.

The Story of Kurdistan: When the Moral and the Necessary Converge

Kurds don't have a big lobby in the United States. And the total Kurdish population here is about 50,000 people. Europe boasts of much higher numbers. KRG and several parties from Iran, Syria, and Turkey largely make their own case, helped along by a few vocal sympathizers, and an open mind from much of Congress. If you are looking to make big bucks off pushing a cause, you should probably go elsewhere.

However, if you are looking to help achieve something that's both right and necessary, the case for an independent Kurdish state is one you should adopt. I've written in the past that for US, supporting a Kurdish state would mean having another stable, pro-Western, democratic, and increasingly liberalizing ally in the Middle East, which could be an effective buffer against Iran, Turkey, and various terrorist organizations, while taking the Middle East in a new direction through education, technological development, and more pluralistic and inclusive aspirations. It is also one of the world's oldest indigenous nations without a state. And just like any other nation, Kurds have a right to self-determination, a right which they peacefully but vocally asserted in the recent independence referendum.

I could go on and on and post plenty of articles supporting my case, but instead I'll just post two items that are striking me personally, and which have been noted elsewhere by many more eloquent writers and analysts than me.

I can identify with the Kurdish aspirations on a deeply personal level.

First, in some of the countries where they have resided, Kurds haven't been allowed to study their own language or engage with their own identity in any way. Turkey has been particularly brutal and oppressive, and only has its own fascist conformism to blame for the rise of the PKK and violent clashes with Kurdish separatists over the span of several decades. Kurdish culture has been brutally suppressed. Kurds who have dared to stand up for their national identity have been imprisoned and on many occasions brutally tortured. They are a significant percentage of Turkey, and yet, are increasingly dehumanized, where physical attacks on civilians are excused, and first signs of genocide are slowly becoming acceptable to Erdogan's most ardent grassroots followers. Where have we heard this story before? It's the story that the Jewish nation has itself relieved many times over, in my family's case in the former Soviet Union, where Jews were not allowed to study Hebrew, and for many decades, to study or practice Judaism and cultural traditions. It is only with the break up of the Soviet Union, that Jewish community started reestablishing its own identity with a lot of help from abroad, and I was blessed to be able to attend the first Jewish day school in Ukraine since the 1930s.

When I first heard these stories, I trembled inside, because it was like listening to my own history. It was the feeling of the keen awareness of own identity, but also the remembrance of having to hide, of having to always be careful not to draw attention to one's Jewishness, not to sing beautiful Jewish songs in public, of the fact that my family has had to change their Jewish names to Russian ones to avoid harassment. The same was true for many of the Kurds who deliberately named their children with Turkish names to ensure a greater likelihood that they could attend better schools. Just like in the Soviet Union, where Jews faced the infamous "fifth paragraph" in their passport - indication of their ethnic background that could forever doom their career aspirations - Kurds faced official discrimination in Turkey. And in Iran, a short-lived Kurdish state was brutally suppressed, and Kurds have been hanged at disproportionate rates to their own population. With the coming of the Islamic Republic, persecution of minorities intensified.

 At times, Kurds and others would be allowed to study their languages in the universities to keep down the pressure and to avoid disruptive attacks by the rebels. But overall, anti-minority sentiment and open discrimination have been rampant, visible, and well documented, with Iranian forces frequently raping women,  disrupting daily life, trying to ruin the population with drugs, and then executing Kurds in absurd numbers for the very crimes the regime spread throughout their areas. The Jewish history in the countries where they were suppressed is almost never bloody on their end, with the exception being the Russian revolution that was supposed to make life better, but of course, brought about anti-Semitic communism. I haven't lived through any of these events, but was keenly aware of the Jews' "special status" in the Soviet Union through all the family conversations and all the reading I have done from a very young age. I absorbed it culturally and naturally, and so have the young Kurds growing up in the sad reality of not having their own place under the sun. "Kurds have no friends but the mountains" goes a common saying, referring to the fact that the nation has faced numerous betrayals from their allies, including, shamefully from the West, over the past century.

And there is another historical parallel - the circumstances surrounding the creation of the State of Israel. Once again, by the time I was born and achieved sentience, Israel had already existed for many decades, and yet, to me, since I first knew of its existence, it was an awe-inspiring miracle. Israel came about not because Jews were so united (they fought over everything and nearly killed each other in the process), or because the world recognized that it was time (don't make me laugh - that was absolutely not the case, and even the US was very split and reluctant on this issue). or because their neighbors gave in to reason and accepted the Jewish presence in the region - Zionists were harassed for decades leading up to the creation of the State of Israel, and the war broke out immediately upon the signing of independence. Israel was born when Jews stopped listening to what everyone else was saying and decided that it was time to reclaim their own land and chart out our own destiny - whether anyone liked it or not. They fought off multiple Arab forces that sought to destroy the nascent state with poor weapons procured through the black market from Czechoslovakia. Many of those who were fighting were liberated Holocaust survivors, who were still traumatized from the war horrors. There was no mercy, no vocal advocates for their case. The United States, only a few years prior, turned away a ship full of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi horror from its shores. The friends of the Jews and the new found state were few and far between, and it took the finality of its existence and willingness to physically fight for its future and refuse to take no for an answer to finally win a grudging respect from the international community - a respect that could be yanked away at any moment.

When I am observing the birth pangs of the Kurdish state, something inside me flutters with excitement, because it's as if I get to relive the birth of the State of Israel, not with the memories that come from storytellers and history books, but with my own eyes. It is one of the most exciting developments one could witness - the fulfillment of a national destiny, the rising of millions of people ready to build and create and grow and dream and act on those dreams.  Some part of my soul must have been there in the ranks of those who were fighting for Israel, because to this day the excitement of reliving mentally the events that led up to the creation of the State of Israel fill me with breathless wonder. And I experience intensely the same stirring of deep-seated emotion when I think of the Kurds finally gathering the strength, the will, and the courage to build their own home from the ashes of past suffering and persecution by their neighbors.  I see the people dancing and singing, wealthy and poor, speaking different languages,  coming from different traditions, mercurial, used to having to smuggle people and things over imaginary borders, intellectual and poorly educated, of different religions and of no religions at all, arguing over every little item, but all sharing in one dream, in one goal. These people may be broken up, may be scattered, may be disunited by tribal interests, different experiences, politics, infiltrated by enemies - but at the end of the day, they are one nation, with one heart and one soul. I could not live with myself if I remained on the sidelines, when a nation of friends and brothers is rising up to embrace their own path and make their way forward towards creating a country, building a home.

I cannot leave my friends, those who have fought side by side with American forces against ISIS, those who have the same enemies - cruel, heartless, illegitimate regimes that know only how to divide and persecute and suppress, which are destructive, greedy, and expansionist - surrounded by  hostile forces with nothing but cold, calculating condemnation of their national aspiration, of their long suffered dream by the international community which wanted and got their help when it was needed the most. For the first time, Iraq openly invited Iran to enter its territory for the sole sake of conducting exercises by the Iraqi Kurdish borders, threatening to invade. It is punishing the Kurds for holding a peaceful referendum in favor of independence by cruelly shutting down airports and forbidding anyone from getting in and out of the region. Iraq, our ally, supported by the United States, is threatening to deny these people access to their own oil, effectively depriving them of a valuable resource and livelihood. It is seeking to isolate Kurds, and to make them into international pariahs - all for daring to dream, and to act on those dreams.

And it is backed by Erdogan and Assad, who perhaps, may never dare to do much but to bark, but who have effectively vetoed Kurdish aspirations, and who are supporting the isolation of the would-be new country. The Kurds had placed their hopes in the United States, and in the new leadership of President Trump, only to be spurned, shoved aside, out of the consideration for the feelings of their enemies, and alleged, non-existent stability in the region which to whatever extent still exists they helped wrench away from the hands of ISIS and other regional thugs. President Trump, by denying the legitimacy of the referendum, is not only throwing our allies to the wolves, not only empowering the enemies of the US and placing foundation for decades of havoc and expansionism by Iran, Turkey and other bad actors, but he is stripping away from the US its role as a moral leader and the kind of country that everyone wants to live in or even be. He is, ultimately, betraying the American essence, that recognizes national sovereignty of others, and bases itself on a foundation of mutual respect and non-interference, except in defense of our own interests. Our interests are not served by arming thugs and appeasing bullies. Our interests are best served in supporting and strengthening loyal allies, who, in turn, will promote and defend the principles and values we share.

I am asking both President Trump and Congress to do what is both necessary and moral, and to announce our unequivocal support for Kurdish independence, and willingness to stand by our allies at a difficult time when they are threatened by hostile forces. I am asking them not to make a monumental mistake in denying our help to those who are looking up at us at this moment. I am asking the United States to return to its core and its roots and to lead by example, at a time when true leadership in the world is in short supply. I am asking our government to show vision, courage, strength, and dedication to truth - a tall order, I know, given the political climate of today's day and age - but an order worthy of America's greatness. Being great means showing leadership, choosing one's battles carefully, and defending what is necessary for one's own security but also, what is moral and right.

Refreshing Moment of Honesty from a Politician

Senator Ted Cruz in the Fox Business segment on tax reform acknowledged something no one wants to discuss out loud:
Congress just isn't going to cut enough to make a dent in the debt, not with Democrats, not with Republicans. Entitlement monstrosities are not going anywhere.

The State Department Violates Law, Breaks Promises to Yazidis, Christians; allows Iran to spread influence in Iraq

Take a moment to read this article outlining that the State Department has has no issue delivering significant financial aid to Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar, but has been withholding promised aid to Yazidis, Christians, and other vulnerable minorities facing genocide in Iraq, or worse, delivering that aid through UN which is notoriously "religion-blind" and hasn't taken the targeted minority status into consideration.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/critics-state-department-delaying-aid-congress-provided-yazidis-christians-iraq/

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The aid package came the day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke with Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Burma, and urged the Burmese government and military to "address deeply troubling allegations of human rights abuses and violations."

Tillerson's quick efforts to help the Rohingya demonstrated the State Department's ability to quickly direct humanitarian aid to a threatened minority group. However, critics say the swift action stands in sharp contrast to State's foot-dragging when it comes to directing funds to Yazidis, Christians, and other religious minorities facing genocide in Iraq.

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President Trump promised to aid the victims of ISIS genocide, and Congress has placed a statutory obligation on the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to do so before the current fiscal year runs out in a few days, Rasche said.

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The Yazidi population also has plummeted, although estimates of how far the population has fallen vary wildly, ranging from the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands since ISIS launched its attack in the Sinjar region of Iraq in 2014.

Despite the congressional commitment, lawmakers and human rights activists say most of the U.S. taxpayer money going to help people in Iraq is channeled through the United Nations, which has a "religion-blind" policy of distributing most of the money to refugee camps that Yazidis and Christians avoid out of fear of further violence and persecution.

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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill and human rights activists are tracking the list of U.N. development projects in Iraq closely and said there are only very minor projects in Christian towns and communities. Shea said she is aware of one that would repair a canopy on a municipal building but that she believes there are no major infrastructure or road projects that would help Christian communities return and provide interim jobs for those returning.

The Iranians, in contrast, just opened a new elementary school, mosque, and library in the Ninevah region, Shea said.

From this we learn several things:

1. The State Department is in danger of violating the law.

2. Humanitarian aid to Iraq, to which we have specific commitments, is going through the notoriously ineffectual United Nations, despite this administration's commitment to national sovereignty and avoiding "globalism".

3. Administration/State Department officials responsible for aid distribution, who commented for this article, refused to go on record with their names.

4. The administration is fully aware that Iran is using the Fertile Crescent as a land bridge for creating a Shi'A crescent, and is threatening ideological influence, as well as physical conflicts, by building humanitarian institutions with Islamist strings attached in the vicinity of the most vulnerable populations.

5. Rohingya is already receiving humanitarian aid from a number of Arab/Muslim states. Yazidis have nowhere to flee and are dependent on the scarce financial aid that's coming mostly from the West. Christians are not likely to receive humanitarian aid from anyone but Western countries.

How do we explain these seemingly mind-boggling issues that appear to contradict Secretary Tillerson's preexisting commitments, as well as challenge the expectations of Congress?

Tillerson himself has been widely criticized for alienation from his own agency, as well as being too slow with implementing policies, and yet, the State Department moved quickly to aid Rohingya. A variety of factors is likely at fault. Dependency on the UN is but one of them. However, lack of structure answerable to the administration - in other words, political appointees, loyal to the Trump administration's visions of foreign policy - may explain the stark contrast in priorities that appears to reflect the Obama' administration's priorities in immigration. Once again, the most vulnerable minorities are getting shafted in favor of a politically popular group that is making the headlines. That is a rather crude way of describing the way the State Department prioritizes humanitarian disasters, and yet the patterns speak for themselves.  The lack of names and faces on record in this article supports this hypothesis. Bureaucrats of course wish to avoid accountability, but career State Department officials have a particular reason to stay below the radar and avoid being identified as having come in under Obama or having particular ideological proclivities that play a role in the distribution of humanitarian aid.

What is particular disturbing is the fact that the same bureaucrats are willfully empowering UN bureaucrats with the taxpayers' money, shifting responsibility to a body that is highly ineffective and slow-moving at best, but more likely both incompetent and comprised of downright evil actors.

And what's completely unacceptable here is that US national security priorities are being deliberately ignored in favor of appeasement of particular interests and agendas, perhaps among Islamist lobbyists who have specifically brought up the Rohingya crisis through a wide variety of media, and concerns about Islamophobia through their front organizations, such as CAIR in recent meetings with the State Department. Yazidi organizations, such as Yazda, and Middle Eastern Christian organizations in the US, lack both the numbers and the power, to attract the same amount of attention from that agency. Humanitarian aid is being cynically used to assert and wield power by lobby groups, no matter what the Congress has decided our priorities should be. Worse still, is that the State Department is well aware that both the administration and Congress are on the same page with regards to countering the spread of malicious Iranian influence in all forms, including deceptive ideological education that it is seeking to import to vulnerable minority communities in Iraq. While the United States is once again appearing to betray its own promises, Iran shows up as a sort of white knight in shining armor, building schools, community centers, and luring the unsuspecting, the weak, and the needy under its fold.  Such measures go against our agreement with our allies, and certainly the spread of ayatollah-dominated influence endangers the process of rebuilding Iraq, and the communities that suffered from ISIS-inflicted genocide and war related trauma.

Now that the Iraqi Kurds have voted in favor of an independent state in a recent referendum, our obligation to the vulnerable communities in that region takes yet another dimension. That dimension includes ensuring that with the chaotic and challenging process that takes places in creating a new state, the rights of these minorities are protected, and they have the tools they need to address their special unique interests, as well as the institutions to protect their culture in the middle of the transition, when more powerful actors such as Iran will try to take advantage of the uncertainty to perhaps pressure the Kurds, and wield undue influence through its historically potent divide and conquer strategies. Instead of focusing on building a strong relationship with a potential new friendly state and keeping our promises to its various constituents, we are giving opportunity to countries like Russia, currently the KRG's biggest backer , and to Iran, that is likewise not above investing financially where it cannot yet fully take over militarily, to fill in the vacuum of our disappearing leadership.

The takeaways here are simple and straightforward: reassert our concerns for our own interests and national sovereignty by restructuring our humanitarian aid towards direct and immediate provisions, hold the State Department officials accountable for implementation of our promises and for keeping with the law on the issue, unmask those actors within this agency that are acting counter to the direct orders given and are thus preventing the administration from successfully executing its own foreign policy, and ensure that by placing our national interests, rather than interests of dubious Islamist lobbies first, we remain perceived as leaders, desirable allies, and reliable friends, with whom every group wants to work closely and do business.

Keeping our word is fundamentally doing the right thing and a welcome change from the last administration's feckless governing both at home and abroad. Let's make it happen, starting with doing what's right for the people who need our help the most.