Monday, May 14, 2007

Shaul Bakhash's Reply to False Accusation Reported in Iran's Kayahn (State-owned News Paper)


Endless untruths



Reply to Kayhan’s unfounded report on Haleh Esfandiari
Shaul Bakhash

May 14, 2007

iranian.com
On page one of the issue of Kayhan of 22 Ordibehesht,/5 May, 2007 a long article appeared under the title of “Documented Report by Kayhan: Who is Haleh Esfandiari”.
Although it is described as “documented,” this article is full of errors, lies and deliberate distortions. The writer does not even seem able to get the simplest facts right. A partial account of these inaccuracies follows: (Persian text)


It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari and Shaul Bakhash worked for Israeli spy agencies; It is a lie that either Haleh Esfandiari or Shaul Bakhash is a Mossad spy It remains a lie no matter how many times Kayhan repeats it in its article.
Shaul Bakhash was not the editor of Kayhan International in the 1340s and 1350s.
Volume 17 of the Documents of the Nest of Spies does not say Shaul Bakhash is a good journalist “for America.” It just says he is a good journalist. Haleh Esfandiari and Shaul Bakhash are not Zionists.

It is untrue that Shaul Bakhash went to America “on a series of secret missions and training.” He went to Harvard University in America to study for his MA and then to Oxford University in England to continue his studies. He received his doctorate from Oxford University in 1972.
Haleh Esfandiari and her husband were not “introduced by the Mossad spy service” to Daryush Homayoun of Ayandehgan. Neither of them was involved with establishing the newspaper, ever worked for it or ever published anything in it. When Ayandegan was founded, they were not even in Iran.


It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari “fled to Israel in August 1979.” She had left from Iran for England many months before that. Haleh Esfandiari has never lived or even set foot in Israel
Shaul Bakhash’s book on the Iranian revolution was published in 1984, not in 1982. The publication, Rah-e Zendegi, could therefore not have published pages from the book in its issue of Jan-Feb. 1983.


Nowhere in this book does Shaul Bakhash say or even suggest the Islamic Republic will collapse in the near future.


It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari “returned from Israel to America” in the years of the imposed war because she was never in Israel.


It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari established the “Iran section” of the “official Israeli lobby” in the U, S. because she has never worked for the Israeli lobby.


It is untrue that Haleh Esfandiari was head of the “Iran chamber” of AIPAC.


Haleh Esfandiari never organized even one, let alone “various seminars” for AIPAC


Haleh Esfandiari was not responsible for organizing a 2004 AIPAC conference on Iran’s nuclear programs.


She never invited George Bush, Ehud Olmert, Hillary Clinton, John Bolton, Condolezza Rice and others to speak at an AIPAC gathering or to any other gathering.


This meeting, to which Kayhan refers, could not constitute high point of Haleh Esfandiari’s activities for the Israelis” because she never organized it, took part in it, or knows anything about it.


Haleh Esfandiari therefore had nothing to do with any workshop organized as part of this conference.


Contrary to the claim of the Kayhan writer, the programs of the Woodrow Wilson Center, including those organized by Haleh Esfandiari, were not drawn up at the recommendation of AIPAC. The ultimate aim of the programs Haleh Esfandiari organized were not aimed at “revolution from within.” The Woodrow Wilson Center’s programs are not determined by AIPAC.


The five Iraqi women who participated in a 2005 conference with Haleh Esfandiari were not “supporters of the occupier”. They were Iraqi women looking for ways to reconstruct of their country. Reconstructing Iraq was the subject of the conference. It is shameful for the author of the Kayhan articdle to talk in this way of patriotic Iraqi women whom the writer of the Kayhan article does not know and has never even met. .


It is a false and hollow accudation that Haleh Esfandiari is one of the “principle instruments” of Israel, or a Mossad spy service, in advancing the strategy of a “velvet revolution” in Iran.


It is a lie that Haleh Esfandiari had “undercover assignments” or that she was one of the “media spies” in Iran. She had no part in setting up a “communications network” between Dubai and America.


Haleh Esfandiari had nothing to do with Radio Farda or Ruz-on-Line [an Iranian website], or with recruiting journalists to work in Prague.


These accusations are fantasies and are untrue. They are all the Kayhan writer’s shameful fabrications. The list of Kayhan’s dishonest representations are endless, but I will stop here.
It is regretful that Kayhan, one of Iran’s two oldest newspapers still being published and with a long and distinguised history, should allow so much untruth to appear on its pages. (Persian text)

Shaul Bakhash is Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History at George Mason University, Virginia. He is married to Haleh Esfandiari.




Sign the the petition to the Government of Iran to Free Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Iranian-American Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars by clicking HERE.

Update1: Senator Joseph Lieberman, meanwhile, said Esfandiari had been "inexplicably and inexcusably imprisoned."

Update 2: Letter Writing Campaign:
We have now launched a letter-writing campaign calling for the release of Dr. Esfandiari from Evin Prison. It is easy for you to join in. Simply go to the letter-writing site, edit the draft letter to Iranian government officials, and submit the text. Our system will deliver your letter and add your name to a list of people petitioning Iranian authorities.
The purpose of the letter/petition campaign is to deliver individual messages and to demonstrate an outpouring of grassroots support. Already, over 200 people have sent letters. Join the campaign - send a letter for Haleh.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

honestly, I dont' have much problem with this lady staying in prison for a while. I'm tired of all these people in the West who are supporting the so-called Iranian reformists! may she come back in peace and with a little real experience about what the so-called reformists are about.

Plateau said...

I'm going to fully agree with goli's comment here. I'm very light on sympathy for this woman. I said the same in my first post about her arrest. If I post any news about her and her detention by the Mullahs, on my blog, it is to show that the "other" factions and mouthpieces of the IR regime, whether purely Iranian or dual citizens or non-Iranians, political reformists or otherwise, will not be spared by the IR regime if they ever were to deviate from any IR beliefs and practices. This is a reality check for her and others who may choose to follow her example - that's unfortunate.

SERENDIP said...

g and p: I hear you both. However, before being a reformer, she is a human being and a grandmother and someone who is being brutally treated by the evil mullahs. And I also like to think that we can rise above our political differences when it comes to issues of life and death because if we can't, we will be just like them...

Plateau said...

True, she is a human being, old enough and supposedly knowledgeable enough to have a sound judgment & stand up to her convictions. Her judgment led her to not only support the evil mullahs, be it indirectly, but also by doing so she put both her own life and, equally importantly, the lives of thousands of others who actually live in Iran, aren’t dual citizens and, therefore, don’t have the luxury of being supported by a foreign government, at jeopardy by assisting to prolong the existence of the evil mullahs & their government. I do hope they release her, and I’m sure they will. I guess I’m more concerned about those who have little choice but to permanently live in Iran and are continuously subjected to similar, if not worse, acts by IR.

Plateau said...

P.S. After she is released, I'd be interested to see if she will change her position regarding reform within Islamic Republic or...?

SERENDIP said...

P: Let's hope this has taught are a good lesson and she's realized the error of her poor judgment. I can't speculate on her motives behind being an appeaser of the regime and let's hope she will draw from this experience and will put it to good use when she is released. There are no coincidence in life...everything happens for a reason. Hopefully, she has seen the light.

Anonymous said...

If she is a leftist, she will probably think: this happened to me so that I can learn how to forgive people when they hurt me. I should definitely forgive these Mullas and support them even more. They are really not that bad, its the hard life that has made them hurt and suppress people! They keep being verbally harrases by millions of Iranian people all the time. nobody likes them. The hatred people show them is making them angry and resentful. If only the West give them more help, in spite of them having oil revenue, then they will be good people.
( I am not joking!! this is the screwd up Leftist mentality. Even if a terrorist kill them, they will justify it by blaming themselves. Think about it)

SERENDIP said...

Dear Goli: ROFL! You're so funny. She'll probably recommend therapy to change their behavior and anger managment classess for her torturers and interrogators...hahaha

DADABASE said...

so if these particular citations are lies, does that mean the rest of Kayhan's information are correct? for instance, did she convert to Judaism? IS Mr Bakhash aligned with Zionists in USA?

what about his affiliation with the famous neoconservative and Zionist leaning Brooking institute and its notoriousely Islamophobic Saban center?

According to numerous credible sources, Bakhash's resume does include working for Kayhan before the revolution.

In his work, Mr Bakhash has shown his disdain for the current Iranian government by advocating a soft form of regime change trhough embolding certain political figures inside Iran. This is precisely the charges that have been dicussed among those who argue in Iran in favour of arresting Esfandiari.

Paper after paper, lecture after lecture, the soft regime change strategy becomes more highlighted in regards to the kind of Iran Mr Bakhash would like to see emerged.

Here is a direct quote from Mr Bakhash: "The Israeli government has been particularly worried about Iran's growing nuclear potential, especially in light of recent calls by Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for Israel to be "wiped off the map." Numerous sources have already refuted this "fact" by pointing out to the distortion of Ahmadineghad's language in the biased translations provided by the friends of Israel.

Doesn't Mr. Bakhash's words sound like the cloned version of Bush, Cheney, Hagee (an evangelical figure), Olmert and Natanyahou's rhetorics? In the absence of an honest Zionist political party in America, what else can demonstrate one's political leaning but his own words?

Anonymous said...

I wish that the person who recommends another person to stay in jail (goli or whatever her name is) gets the pleasure of spending a few days in Evin. Thse people don't have hearts. They don't care about Iranis, Iraqis, US soldiers ... regain your humanity Ms. Goli!