Iran activist 'snubs White House'

BBC News ^ | 07/25/2006 | Daryoush Homaee

[Republicain]

Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji declined to meet White House officials during a visit to the US, he has told the BBC.

[Fenris6]

In July 2005, President Bush called on Iran to release Mr Ganji "immediately and unconditionally". He was released in March 2006, in poor health as a result of his lengthy hunger strike against prison conditions

No good deed goes unpunished.

[Armigerous]

.....wouldnt Akbar Ganji translate as 'great marijuana'?

[Rane _H]

Put him in a cage and send him back to Amadinejad. Let him be a martyr for his cause. Jerk.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Actually, Mr. Ganji is rather shrewd--and somewhat rude. Mr. Chalabi was removed from power in iraq. Ostensible distancing from Washington is logical.

However, he didn't have to criticize the Americans in iraq. That country seems to be progressing, and the iraqis obviously supported a more representative government (or some would use democracy) considering the long lines they stood in and the threats they faced to vote.

[sgtbono2002]

You got that right.

[DustyMoment]

Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji declined to meet White House officials during a visit to the US, he has told the BBC.

Ya know, when I'm travelling in foreign countries, I also snub the top elected officials in the country.

[AdvisorB]

It's interesting that Mr.Ganji met with noam chomsky but couldn't find time for the guy that got him out of the jail cell in Iran. If chomsky would have had his way, Mr.Ganji would still be enslaved in his persian gulag.

[HawaiianGecko]

In a speech last week in Washington DC, he also criticised US policy in Iraq, saying: "You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it".

The problem with people like this is they don't realize it's not America attacking Iraq.

Here's your sign fellow!

 

[Pyro7480]

.....wouldnt Akbar Ganji translate as 'great marijuana'?

LOL!

[Brooklyn Kid]

"However, Mr Ganji added that if Iranian opposition were united and they had a recognised leadership, they could negotiate with US officials to find the best ways of helping promote democracy and human rights in Iran."

I don't know why he's so blind to the fact that he himself is causing disunity among the opposition.

I have to wonder if he's saying some of things and refusing to meet President Bush, because he's fearful for his family back in Iran.

[A. Pole]

In July 2005, President Bush called on Iran to release Mr Ganji "immediately and unconditionally". He was released in March 2006, in poor health as a result of his lengthy hunger strike against prison conditions

No good deed goes unpunished.

Read the whole article: he was sentenced for 6 years in 2000. He was released in 2006.

Why does he "snub White House"?

He said he rejected the offer because he believed current US policies could not help promote democracy in Iran.

In a speech last week in Washington DC, he also criticised US policy in Iraq, saying: "You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it".

He added that the war in Iraq had helped Islamic fundamentalism and hampered the democracy movement in the region.
[...]
Mr Ganji said he believed such meetings [of Iranian dissidents with State Department officials] would undermine the credibility of the Iranian opposition.

[A. Pole]

That country [Iraq] seems to be progressing, and the Iraqis obviously supported a more representative government

Any occupying power can organize a poll. Such voting does not signify any progress toward democracy as it is superficial and based on foreign effort.

Actually it was even less than a poll, it was more like an ethnic/religious census.

[humint]

Mr Ganji said he believed such meetings [of Iranian dissidents with State Department officials] would undermine the credibility of the Iranian opposition.

credibility: the quality of being believable or trustworthy

Ganji wasn't the only opponent of the Iranian regime to miss this meeting but let's focus on credibility for a moment. Growing up in a poor district of southern Tehran, Ganji was initially enthused by the 1979 Revolution. He became a member of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and worked at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. There's more history than this to shake Ganji's credibility. As the focus of reprisals from this regime, he is not automatically credible. Missing this opportunity to discuss the future with American officials actually reduces his credibility.

Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps

[A. Pole]

Growing up in a poor district of southern Tehran, Ganji was initially enthused by the 1979 Revolution. He became a member of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and worked at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. There's more history than this to shake Ganji's credibility. [...] Missing this opportunity to discuss the future with American officials actually reduces his credibility.

Hmm, I think that he meant credibility among Iranian people. Looks like will be more credible in Iran than Chalabi ever was in Iraq.

[Fred Nerks]

However, Mr Ganji added that if Iranian opposition were united and they had a recognised leadership, they could negotiate with US officials to find the best ways of helping promote democracy and human rights in Iran.

----

Make me your leader...

[humint]

Hmm, I think that he meant credibility among Iranian people. Looks like will be more credible in Iran than Chalabi ever was in Iraq.

I know he meant credibility among the Iranian people and so do I. When the fascists fall, if Ganji happens to be left standing, the Iranian people are going to be asking why he didn't work with the brave men and women of the United States of America. When, in heinsight of course, it is so obvious they changed their foreign policy to favor democrats in the ME. Ganji did the people of Iran a disservice by blowing a unique opportunity. In any case, the fact that Chalabi was a liar and a thief has no relevance here. It's a fool’s game to hold all dissidents to Chalabi’s low behavioral standard. Each individual and organization has a unique set of skills that can either facilitate popular sovereignty or destroy it. Americans have thrown their weight behind change and their credibility has been earned on the battlefield, in parliaments all over the world and in new classrooms that spread truth. The fact that Ganji doesn’t understand history in the making or his place in it today relegates him to a forgettable footnote, nothing more.

[A. Pole]

I know he meant credibility among the Iranian people and so do I. When the fascists fall, if Ganji happens to be left standing, the Iranian people are going to be asking why he didn't work with the brave men and women of the United States of America.

Really? His prison internship in Iran will count for much more than his contacts with the former US administration. Former because in couple years someone else will be in White House. About bravery, he seems to have enough of his own.

Referring to the previous post:

Ganji was initially enthused by the 1979 Revolution. He became a member of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and worked at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. There's more history than this to shake Ganji's credibility.

This that he "was initially enthused by the 1979 Revolution" is nothing unusual. At first the Revolution had the overwhelming support and the fact that he was "enthused" as other Iranians were, will make him more credible, not less.

The fact that Ganji doesn’t understand history in the making or his place in it today relegates him to a forgettable footnote, nothing more.

We will see.

[humint]

Really? His prison internship in Iran will count for much more than his contacts with the former US administration. Former because in couple years someone else will be in White House. About bravery, he seems to have enough of his own.

To your first point, 6 years served for a political crimes in Iran is not particularly uncommon. Would an Iranian subjected to torture have more credibility in your view? Should we elevate anyone executed for standing up against the regime only because they were executed? You cannot dissociate aspects of a man’s life, assign points to them and say “this” will count more than “that”. To your second point, presidents come and go, that’s how democracy works and why it’s successful. If Ganjji missed this session because he believed popular sovereignty is too ephemeral as you do then he missed the point of his own writings. And finally, bravery is running toward a fire to put it out, not running from it… If American foreign policy is so counter productive to the democracy movement Ganjji is ready to lead, then he should step into it with both feet. The fact that he didn’t… IMO, 6 years in prison doesn’t make up for his cowardice on that day.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

A lot of iraqis voted simply because their clerics told them to--and also for whom to vote, but they did face a big risk in standing in line to vote, and their voting does point to at least some of them are more supportive of a representative government.