Obama and his summer of love for the mullahs in Iran

President Obama can change tack, and he should, but for now he has mired foreign policy in an unsustainable one-way deal with Iran that he owns entirely

One year after President Obama struck his nuclear deal with Iran without congressional approval, it has become clear that it was sold with a slew of falsehoods.
The misrepresentations to Congress were multitudinous. Secretary of State John Kerry promised that the ayatollahs would be prohibited from testing ballistic missiles. But when Iran did test such missiles, the administration acquiesced, choosing to harrumph about it being 'inconsistent' with the agreement rather than declaring it a 'violation' that undid the deal.
Obama promised that the International Atomic Energy Agency would be allowed to complete its investigation into Iran's past nuclear work, so it would be possible to verify the deal by knowing the true baseline of Tehran's nuke development. But IAEA inspectors have not been given necessary access, and as of this week remain unable to explain or account for evidence strongly suggesting secret nuclear development activities.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was among those who promised that Washington would keep up pressure on Iran's economy. This hasn't happened either. Lew testified last summer that Iran 'will continue to be denied access' to the U.S. market, and that sanctions against Iranian dollar access and Americans importing and exporting into Iran would remain in place.
But the administration has bent over backwards to allow deals through, including the purchase of Iranian heavy water and a big deal with Boeing now under discussion on Capitol Hill.
Worse yet, the administration has used the Iran deal as an excuse to weaken American laws aimed at punishing the mullahs for their continued sponsorship of terrorism. This too contradicts promises now a year old.
Treasury Undersecretary Adam Szubin testified last summer that the nuclear deal 'in no way limits' Congress' ability to pass such laws. In December, Obama signed such a law related to travel to countries that sponsor terrorism. But as soon as Iran declared this a violation of the deal, Obama responded by waiving the law's provisions with respect to Iran, which the law itself explicitly forbids.
There were other lies used to dupe Congress. The list above is not intended as an exhaustive indictment, just a sampler menu.
The deal, as it has turned out — it seems to bind only Obama and his administration rather than the Iranians — probably could not have survived the weak stamp of supermajority disapproval that Congress was allowed.
And it did violence to the Constitution, for it was a treaty in all but name, and treaties require ratification in the Senate, which this one did not have. But after decades during which one presidency after another has arrogated power to the executive and upset the fine balance put in place by the Founding Fathers, one cannot be surprised by Obama's unilateralism and selective enforcement of laws and deals.
Congress has allowed its rights, privileges and duties to be usurped, and it and the rest of the country are now paying the price.
But that does not mean it must sit pathetically and wring its hands. It should put some substance back into this deal that makes it less damaging. There are many pieces of legislation already drafted to try to make the Iran deal resemble what Obama promised. For example, one would stop the Boeing deal, or at least prevent the Export-Import Bank financing it.
Naturally, the administration, with Iranian and legacy interests closest to its heart, is resisting legislative efforts to haul the deal back into alignment with Obama's promises. His resistance indictates to the tyrants that they need not moderate their behavior, and suggests that he never intended to keep his promises. There was just so much snakeoil to ease the deal's passage up and over Capitol Hill.
Obama can change track, and he should, but for now he has mired foreign policy in an unsustainable one-way deal that he owns entirely. It was negotiated with great deference to the Iranian regime and without appropriate majority support of the public's elected representatives.
His successor will be forced to clean up this mess. One hopes it will not be a radioactive blast zone.

Gingrich: Prince Turki al-Faisal appearance in the meeting of NCRI in Paris is 'like an earthquake

 Saudis on the side of the Free Iranians is a real step towards overthrowing the Iranian Mullahs

Iran has 'gone from bad to worse' under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tells News max TV that he would advise any Republican president to tear up the nuclear agreement with Tehran on 'the first day' in the White House.
'I'd advise tearing it up the first day — and I'd advise establishing a policy to actively work covertly to overthrow the dictatorship,' Gingrich, 73, who was vetted last week as a possible vice presidential choice of Donald Trump, told 'Newsmax Prime' host J.D. Hayworth in an exclusive interview from Paris.
'We will never be safe in the Middle East as long as the Iranian dictatorship is in power.'
Gingrich, who was speaker from 1995 to 1999, was in Paris over the weekend for a meeting sponsored by the National Council for Resistance in Iran, which brought together dissidents, activists living in exile from Iran and other supporters from around the world.
'I've been involved since all the way back when I was in Congress, because I felt strongly that the Free Iran movement was being discriminated against by the U.S. State Department to appease the dictatorship in Tehran,' he told Hayworth.
Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, a member of the royal family who has long slammed the Obama administration's policies in the Middle East, told about 100,000 delegates to the meeting that the Iranian government should be overthrown.

 

Gingrich described his appearance to Hayworth as 'like an earthquake.'
'To have the Saudis on the side of the Free Iranians is a real signal of how much the Saudis are afraid of the dictatorship and is a real step towards overthrowing the dictatorship,' he said. 'So, it’s an exciting day to be here.'

Family of U.S. War Reporter Slain in Syria, Sues the Bashar Al-Assad regime

American journalist Marie Colvin, who died in Syria in 2012

BEIRUT - The family of American journalist Marie Colvin, who died in Syria in 2012, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in a U.S. court, accusing the Syrian government of deliberately killing her.
Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs in 2012 while reporting on the Syrian conflict, now in its sixth year.
The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad targeted and killed US reporter Marie Colvin in February 2012 to stop her from covering government atrocities, according to a lawsuit filed in US court.
The Syrian military intercepted Colvin's communications and unleashed a barrage of rocket fire on her position in the besieged city of Homs, according to documents filed in US district court in Washington.
Colvin, then reporting for the London Sunday Times, was killed with French photographer Remi Ochlik. British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian media defender Wael al-Omar were wounded in the same attack.
The lawsuit, filed in Washington on Saturday and seen by Reuters, said Syrian officials deliberately targeted rockets against a makeshift broadcast studio where Colvin and other reporters were living and working.
The suit alleged the attack was part of a plan orchestrated at the highest levels of the Syrian government to silence local and international media 'as part of its effort to crush political opposition'.
The lawsuit included as evidence a copy of an August 2011 fax which it alleges was sent from Syria's National Security Bureau instructing security bodies to launch military and intelligence campaigns against 'those who tarnish the image of Syria in foreign media and international organisations'.
Advocacy group Reporters With out Borders said it supported the lawsuit.
The group's secretary-general, Christophe Deloire, said the group 'hopes these efforts will help to expose the truth, namely that these journalists were deliberately targeted and killed because they were providing information about the Syrian army's crimes against civilians.'
A murder and attempted murder investigation was launched in France in 2012 into the death of Ochlik and wounding of another journalist, Edith Bouvier, in the same attack.
Reporters Without Borders, as an interested party in the case, said it will submit the Colvin family's U.S. lawsuit to the judge in charge of the French investigation on Monday.

Maryam Rajavi: Tehran backs Syria to hide failure

Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

The head of the French-based Iranian opposition movement  said Saturday that Tehran is concealing its “failure” by supporting “massacres” committed by the Syrian regime during an indoor rally in Paris.
Maryam Rajavi , President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ), an opposition group in exile, also said “those resisting Wilayat al-Faqih regime are increasing and spreading their influence.”

Prince Turki Faisal: Mrs. Rajavi, your struggle and the struggle of Masoud Rajavi will become a myth like Ferdosi

Prince Turki Faisal of Saudi Arabia

Prince Turki Faisal of Saudi Arabia took part in the Grand Iranian Gathering in Paris on July 9th. Prince Faisal started his speech to the Gathering by pointing out to Khomeini, as the great thief of the anti-monarchy revolution and said: the Iranian people’s revolution toppled the regime of Shah, but Khomeini came along and grabbed the power and became the ruler and created a system that contradicted the goals and aspirations of the revolution of the Iranian people.
Prince Turki Faisal said addressing the gathering that your organization has this privilege to be on the forefront of the resistance against the mullahs.
The former Saudi envoy to the UK and the US added that Khomeini tried to expand his fundamentalist and extremist ideas and values to the region by creating the Velayat Faghih, or the supremacy of the clergy.




Pointing out to the importance of resistance and struggle against Khomeini, Prince Faisal added: those who were in the forefront of the struggle against the regime and persevered were commendable.
Prince Faisal ended his speech by addressing the Iranian Resistance President, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi and said: You, Mrs. Rajavi. You and your husband Mr. Masoud Rajavi, your struggle and fight with the cancerous tumor of Khomeini will last forever and will become the great myth in the Iranian history and for the future generations.

Maryam Rajavi wins hearts and minds of Iranian diaspora

 
On Saturday, July 9th, the world will witness the largest annual gathering of Iranian exiles in Le Bourget, Paris, with Maryam Rajavi as the keynote speaker.
More than one 100,000 Iranians as well as hundreds of politicians and personalities from five continents will converge in Le Bourget to declare their support for Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance and their struggle to overthrow the regime ruling Iran and establish freedom and democracy in their country. But who is Maryam Rajavi?
Maryam Rajavi, a devout Muslim woman, has led the opposition to Tehran's fundamentalist regime for the past three decades. Maryam Rajavi espouses a tolerant and democratic interpretation of Islam and calls for unity of all democratic forces to confront terrorism and extremism emanating from the clerical regime in Iran, as the most dangerous threat of our time to global peace and security. 
Maryam Rajavi's ten-point plan offers a democratic alternative to the ongoing savagery of the ruling regime in Iran.
Maryam Rajavi calls for abolition of the death penalty, separation of the church and State, and equal participation of women in political leadership. Maryam Rajavi also calls for a non-nuclear Iran that lives in peaceful coexistence with its neighbors.
Maryam Rajavi believes that women's equality is essential to democratic progress in today's world, in any country and in any organization. So, it was all the more essential to the struggle against the misogynous fundamentalist extremists ruling Iran.
One of the major achievements of Maryam Rajavi has been the involvement of the Resistance's women in the most crucial positions of responsibility in the movement. The idea of women's equal participation in political leadership, economic and management roles, has been realized in Maryam Rajavi's movement. This is especially important because this phenomenon is not limited to a few talented and intelligent women, but embraces a generation of women with diverse backgrounds.
Maryam Rajavi's achievement was made possible by rejection of all forms of discrimination against women in her movement and providing a just and equal opportunity for everyone, proving the fact that any human being can exercise her/his talents and intelligence once given an equal opportunity for education and occupation.
Maryam Rajavi is recognized for her strength, resolve and leadership qualities. Maryam Rajavi is admired for her tireless leadership and struggle against the ruthless mullahs of Iran. Maryam Rajavi has demonstrated amazing strength in the face of numerous difficulties facing her movement.
Maryam Rajavi's motto is “We can and we must.” Maryam Rajavi believes that by being realistic, devoting enough energy and time to any task, human beings can decide their own fate and break through any impasse. That is how Maryam Rajavi has succeeded in leading her movement through a tortuous path over the years, towards imminent victory.
Iranians believe that with Maryam Rajavi vowing for regime change in Iran, they would enjoy their inalienable, equal human rights in a free Iran.

Don't Ignore Iran

Public hanging is a rutine scene in the mullahs ruled Iran

Forbs, July 6, 2016 - In Iran, punishment for breaking the law is brutal. In May, 30 college students were sentenced to 99 lashes for having a co-ed party—but consider them lucky.
Over the past three years alone the Iranian regime has carried out over 2,400 executions, more than at any period since the revolution. This startling rate of executions was enough to give the country the title of top executioner per capita in the world. And Iran’s current and supposedly “reformist” President Hassan Rouhani , described these executions publicly in 2014 as “God’s commandments” and “laws of the parliament that belongs to the people.”
Yet this rate of executions, which disproportionately targets opposition figures and ethnic minorities, and the barbaric punishments inflicted on its own citizens, which also includes forced amputations, has elicited little more than a shrug from the West. Especially in Washington D.C. there has only been lip service and no action. This type of “concern” over “action” approach is good for short-term political gains, but the people of Iran, the Middle East and those across the globe will continue to pay a high price in real terms.


We can’t ignore Iran


Our history books are littered with examples. The decision to not get involved in Rwanda enabled genocide, the decision to not act decisively on North Korea left a growing nuclear threat and the decision to ignore Syria helped the Assad regime on one end and extremist groups on the other, including ISIS. We must not ignore Iran.
The Iranian regime’s ideology, combined with their continued push towards nuclear weapons [via public ballistic missile tests], their unabated sewing of turmoil and sponsorship of terrorism in the region, along with their domestic abuses make them a particularly worrying case vis-à-vis inaction.


So what’s next?


We can certainly agree what Iran should not be and that is another Iraq war. A simply militaristic approach with a top-down aim of imposing democracy from the outside, combined with a long military occupation is a very bad idea. Luckily, there are many avenues of involvement, all of which involve empowering the Iranian people themselves to embrace a democratic system we already know they support.


An alternative to Iran’s current theocracy


The National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ) is the largest organized opposition to Iran’s current theocracy. They are led by Maryam Rajavi who espouses the idea of a free and democratic Iran that fosters separation of church and state, a moderate and progressive Islam, friendly ties with neighbors and the international community, and an embrace of international norms including abolition of capital punishment. The NCRI had advocated for real-world solutions in order for the international community to help the Iranian people achieve this goal, solutions that include heightened economic sanctions on the theocratic leaders and those responsible for human rights abuses in Iran, a recognition of Iran’s human rights record and violent foreign policy, along with approaches vis-à-vis the nuclear program that are more well adapted to an Iran that has time and again deceived the international community.
The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI or MeK), the principal Iranian resistance movement, is at the core of the NCRI. Actually it was PMOI activists who exposed the Iranian regime’s clandestine nuclear sites, alarming the world about the threat of Iran’s secret program to acquire nuclear weapons.


Let the Iranian voice for democracy be heard


On July 9 the Iranians will hold an important international event aimed at making Iranian voice for democracy heard. The event, entitled “Free Iran” will be attended by hundreds of international dignitaries, including a stellar bipartisan list of American dignitaries, a unique phenomenon given the polarized election season in the U.S. As the U.S. is moving towards choosing a new president, having the right policy on Iran will be a daunting challenge for whoever will be at the Oval Office this time next year.
It is up to us in the West to fight for the rights of those who do not have a voice around the globe and perhaps nowhere is that more important and with more of a potential positive effect than Iran.
To not speak up and defend moderate Islam against extremism would be letting evil triumph.



Guest post written by Sir David Amess
Mr. Amess is Conservative MP for Southend West in the House of Commons and co-chair of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom.