Open Letter III to Andrew Rosenthal: A More Productive Relationship with Iran As It Is Presently Constituted?

Dear Andrew,

You didn't respond to either of my open letters, which I posted on my blog and also e-mailed to you. This is my third and final open letter to you on the subject of Iran. I will trouble you no longer regarding this issue, but you might want to give the following some thought.

At the end of the Leveretts' most recent New York Times op-ed, "Another Iranian Revolution? Not Likely", it is stated:

Flynt Leverett directs the New America Foundation’s Iran Initiative and is a professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University. Hillary Mann Leverett heads a political risk consultancy. They publish the Web site The Race for Iran.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/opinion/06leverett.html

Absent from this "background material" is the fact that Flynt Leverett is listed as a Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran ("CNAPI") "expert". (http://www.newiranpolicy.org/452/9801.html)

The "campaign mission statement" of CNAPI, inter alia, provides:

"Supporters of CNAPI call upon the governments of both the U.S. and Iran to honor international human rights obligations and abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

http://www.newiranpolicy.org/452/473.html

Do you believe, Andrew, that it is appropriate to draw parallels between the U.S. and Iran regarding the practice of human rights, as seemingly implied by the above "campaign mission statement"?

By the way, do you know what exactly "CNAPI" is? I asked a distinguished former U.S. ambassador, also listed as one of its "experts", this question and received the following response:

"Jeffrey: Thank you for this information. I am not sure what CNAPI is. I will find out. In the meantime I have no recollection of having given them permission to use my name."

Better yet, Andrew, maybe you can tell me who created CNAPI? DiscoverTheNetworks.org states:

"According to [Carah] Ong, CNAPI originally grew out of a November 2007 meeting of liberals and conservatives at the Washington, DC headquarters of Americans for Tax Reform. CNAPI bills itself as 'transpartisan' to reflect the fact that some of its constituent groups and advisors include political conservatives such as the American Conservative Defense Alliance, the Libertarian Party, and the American Cause, which is headed by Patrick Buchanan."

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7436

Why isn't Buchanan listed as one of CNAPI's experts?

But enough about Flynt Leverett. Let's have a look at what his wife has to say. In a recent conversation with the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, Hillary Mann Leverett, who is all of 41-years-old, stated that up until seven or eight years ago, relations with Iran were:

"in the category of 'nice to have' for U.S. foreign policy. Today, rapprochement with Iran is in the 'must-have' category: The United States cannot achieve any of its high-profile objectives in the Middle East without a more productive relationship with the Islamic Republic, as it is constituted rather than as some wish it to be."

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1127839.html

According to Hillary Mann Leverett's logic, the U.S. should simply ignore the fact that Iran hangs homosexuals; oppresses its Baha'i, Kurdish, Sunni, Christian and Jewish minorities; stones to death adulterers; imprisons and murders journalists; stifles political dissent; discriminates against women; provides lifeblood for Hamas and Hezbollah; engages in terror against civilian targets in places as far away as Argentina; and has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map".

By the same logic, perhaps some 65 years ago the U.S. should have sought rapprochement with Nazi Germany.

Hillary Mann Leverett asks for a "more productive relationship with the Islamic Republic as it is constituted"? Do you buy that, Andrew? You have, afterall, provided the Leveretts with space for three op-eds in the past eight months.

I don't buy it. Not for one second. And I think it is shameful that The New York Times does not provide space for a rebuttal. I believe the need for a rebuttal extends beyond journalistic ethics. I think it involves a basic issue of human rights.

Best,
Jeffrey