Now, the moment so many of you have all been waiting for: the première of Clarion Fund/Aish Hatorah’s latest magnum opus in its epic trilogy of Islamophobia. Iranium is coming. It will be premiered (where else) at the Heritage Foundation and introduced by one of the great neocon charlatans, Richard Perle. It will be screened at New York City AMC Theaters. Years in the making and with a cast of neocon thousands (well, OK maybe “tens”) and a seeminly unlimited budget (fronted no doubt by far-right Jewish Republican fatcats like Barre Seid who spent $17-million promoting Obsession), Iranium will scare the wits out of you (well, maybe not you) and send you crawling to your local Congress member demanding that they do something, anything about Iran before it’s too late.
Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton actually watched the entire film before Clarion locked down its Vimeo account and made the file private. Their review is available at Teheran Bureau. If anyone here has access to the full length version, please let me know. I think it’s critical that progressives watch this film, blog about it and so steal the thunder from Clarion and the war party advocating attacking Iran. The more we can tell the world what this film is really about the less people will fall prey to the inevitable propaganda that will pass for objective information about the “Iranian threat.”
I’ve been watching video segments consisting of portions of the film and one sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s video of an interview with an alleged Iranian CIA spy, Reza Khalili (not his real name, nor is anything else about this guy genuine). The name was familiar to me and then I realized why. Yossi Melman profiled him in Haaretz. When I read his piece something about it smelled fishy. This was confirmed when Prof. Muhammad Sahimi also suspected fraud. He wrote about the alleged spy:
Even according to him [Khalili], the last time he was with the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards] – if he was – was in late 1980s, twenty-years ago. Things have changed fundamentally. The IRGC has changed, but so also has the society. What relevance his “experience” has to the current state of affairs? None.
The article is also full of inaccuracies…When he was supposedly with the IRGC, there was no nuclear program to speak of; so what does he know? As much as anyone else based on public information.
…This guy, Khalili is not even smart. If he were, he would try to make his case without invoking Israel and the Nazis. The very fact that he does goes to show that he is associated with lunatics and at best is an opportunist.
On this subject, can you tell me any Iranian besides the Mujahadeen e-Khalq, who publicly advocate bombing Iran and who say if the U.S. doesn’t have the nerve they hope Israel will? Can you tell me any Iranian (other than perhaps monarchists living in Beverly Hills) who ape Bibi’s “it’s 1938 and Teheran is Munich” hysteria? Can you tell me any Iranian who complains that the West had a chance to overthrow the Iranian regime last June “without firing a single bullet” and didn’t do it? Do you know an Iranian who believes that among the last remaining signs of the coming of the Iranian messiah that must occur are the “destruction of Israel and bombing of Persian oil fields and European capitals?”
Does this guy pass the smell test?
One of the few honest statements in Melman’s profile is an acknowledgement that Khalili is associated with “conservative right-wing circles in the U.S.” Among other lies or misstatements in Melman’s profile is the claim that Khalili’s alleged mentor Dr. Ali Shariati, was assassinated by the SAVAK (Iran’s Shah-era secret police). Prof. Sahimi correctly notes that Shariati died of a terminal illness and was not killed by anyone. Either Khalili is making up stories and Melman hasn’t done his research or Melman himself is trying to pass off lies as truth.
Melman’s story also claims that Khalili taught Revolutionary Guard personnel how to use computers. In another passage, Khalili notes that his most active period in the Guard was in the “early 1980s.” I myself took a computer science course at Columbia University in 1980 and computers were in their infancy. Microsoft didn’t even begin as a company until 1980 and Windows wasn’t developed until 1985. I am dubious that Khalili taught anyone anywhere computers in the early 1980s. Another strike against him.
Clarion Fund has also trotted out similar alleged Muslim “turncoats” to people its earlier films, among them the notorious Zuhdi Jasser, the star of Third Jihad. Before that it was Walid Shoebat, the fake PLO terrorist, and Tawfiq Hamid. So it’s a common ploy of these people to latch onto sources of dubious repute and hang the weight of their expose on the expertise they bring and the ‘authenticity’ of their inside knowledge of the subject, whether it be the race for the world Muslim Caliphate or Iranian world ‘domination.
Take a look at a few of Khalili’s bedfellows and you’ll get a sense of how trustworthy he is. Roger Simon of Pajamas Media interviewed him in 2008, claiming the CIA offered an email approving publication of a profile of him (thus giving him the CIA Good Housekeeping seal of approval). Pat Robertson’s CBN also featured him.
Khalili has even written an “exposé” of his “double-life” working for the CIA while a Revolutionary Guard, A Time to Betray. It even looks like he hoodwinked as formidable a journalistic figure as the Washington Post’s David Ignatius into reviewing it (and highly favorably I might add).
I invite my readers to peruse other video footage used in Iranium. If you note any similar howlers to this one please let me know. We’ve got to take this propaganda apart line by line if necessary to drain the toxin from the body politic that the film is liable to build up.
Regardless of who this loony really is, I think it’s wrong to assume that no iranians hope for outside help against their oppressors. Even in the shape of bombs. It’s really only a matter of how bad things are in iran.
Also, it’s hypocritical to deny any possibilty of iranians hoping for international help, while expecting israelies to support BDS.
In not so many years, when israel starts executing gays (like iran), I would pray that someone bomb the living daylights out of the whole goddamn country.
Barbara Slavin is on record addressing this issue, and I have personal experience confirming it:
Slavin has visited Iran frequently. On a trip about ten years ago, many people said to her, “We’d like American help to overthrow the regime.”
On a trip to Iran about 6 years ago, Slavin said “a few” Iranians would like US assistance.
On her last visit (in 2009 I think), Slavin said that NOBODY wants US help or interference in Iran affairs.
Since then, the exponential increase in sanctions on Iran; the US State Dept’s rejection of Turkey-Brazil efforts to negotiate nuclear deal; and increasingly psychotic behavior and rhetoric from Israel toward Iran, have caused Iranians to shift further from US and to cohere more tightly to their own government. Where Ahmadinejad travels in Iran, massive crowds follow. AN is popular in the Arab street.
Israel and US have overplayed their hand; AISH is overplaying its hand.
The best Americans can hope for is no backlash.
That was interesting. Thanks.
Naturally, Ignatius would review it favorably. He’s a neocon, himself. The drums of war continue to beat. The only good sign is, Israel is making such a fool of itself that its, and US’, policies may backfire and cause it to implode on itself before it can attack Iran.
any lawyers out there? Can this be characterized as Hate Speech?
Are boycotts of AMC planned? Protest demonstrations at AMC movie houses?
Yeah. Where is PersianAdvocate on this one? He’s been conspicuously absent of late, and this is right up his alley.
I cannot call myself a Persian Advocate, I am living in the US and more involved with local politics and progressive Democrats, but I still have lots of feelings for Iran, my motherland, and I still have lots of relatives there. I can tell everyone reading this note, I sincerely believe, most of the Iranians do not want any help from outside, they actually think any help from outside would postpone their path to democracy and a free Iran. I can also tell you, as a person who used to live in Iran during Iran-Iraq war, one of the best helps that could give the Islamic Republic and mullahs more power, is another war. I have been against the sanctions for the same reason, they are empowering the regime, as well.
The best anyone can do, is leaving Iranians alone, except in their nuclear program. That program should be monitored by the UN and IAEA.
In addition, you may want to like this page on facebook: http://facebook.com/NotoWarNotoIranium
Exactly. Fear is the best food for oppression.
The US should stop doing Israel’s dirty work and leave Iran alone. People used to worship the US and I am sure people thought that America could do anything.
Now, we have spent the last decade proving just how incompetant we are at nation building and terrorist killing.
Time to GTFO.
“Melman’s story also claims that Khalili taught Revolutionary Guard personnel how to use computers. In another passage, Khalili notes that his most active period in the Guard was in the “early 1980s.” I myself took a computer science course at Columbia University in 1980 and computers were in their infancy. Microsoft didn’t even begin as a company until 1980 and Windows wasn’t developed until 1985. I am dubious that Khalili taught anyone anywhere computers in the early 1980s. Another strike against him.”
You took one computer course, that qualifies you to dismiss his claim? They don’t teach logic at Columbia, do they?
I worked in the computer industry in the 80s. The west developed desktop computing, and people like Khalili did bring them to less developed countires.
The “80s” lasted 10 yrs. There was a huge diff. bet. the industry in 1980 & 1989. Even a huge diff. between 1980 & 1986. So drop the stupid snark & be a little more precise so we can judge accurately yr claims. As for Khalili’s, did whatever school you attended teach you enough about Iranian politics to know that Khalili is the real thing. Or are you just trying to snark yr way through that as well?
Khalili is a fraud. Period. If he isn’t prove it if you can. And cut out the snark. It gets old fast.
Reza Khalili claims to have continuing inside information about Iran, and he makes the most extravagant claims – perhaps the most excessive was in January, when he claimed that Iran was in the process of weaponizing smallpox. Just prior to that, he warned of “170 ballistic missiles aimed at Tel Aviv, many with biological warheads”.
Apparently we’re expected to believe that there’s a continuing and unstoppable leakage of massively significant information out of Iran to an unnamed defector somewhere in Europe, who then passes it on to Khalili, who then publishes it in WorldNetDaily.