Neoconservative pundits like Michael Goldfarb and Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic have launched a ‘dual loyalty’ smear campaign against Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). The charge is flat out absurb. NIAC was a consistently excellent source of information and opposition research and support during the recent uprising in Iran. I linked many blog posts from NIAC during the uprising.
Why, then, is he being attacked as a stooge for the Iranian regime? The answer is simple: while Parsi has harshly criticized the regime’s actions, he has joined Iran’s leading opposition figures in opposing the use of sanctions or military force against Iran, on the grounds that they would be likely simply to kill innocent Iranian civilians while strengthening the regime’s hold on power.
For the Iran hawks, this is a mortal sin. They will settle for nothing less than an Iranian Ahmed Chalabi — someone willing to tell them precisely what they want to hear, to claim that the Iranian people want to be bombed.
