Babak Namdar

It seems the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has finally conceded that America was and in fact continues to support the “reformist” faction against the “hardliners.”

During an interview with CNN the Secretary of State said:

“So, we were doing a lot to really empower the protesters without getting in the way. And we’re continuing to speak out and support the opposition.”

Note, what Clinton means by opposition, is Mousavi, who in turn is part of the “reformist” faction of the Islamic Republic.  “Reformists” and the Iranian opposition are not the same.  We do not believe in reforms from within, and we also don’t believe in doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results either.

Her comments strongly “support” that the State Department in fact financed Mousavi’s campaign and used it’s propaganda arm, Voice America, to mold Mousavi into “the opposition.” Voice of America even dis-invited guests and cancelled programs where the guests or hosts did not belong to the “reformist” camp – so much for being “impartial”.

I probably shouldn’t surprised by State’s policies, after all they can’t even distinguish between a democracy and a theocracy; let alone be able to determine the difference between regime-factions and genuine opposition to the Islamic Republic.

One would think that at a time when the Islamic Republic’s more fanatical faction is seeking to prove that foreign entities are supporting their “reformists” bretheren, that those providing the support would keep quiet about it – but not the State Department. Mousavi is probably somewhere, other then trying to avoid being presecution for treachery, cursing at the State Department.

Her comments about “continuing to speak out” would be much more accurate if it read “continuing to speak out against speaking out”.

The fact that the Voice of Islamic Republic, er - sorry - Voice of America has been censoring Iranian opposition figures is not exactly news.

I remember when I was on their show as an IT expert they wouldn’t even introduce me as ‘Babak Namdar from Marze Por Gohar’ citing that the show was about technology and not politics.  If you are scratching your head wondering what that has to do with me being a member of MPG you are not alone.  The discussion of filtering software to prevent open communication is very a political matter.

Even the screenshots they had requested, which I stayed up late to furnish were not used - why?  Because I had watermarked MPG’s logo on them.

Ken Timmerman from Foundation for Democracy in Iran has written a great piece about VOA and censorship, and to what extent VOA is going to ensure MPG’s activities do not get mentioned and if they do that they strip the name MPG from it.

Here’s a excerpt:

Voice of America purposefully omited the name of the opposition Marzeporgohar party in its TV and radio reporting, or on its website. ” Iran’s official news agency says two photographers detained earlier this month have been accused of new links with an unnamed movement seeking the overthrow of the Iranian regime,” VOA reported. In fact, the official IRNA dispatch, quoted here, specifically mentioned Marzeporgohar (MPG)

Read the full story here