along with the usual neocon suspects. I, too, have been following this for some time, as I first noticed the connections when I was following the Niger forgery/Plame scandal, Michael Ledeen, etc. some time ago.
From 2003:
Thanks to the flesh and blood versions of Mattel Toy Company's line of pull-string Chatty Cathy dolls--which utter the same statements over and over and over again--the US seems destined to continue that notorious relationship with Iran. The formulaic logic used to justify the destruction of Iraq has now been set in motion for Iran by Richard Perle, Jim Woolsey, Mike Ledeen, Bill Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld, affectionately known as "neo-cons". And, as another cliché goes, the world is subjected to their "broken record" comments that are repeated ad nauseum each news cycle. What journalist hasn't tired of mentioning them?
Pull the string on any of them, let's say the Chatty Cathy Ledeen version, and this is what one gets: "There is now a clear recognition that we must defend ourselves against them ...
~snip~
Pahlavi also cut a backroom deal by garnering political support and funding from the US Congress for private Iranian-American satellite companies in California and US government sponsored external radio programs such as Radio FARDA, geared to reprogramming Iranians under 30 years of age. He was very careful to mention that there should be "one degree of separation”--no royal hand involved so to speak--and that American taxpayer's funds should be given to foundations that in turn can give the money to the satellite broadcasters. Not surprisingly, Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican from Kansas, introduced an amendment on April 8, 2003, that would provide $50 million (US) to an Iran Democracy Foundation, the purpose of which is to broadcast “democracy" into Iran. According to reports, the language in Brownback's amendment has its origins in the Pentagon and is almost the same as that used in the Iraqi Liberation Act that the US Congress approved in 1998.
http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2003/04/001971print.phpAnd Ledeen has been pushing support of this. Here is what he wrote in May 2003:
One might think that all this would encourage the American government to find ways to support the impending democratic revolution in Iran, and there are many modest steps that would produce great gains for the anti-regime forces. There are several excellent radio and TV stations in California that broadcast directly into Iran. Due to limited resources, they are only on the air for a few hours a day. The Bush administration could accomplish a lot with a small investment in these broadcasters, who have many millions of Iranian listeners and viewers, and whose words carry an authority and an intimacy that no official U.S. broadcaster can hope to match. But so far, the administration has not done anything to support them.
http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen051403.aspAnd here's Ledeen in an interview in December 30, 2003:
FP: Let us suppose that tomorrow you are brought into Bush's inner circle regarding Iraq and the War on Terror. The President asks you what concrete steps he should take next. What do you say?
Ledeen: Support the democratic revolutionaries in Iran and the Iranian-American broadcasters in California. Now, not tomorrow. That is the key to the entire war, in my opinion. There will never be peace in Iraq so long as the mullahs are in power in Tehran, and their favorite Assad reigns in Damascus.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11512Here's an article from June of '03, and we all know that Ledeen has been saying "Faster, faster!" on Iran for some time:
'There is a pact emerging between hawks in the administration, Jewish groups and Iranian supporters of Reza Pahlavi to push for regime change,' says Pooya Dayanim, president of the Iranian-Jewish Public Affairs Committee in Los Angeles and himself a hawk on Iran.
Already, this emerging coalition is reminiscent of the build up to the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan, with Pahlavi possibly assuming the role of Iraqi exile opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi or Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, all favourites of the neo-conservatives.
~snip~
One key Pahlavi supporter is former Reagan administration official Ledeen, now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''Iran is ready to blow sky-high,'' wrote Ledeen as far back as November 2001. ''The Iranian people need only a bright spark of courage from the United States to ignite the flames of democratic revolution.''
Ledeen has joined with Amitay; ex-CIA head James Woolsey; former Reagan administration official Frank Gaffney; former senator Paul Simon and oil consultant Rob Sobhani to set up a group called the Coalition for Democracy in Iran.
http://www.sundayherald.com/34272The Coalition for Democracy was founded in 2002:
The Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI) is one of numerous pressure groups created by neoconservatives that focus on changing U.S. foreign policy. These include the U.S. NATO Committee, Committee for Liberation of Iraq, and U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon. In late 2002 Michael Leeden and Morris Amitay spearheaded the creation of the Coalition for Democracy in Iran. Other members include Frank Gaffney, Jack Kemp, Bruce McColm, Joshua Muravhik, Danielle Pletka, Rob Sobhani, Raymond Tanter, and James Woolsey. (1)
~snip~
Several of the CDI principals were among the main presenters at an AEI forum titled “The Future of Iran.” Setting the tone of the forum, convener Meyrav Wurmser of Hudson Institute said: “Our fight against Iraq was only a battle in a long war. It would be ill-conceived to think we can deal with Iraq alone…We must move on, and faster.”
Morris Amitay, listed on the program as the vice-chair of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, made mention of his association with CDI. Also presenting were Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), whose sponsorship of congressional resolutions against Iran have been closely coordinated with CDI, American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and Middle East experts at AEI and other neocon policy centers; Michael Ledeen, who Amitay called the “godfather of JINSA, and who has served as the necon’s point-man on Iran; and S. Rob Sobhani, an Iranian-American who is president of Caspian Energy Consulting and like others associated with CDI is a close acquaintance of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted Shah of Iran (installed by a U.S.-engineered coup in 1953).
Although CDI calls for greater democracy in Iran, the close association of neocons such as Ledeen and Sobhani with the shah’s son raise concern that this may form part of another U.S. plan to restore the monarchy in Iran. Writing in the International Herald Tribune, Cameron Kamran, an Iranian-American commentator, said: “The Coalition for Democracy in Iran has strong ties to the exiled Reza Pahlavi, the deceased shah’s son, and the Iran Democracy Act would largely fund dissident groups that advocate a restoration of the monarchy.” (3) (4) As it turned out, the initial request for $50 million to fund exile groups was removed from the 2003 congressional resolution, although its cosponsor Christopher Cox noted that funding for dissident groups could be included in future spending bills.
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1457