The National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a group run by
Trita Parsi that has argued for more engagement with Iran and
against sanctions, has gained increasing influence during the
Obama administration. But a
groundbreaking report in the Washington Times by Eli
Lake based on internal documents, has provided evidence that NIAC
may be violating the law by working as a lobbying organization
for a foreign government without registering as such.
Another interesting disclosure in the story:
The organization has between 2,500 and 3,000 members, according
to Mr. Parsi, but had fewer than 500 responses to a membership
survey conducted last summer, internal documents show. Yet NIAC
asserts that it is the largest such group and represents the
majority of the nearly 1 million Iranian Americans.
During the elections and the turmoil that followed, Parsi was a
leading proponent of the idea that if President Obama were to
make a statement in solidarity with the protesters, that it would
enable the regime to brand them as tools of America and thus
undermine the cause of freedom. And the media, which were
inclined to support Obama's approach, frequently trotted out
Parsi as a spokesman for Iranian Americans.
Back in June, I profiled
Amir Fakhravar, an Iranian dissident exiled to the U.S., who
disagreed strongly with the Parsi view, and thought that Obama
should be clearly articulating support for the protesters. Yet
voices like Fakhravar's were drowned out by the mainstream media.
