Wall Street Journal Reporter Responds to Hoffman’s charges

In yesterday’s On the Contrary column we took the Wall Street Journal to task for omitting important contextual facts in  the newspaper’s reporting on the “opposition movement” in Iran ("Iran opponents said to be jailed," Wall Street Journal, March 1).

The reporter who wrote the "Wall Street Journal" article has responded. Our rejoinder follows the reporter’s reply.

On Mar 1, 2011, at 6:59, Fassihi, Farnaz wrote:

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your note. The points that you refer to as being omitted are not facts, they are theories mostly put forth by Iran's government in defense of its crackdowns on the opposition. The reason we don't elaborate on Iran's charges that opposition are agents of U.S. and Israel is because Iran has given no evidence for us to elaborate. It has not presented or proved these charges in court or trial or made public any evidence to back these claims.

We diligently report our stories and try to stay away from conspiracy theories and repeating rhetoric.

Regards,
Farnaz

On Mar 2, 2011, Michael Hoffman wrote:

Dear Farnaz Fassihi

Is it a "conspiracy theory" that Iranian scientist Majid Shahriari was killed by a bomb and a second scientist, Fereydoon Abbasi, was seriously injured in Tehran on Nov. 29 and that Dr. Abbasi's wife was also killed in the bombing?

Is it a "conspiracy theory" that Seymour Hersh reported in "The New Yorker":

"Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership...The Finding was focussed on...trying to undermine the government through regime change...in Iran, C.I.A. agents and regional assets have the language skills and the local knowledge to make contacts for the JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) operatives, and have been working with them to direct personnel, matériel, and money into Iran from an obscure base in western Afghanistan. As a result, Congress has been given only a partial view of how the money it authorized may be used. One of JSOC’s task-force missions (is) the pursuit of 'high-value targets'..." (--"The Bush Administration Steps Up Its Secret Moves Against Iran," The New Yorker, July 7, 2008).

Is it “Iran’s government” that put this forth, or Seymour Hersh?

Is it a "conspiracy theory" that the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, known in the West as the M.E.K. has been on the State Department’s terrorist list for more than a decade, yet in recent years the group has received arms and intelligence, directly or indirectly, from the United States government?

Is it a "conspiracy theory" that the Israelis are on record seeking the overthrow of the Iranian government?

Is it a "conspiracy theory" that "The Telegraph" newspaper reported:

"Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct military strikes against Tehran's nuclear program...The most dramatic element of the 'decapitation' program is the planned assassination of top figures involved in Iran's atomic operations...Reva Bhalla, a senior analyst with Stratfor, the US private intelligence company with strong government security connections, said the strategy was to take out key people....'Without military strikes, there is still considerable scope for disrupting and damaging the Iranian program and this has been done with some success,' said Yossi Melman, a prominent Israeli journalist who covers security and intelligence issues for the Haaretz newspaper." ("Israel launches covert war against Iran," The Telegraph [UK], Feb. 16, 2009).

Is it “Iran’s government” that put this forth, or “Haaretz" newspaper and "The Telegraph" newspaper?

By pretending that the U.S. and Israel have no programs in place to overthrow the government of Iran, you give the false impression that Iran is secure from foreign subversion and terror and that the controversy over the opposition movement is an internal matter.

You are reporting the Iranian opposition movement in a vacuum. You serve the neocon agenda, not the truth.

Shame on you!

Sincerely,
Michael Hoffman

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