The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
Iran seizes and jails another American
Carol Morello
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"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
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Hey, Look — Boots on the Ground in Syria
"I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria." —Barack nObama, Sept. 10, 2013
Well, it seems nObama has crossed his own red line. "The White House has approved the deployment of small teams of U.S. special-operations forces to locations in northeastern Syria," The Wall Street Journal reports, "expanding America's direct role on the ground in support of local fighters as they prepare for a new military campaign against Islamic State militants in their stronghold in Raqqa, officials said. The new deployment would amount to the first sustained U.S. ground presence in Syria."
But don't worry; nObama spokesman Josh Earnest insists, "These forces do not have a combat mission." Would that be similar to the "not combat mission" that cost Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler his life?
Just in the last month, nObama has announced that he will keep more troops in Afghanistan, send troops to Iraq and establish a small presence in Syria. It's hard to mistake the signs: Even he realizes his stubborn refusal to lead in the region has left nothing but chaos. Perhaps he also realized that leaving the job of Middle East stability to Russian President Vladimir Putin is a bad idea in need of hitting a reset button. And then there's the political calculation of wanting to pass the reins to Hilly Clinton, who is responsible for at least some of the disaster in the Middle East. nObama recently explained, "Part of what we have to do here ... is to try different things." It sure seems like he's just throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping some of it sticks. The trouble is, he's putting American lives on the line for missions he clearly doesn't believe in.
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Publisher's Note: Tailwinds to a Tennessee Statesman
Fred Thompson was a self-made man, born of modest means, who excelled in his career as a lawyer, a character actor and a reluctant politician. He died this weekend at age 73. He was a Patriot and a man of integrity, who gained the early respect of his peers both as minority counsel during the Senate Watergate investigation and his relentless pursuit of a corrupt Democratic Tennessee Governor, Ray Blanton. I first met Fred in 1993 when he was campaigning for the Senate seat vacated by Albert Gore after Bill Clinton's election. I had the opportunity to write some white papers for Fred's campaign on Second Amendment rights and other conservative topics. A statement from his family noted, "Fred stood on principle and common sense, and had a deep love for and connection with the people across Tennessee whom he had the privilege to serve in the United States Senate. ... Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of Lawrenceburg, his home." Indeed he was. Fred was an inspirational supporter of The Patriot Post when we launched in 1996, and he offered this endorsement: "The Patriot Post's message provides a critical touchstone for those inside the Beltway who have forgotten whom they serve." Fred did not intend to serve more than one or two terms, but it was the death of his daughter Betsy in 2002 that really took the wind out of his political sails. In a personal note in 2003, Fred wrote, "Thanks to The Patriot Post for your considerable efforts to hold back the 'Clintonistas' while I was in the Senate." As a lawyer, statesman, actor and fellow Tennessean, he will be missed. -The Patriot Post
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Newspaper Assumed Woman Used Gun to Maim and Kill
An Oklahoma woman could be charged with four counts of second-degree murder for allegedly ramming her car into a crowd of people at the homecoming parade at Oklahoma State University. But a newspaper in another state mistakenly pinned the incident of mass death and injury on the Leftmedia's favorite pariah — guns. "Shooter kills 4; 30 injured," a daily newspaper in Michigan, the Traverse City Record-Eagle,wrote atop a wire story of the incident that ran in its Oct. 25 edition. "Because of a page designer's error," the paper posted on its website that afternoon, "a misleading headline appeared on page 3A in Sunday'sRecord-Eagle accompanying a story about a driver who struck and killed four people at the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade on Saturday." This mistake seems to be in a similar vein to the infamous "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline that the Chicago Tribune ran on the eve of Truman's victory in the 1948 elections. The paper must go out, and someone probably prepositioned a headline before the whole story came in. But the headline was never changed as the edition headed out to the press. It reveals the Leftmedia's assumptions whenever a mass casualty incident occurs. Cars can kill too. -The Patriot Post
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Religious Accommodation, or Political Favoritism?
For the nObama administration, some religious accommodations are, to borrow a phrase, “more equal than others."
In Illinois, a jury awarded two Muslim truck drivers $240,000 in damages and back pay after their claims that being forced to transport alcohol constituted religious discrimination were upheld by U.S. District Court Judge James E. Shadid, a Barack nObama appointee. The Somalian Muslims, Mahad Abass Mohamed and Abdkiarim Hassan Bulshale, worked for the Star Transport trucking company based in Morton, Illinois, and were fired in 2009.
Shadid made his ruling in March, when Star Transport admitted liability. Yet the most telling element of the case was that both men were represented by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which took up the case in 2013. The EEOC asserted Star Transport had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires accommodations for employees’ religious convictions provided those accommodations do not present an "undue hardship.” The EEOC insisted its investigation revealed the trucking company “could have readily avoided assigning these employees to alcohol delivery without any undue hardship, but chose to force the issue despite the employees’ Islamic religion.”
According to UCLA Law professor Eugene Volokh, the court explained the trucking company was able “swap loads between drivers” on several occasions and conceded that it could have accommodated this request as well. Yet the company insisted it shouldn’t be held liable for punitive damages. "This concession was important, and if Star Transport had fought the case, and shown that such a swap would indeed be difficult ... it should have won,” Volokh writes. "But when accommodating an employee just requires a bit of extra administrative hassle ... the federal Civil Rights Act requires the employer to do this.” -The Patriot Post
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Across Africa, nObama Expands Secret Wars, Assassinations
{Alex Newman} ~ While most of the press has focused on nObama's military machinations in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, the administration has also been quietly expanding its secret wars and assassination programs across Africa... From training the militaries of various unsavory regimes and boosting the military capabilities of the so-called African Union, to establishing drone bases to facilitate espionage and extrajudicial killings, the White House is literally treating the continent as a vast battlefield in need of perpetual U.S. “intervention.” And the consequences have been deadly. Additional insight into the White House's shadowy scheming emerged in late October, when The Intercept published a series of stories on nObama's mass-murder programs, based largely on leaked documents, under the title “Drone Papers.” One of the articles zeroed in on a semi-secret drone base in the nation of Djibouti dubbed Chabelley Airfield. Of course, The New American and other publications have been reporting on nObama's African drone machinations in the small African nation since at least 2012. But the new report sheds additional light on what appear to be preparations for lawless war in Africa without end — and without any legal authority or public oversight. http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/africa/item/21872-across-africa-obama-expands-secret-wars-assassinations?utm_content=Rudy%20Tirre&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Read%20on%2E%2E%2E&utm_campaign=Across%20Africa%2C%20Obama%20Expands%20Secret%20Wars%2C%20Assassinationscontent.
STEALTH AGENDA: New UN Tribunal to Judge US for “Climate Debt
{”William F. Jasper} ~ The official draft text of the climate treaty for the soon-to-start UN Climate Summit in Paris proposes to establish a global Supreme Court that would rule on issues such as “climate justice,”... “climate finance,” “technology transfers,” and “climate debt.” Tucked away on page 19 of the 34-page document is the call for establishing an International Tribunal of Climate Justice. The text, which is still heavily bracketed with text that hasn’t been completely resolved and agreed upon. With all the world’s politically correct politicians and all the world’s “progressive” journalistas and Big Media commentariat daily hyperventilating over the ever-growing list of alleged threats and catastrophes caused by global warming, it might be expected that there would be some mention of this planned environmental judicial system for the planet. However, since the text was released on October 20, there has been a virtual blackout in the major media regarding this revolutionary development. The only mentions that one is likely to find with search engines are alarms being sounded by critics — the climate realists who reject the apocalyptic predictions (and discredited pseudo-science — here, here, and here) of the multi-billion-dollar global warming lobby. http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/21868-stealth-agenda-new-un-tribunal-to-judge-us-for-climate-debt?utm_content=Rudy%20Tirre&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=STEALTH%20AGENDA%3A%20New%20UN%20Tribunal%20to%20Judge%20US%20for%20Climate%20Debt&utm_campaign=Across%20Africa%2C%20Obama%20Expands%20Secret%20Wars%2C%20Assassinationscontent.
Benghazi Victim’s Father Speaks Out, SLAMS ‘Scumbag’ Hilly Clinton
{Sela T} ~ The Benghazi attacks have been a circus in the media—but the one story that liberals are forgetting to tell are the ones of the victims’ families... It is curious, to think of how the families of the heroes fallen themselves…have not been given a public voice by liberal media. I can not imagine losing one of my children to a death that could have been prevented and then the leadership of the very country they fought for to throw up smoke screens of lies to cover their own butt..
nObama and Jihadi Jeh Johnson plot to circumvent Judge Hanen’s...
{rickwells.us} ~ As the clock winds down ever-so-slowly on the illegitimate nObama regime’s second term of Congressional-enabled usurpation, the brazenness with which he continues to expand his lawlessness is increasing in direct proportion... He’s already violated American law on multiple occasions and in doing so the will and acts of the legislative branch, most notably through the refusal to enforce existing laws by his chief henchman, Homeland “Security” Secretary “Jihadi Jeh” Johnson. We are now learning that this same rogue outlaw agency is preparing to violate the other co-equal branch of government as well, the judicial, by defying Judge Andrew Hanen’s injunction suspending the illegal nObama amnesty declaration. The Hill reported that a document has surfaced which is an apparent follow-up to a DHS “Regulations Retreat” which took place last summer. In it regime operatives outline various circumventions of Judge Hanen’s amnesty injunction, in varying degrees of severity, which are under consideration. http://rickwells.us/archives/21659.
Deep-Pocketed Donors Behind Campus Anti-Koch Movement
{Lachlan Markay} ~ Liberal foundations financing a nonprofit news venture that is reporting on donations made by the Koch Brothers to colleges are also financing on-campus groups protesting the Kochs’donations... The same foundations have also spent billions backing educational initiatives of their own that frequently promote left-wing policy agendas. Despite that spending, their grantees say that conservative and libertarian philanthropists are uniquely determined to advance their own views on campus at the expense of academic freedom. The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative news venture, on Friday published a story highlighting libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch’s contributions to, and involvement in, programs at a handful of universities that seek to promote free market values and train students for public policy-focused careers. http://freebeacon.com/issues/deep-pocketed-donors-behind-campus-anti-koch-movement/
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Iran Launches Blockade On U.S. Goods
{Adam Kredo} ~ Iran announced over the weekend that it is beginning to implement a blockade of all U.S. goods into the country following an order by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has directed the country’s government to form an “economy of resistance.”... The order comes following a letter sent late last month by Khamenei to President Hassan Rouhani. Khamenei called the United States “hostile and disruptive” and directed leaders to cut off all further negotiations with America. Iran’s trade and industrial ministry announced the blockade on Sunday in a statement carried by the country’s state-controlled media. “We will implement the blockade on imports of American goods in a directive,” Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the ministry’s leader, announced in a statement published by PressTV. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-launches-blockade-on-us-goods/.
Islamic State Gains Ground in Syria
{Daniel Wiser} ~ The Islamic State has continued to make gains in central Syria amid a barrage of Russian airstrikes that have mostly targeted rebel groups elsewhere in the country, according to reports... The terrorist group is reported to haveseized the town of Mahin in central Homs province during the weekend. Mahin is located near a strategic highway that links Homs to the capital Damascus. Islamic State militants also captured large arms depots in Mahin. Additionally, the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) has taken control of some villages in eastern Aleppo province, the scene of intense clashes between rebel groups and Syrian government forces backed by Iranian troops and Russian airstrikes. The advances have allowed the terrorist group to expand from its current stronghold in northern and eastern Syria. Ha! Iran and Russia doing a fine job, http://freebeacon.com/national-security/islamic-state-gains-ground-in-syria/.
Feds spent $43 million on Afghan gas station that...
{Elizabeth Harrington} ~ The Department of Defense (DOD) spent $43 million on a two-pump gas station in Afghanistan that should have cost $500,000, an “ill-conceived” project that Afghans have little use for, according to a new report released Monday... The office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) discovered the Pentagon had no explanation for where the funds went, questioning a DOD program that has spent nearly $800 million in the country since 2009. The Task Force for Stability and Business Operations (TFBSO) program built a compressed natural gas (CNG) automobile filling station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan, with the goal of expanding the natural gas market in the region. In a scathing letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko blasted the project as an egregious waste of taxpayer funding that has had no economic impact. http://freebeacon.com/issues/feds-spent-43-million-on-afghan-gas-station-that-should-have-cost-500000/.
State Banishes Sanctuary Cities
{totalconservative.com} ~ At least we know that there is one state in the nation that believes it might be a good idea to actually make sure our streets are free from illegal immigrants... In North Carolina, they see the damage that illegal immigration is doing to the country. They see the ways that it harms the economy. They see how it is a threat to public safety. And maybe they even see that it is taking a toll on the very foundation of our democracy. There, Governor Pat McCrory has done what our representatives in Congress cannot do. He has signed into law a new bill that will ban any N.C. cities from hiding illegal immigrants from federal agents. The Protect N.C. Workers Act will make it illegal for sanctuary cities to exist in the Tarheel State. “We cannot allow our local officials in towns and cities in North Carolina to make up their own rules that conflict with our nation’s laws and our nation’s values,” the governor said. That seems like the kind of statement that would be a big “duh” but that’s not the world we live in now. We’ve strayed so far from common sense that governors are now forced to sign bills requiring cities and municipalities to, um, actually obey the law. And that should be a pretty good sign that something is very wrong.
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Bill Ayers to Black Lives Matter: Create a fire
{JEROME R. CORSI} ~ Bill Ayers, the former colleague of President nObama who co-founded the domestic terrorist group Weather Underground, acknowledged in a radio interview the revolutionary ideology driving the Black Lives Matter movement... “I have been very energetic in my support of Black Lives Matter,” Ayers told host Eugene Puryear of the online radio show “Liberation Radio,” produced by an activist group called the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The interview with Ayers, a retired professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, took place Friday. In a September interview with the Yale campus paper, Ayers boast of his influence on the 2008 election of nObama and described himself as “a First Amendment fundamentalist that is also a socialist, anarchist and communist.” In the interview Friday, he said Black Lives Matter is “one of the most hopeful signs in the last several decades of folks coming together and building a movement for fundamental change.” At the beginning of the interview, Ayers placed the movement in the context of socialist revolutionary methodology..
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Iran seizes and jails another American
Carol Morello
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Siamak Namazi, a businessman based in Dubai who is in his early 40s, was arrested earlier this month when he was visiting a friend in Tehran, according to a family friend who did not want to be identified. It was not clear whether any charges have been brought against him or what authorities might allege he did.
Siamak Namazi, a businessman based in Dubai who is in his early 40s, was arrested earlier this month when he was visiting a friend in Tehran, according to a family friend who did not want to be identified. It was not clear whether any charges have been brought against him or what authorities might allege he did.
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Namazi, the son of a former governor in the oil-rich Iranian province of Khuzestan, comes from a prominent Iranian family. Namazi's family came to the United States in 1983 when he was a boy, and he later returned to Iran after graduating from college to serve in the Iranian military. He has consulted on business opportunities in Iran for more than a decade.
Namazi, the son of a former governor in the oil-rich Iranian province of Khuzestan, comes from a prominent Iranian family. Namazi's family came to the United States in 1983 when he was a boy, and he later returned to Iran after graduating from college to serve in the Iranian military. He has consulted on business opportunities in Iran for more than a decade.
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A relative of Namazi's said the family had tried to keep the arrest private, and the relative declined to comment. Word of the arrest of an unnamed Iranian American businessman was first reported by Iran Wire on Oct. 15. Namazi was named as the one who was arrested in several tweets by Iranian Americans earlier this month.
A relative of Namazi's said the family had tried to keep the arrest private, and the relative declined to comment. Word of the arrest of an unnamed Iranian American businessman was first reported by Iran Wire on Oct. 15. Namazi was named as the one who was arrested in several tweets by Iranian Americans earlier this month.
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The State Department has repeatedly pressed Iran to release three other imprisoned Americans: Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who has been held for more than a year, was recently convicted after an espionage trial; former Marine Amir Hekmati of Flint, Mich., who was accused of being a spy when he went to Iran to visit his grandmother, has been held since 2011; and Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Boise, Idaho, was convicted in 2013 of threatening Iran's national security by participating in home churches. Rezaian, Hekmati and Abedini have all strongly denied the allegations against them.
The State Department has repeatedly pressed Iran to release three other imprisoned Americans: Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who has been held for more than a year, was recently convicted after an espionage trial; former Marine Amir Hekmati of Flint, Mich., who was accused of being a spy when he went to Iran to visit his grandmother, has been held since 2011; and Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Boise, Idaho, was convicted in 2013 of threatening Iran's national security by participating in home churches. Rezaian, Hekmati and Abedini have all strongly denied the allegations against them.
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When asked about Namazi, the State Department declined to confirm his arrest.
When asked about Namazi, the State Department declined to confirm his arrest.
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"We're aware of recent reports of the possible arrest in Iran of a person reported to have U.S. citizenship," said State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner. "We're looking into these reports and don't have anything further to provide at this time."
"We're aware of recent reports of the possible arrest in Iran of a person reported to have U.S. citizenship," said State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner. "We're looking into these reports and don't have anything further to provide at this time."
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Namazi's arrest suggests that hard-liners in Iran may be trying to create another point of tension with the United States and thereby throw a wrench in the Iran nuclear deal. His arrest came days before an agreed-upon date called adoption day, when the Iranian government has committed to begin dismantling some of its nuclear infrastructure.The part of the government controlled by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is reformist-minded and seeks more engagement with the West to help jump-start its economy. But hard-liners who control the judiciary and intelligence services oppose the idea, fearful it will open the country to foreign influence. The Revolutionary Guard, Iraq's most powerful security and military organization, is the entity that would have been responsible for the arrests of the four Iranian Americans.
Namazi's arrest suggests that hard-liners in Iran may be trying to create another point of tension with the United States and thereby throw a wrench in the Iran nuclear deal. His arrest came days before an agreed-upon date called adoption day, when the Iranian government has committed to begin dismantling some of its nuclear infrastructure.The part of the government controlled by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is reformist-minded and seeks more engagement with the West to help jump-start its economy. But hard-liners who control the judiciary and intelligence services oppose the idea, fearful it will open the country to foreign influence. The Revolutionary Guard, Iraq's most powerful security and military organization, is the entity that would have been responsible for the arrests of the four Iranian Americans.
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Iranian Americans such as Namazi are particularly vulnerable to arrest because Iran does not recognize dual nationality.
Iranian Americans such as Namazi are particularly vulnerable to arrest because Iran does not recognize dual nationality.
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Namazi himself has written prolifically about his experiences and conflicted feelings toward the country of his birth. His writings paint the portrait of an idealist who tried to build bridges between the country of his birth and the country where he was raised.
Namazi himself has written prolifically about his experiences and conflicted feelings toward the country of his birth. His writings paint the portrait of an idealist who tried to build bridges between the country of his birth and the country where he was raised.
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He moved to the United States when his father got a job with the United Nations. He earned degrees from the London Business School and from Rutgers and Tufts universities.
He moved to the United States when his father got a job with the United Nations. He earned degrees from the London Business School and from Rutgers and Tufts universities.
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Namazi was still young during the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after 15 years in exile, and his supporters took over the government.
Namazi was still young during the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after 15 years in exile, and his supporters took over the government.
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In journal-like pieces he wrote more than a decade ago for the Iranian, he talked about his decision after graduating from Tufts to return to his birthplace.
In journal-like pieces he wrote more than a decade ago for the Iranian, he talked about his decision after graduating from Tufts to return to his birthplace.
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"Iran had practically become a dream now, an invented product of childhood imagination," he wrote. "Still, this land of my dreams was all I thought about. My passion for return was so great, it hurt. The only thing greater than that pain was the fear that I rarely even allowed myself to think of: What happens if I someday return and find out that everything has changed? Then I will be left dry, without a dream, a hope, a home."
"Iran had practically become a dream now, an invented product of childhood imagination," he wrote. "Still, this land of my dreams was all I thought about. My passion for return was so great, it hurt. The only thing greater than that pain was the fear that I rarely even allowed myself to think of: What happens if I someday return and find out that everything has changed? Then I will be left dry, without a dream, a hope, a home."
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He became a U.S. citizen in 1993. One reason, he later wrote, was to make it easier to get grants and scholarships to pay for his education, and so he could travel without the hassles of an Iranian passport.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1993. One reason, he later wrote, was to make it easier to get grants and scholarships to pay for his education, and so he could travel without the hassles of an Iranian passport.
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A year later, in 1994, he returned to Iran to fulfill his compulsory military duty. He spent 2 1/2 years there, serving as a duty officer in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.
A year later, in 1994, he returned to Iran to fulfill his compulsory military duty. He spent 2 1/2 years there, serving as a duty officer in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.
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He also wrote often that he thought Iranian Americans could be the bridge between the two cultures that often viewed each other as enemies.
He also wrote often that he thought Iranian Americans could be the bridge between the two cultures that often viewed each other as enemies.
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"The new generation must be made to feel that no matter how much time elapses they will be welcomed and treated with respect in the land of their parents," he wrote in 1998.
"The new generation must be made to feel that no matter how much time elapses they will be welcomed and treated with respect in the land of their parents," he wrote in 1998.
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"Iran is our motherland, our home, our innocence, our retreat, our passion, our love. It is our unalienable right to travel to and from Iran freely and without restrictions. If you really want us back to help rebuild the country, if you want our children to maintain a bond to the land of their parents, stop treating us like criminals. Why do we have to explain ourselves to you?"
"Iran is our motherland, our home, our innocence, our retreat, our passion, our love. It is our unalienable right to travel to and from Iran freely and without restrictions. If you really want us back to help rebuild the country, if you want our children to maintain a bond to the land of their parents, stop treating us like criminals. Why do we have to explain ourselves to you?"
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Namazi worked for a time at a family consulting company founded in Tehran and later based in Dubai. According to its Web site, the Atieh Group helped Iranian businesses connect with foreign companies seeking to do business inside Iran. More recently, he worked as the head of strategic planning at the Crescent Petroleum Co. in the United Arab Emirates. It was unclear whether he was employed as a management consultant at the time of his arrest or whether he was working independently.
Namazi worked for a time at a family consulting company founded in Tehran and later based in Dubai. According to its Web site, the Atieh Group helped Iranian businesses connect with foreign companies seeking to do business inside Iran. More recently, he worked as the head of strategic planning at the Crescent Petroleum Co. in the United Arab Emirates. It was unclear whether he was employed as a management consultant at the time of his arrest or whether he was working independently.
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In recent years, Namazi became outspoken about how financial sanctions had made it difficult to obtain lifesaving medicine in Iran, even though they are technically exempted.
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"The West must relax and rationalize the terms of its sanctions regime against Iran to allow more medical goods into the country," he wrote in an opinion-page piece for the New York Times in 2013. "If it doesn't, more Iranian men, women and children will suffer needlessly."
"The West must relax and rationalize the terms of its sanctions regime against Iran to allow more medical goods into the country," he wrote in an opinion-page piece for the New York Times in 2013. "If it doesn't, more Iranian men, women and children will suffer needlessly."
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