[Peace-discuss] The U.S. and Iran Are Talking. Why Is the New York Times Peddling Iran Islamophobia?

[Robert Naiman]

At long last, the United States and Iran are engaged in serious talks
about Iran's nuclear program. But instead of celebrating the fact that
President Obama is keeping his promise to the people who voted for him
to pursue diplomatic engagement with Iran, the New York Times has
suggested to its readers that Iran's Supreme Leader is uniquely and
intrinsically untrustworthy when he says that Iran will never pursue a
nuclear weapon. Why? Because, according to the Times, Iran's leaders
are Shiites, and Shiites have a religious doctrine called "taqiyya,"
which allows them to lie.

No scholar or analyst was cited by the New York Times in support of
this argument, which should have been a red flag for Times editors for
an argument claiming that the leadership of a country against which
the United States has threatened war is essentially different from us
because they belong to a different religion.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/the-us-and-iran-are-talki_b_1438080.html

[We have an associated alert, asking people to urge the New York Times
Public Editor to investigate; that alert is here:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/nyt-iranophobia]

--
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org