The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

At an AEI speech, Senator Brownback called for a dramatic increase in monetary aid to pro democracy Iranian groups. UPI reports:

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., called for U.S. aid to be increased from $10 million to $100 million this year.

“This is a pittance compared to the problem,” said Brownback, “This Iranian government, even without nuclear weapons, is a viscous tyrant.”

Lorne Craner, president of the International Republican Institute, told United Press International getting money into Iran would require the assistance of the Iranian expatriates the world over.

I agree that we need to fund Iranian groups that support democracy. However, the implementation of these sorts of plans is where things get tricky.

As for Brownback, we’ve seen it all before. Remember the name Ahmed Chalabi? The Iraqi expatriate who was a central figure in the WMD lies and turned out to be spying for Iran used to be a frequent visitor to Senator Brownback:

Brownback repeatedly had the Iraqi exile testify before his subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. And Brownback continually pressured President Bill Clinton and President Bush to give money to Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress. “Chalabi played Washington like it was an orchestra, and Sam Brownback was one of the violins,” says Erik Gustafson, Army veteran of the first Gulf War and executive director of the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC). The nonprofit group, founded in 1998 to work for human rights and democracy in Iraq, questioned the rush to war.

“It was clear Sen. Brownback was one of the prime senatorial offices that Ahmad Chalabi and those that supported Chalabi relied on,” Gustafson says….

On October 31, 1998, President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act. Brownback had co-sponsored the bill, which tallied the sins of Iraq: its war with Iran, the chemical-weapons slaughter of Kurds, the invasion of Kuwait. It committed the United States to spending $97 million to push for regime change in Iraq, including $3 million for Chalabi’s INC.

Sounds eerily familiar… Again, I applaud the thought of supporting democracy. Senator Sam Brownback’s past in this area however, makes me uneasy. Who exactly will we be giving money to?

I am currently investigating a story that has to do with Brownback and Iran. If anyone has information regarding this topic, I would love to get in contact with you. You can email me at TheAntiSamBlog@gmail.com