Nima Shirazi's take on a book review of "Going to Tehran"

What is actually a response to an "Iran expert's" review of the Leverett's new book on U.S. policy advocacy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran, "Going to Tehran", Nima Shirazi in effect has produced an outstanding review of his own. Excerpts:

If there’s one thing mainstream "Iran experts" hate, it’s well-credentialed, experienced analysts who dare challenge Beltway orthodoxies, buck conventional wisdom and demythologize the banal, bromidic and Manichean foreign policy narrative of the United States government and its obedient media. Such perspectives are shunned by "serious" scholars who play by the rules they and their former bosses themselves wrote; those propounding such subversive ideas are likewise excoriated and banished, labeled apostates and attacked personally for failing to fall in line.

Enter Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett, two former National Security Council officials, who have long questioned the wisdom and efficacy of the past thirty years of U.S. policy towards Iran. Their new expertly researched and meticulously-sourced book, Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran, details and debunks numerous propagandized myths and delusional misunderstandings that many Americans have been led to believe about the country that is consistently referred to by our politicians and pundits as "the world’s most dangerous state." The Leveretts argue that, by at least taking into account the Iranian side of things and reviewing the misguided, myopic and unsustainable American policies toward Iran, the groundwork may be laid for a constructive and beneficial change of course for both nations; by engaging openly and acknowledging past grievances – rather than ignoring, justifying or ridiculing them – a new future is possible, one without threats or war, without sabotage and cyberattacks, without demonization and demagoguery.

Nima also writes at length about the issue of human rights inside Iran. The young man is quite articulate, and his entire response to the "iran expert's" review is a must read, at AntiWar.com or click HERE to be directed toward his blog post on the subject.