Iran Policy Committee

The Iran Policy Committee (IPC), formed in February, 2005, is a pressure group meant to influence US government policy towards Iran. IPC is made up of former White House, State Department, The Pentagon and CIA officials as well as scholars from think tanks and academia.

Aims

According to its website, the Iran Policy Committee sees the current debate on American policy towards Iran as focused on two strategies: diplomatic engagement with the Iranian government or military strikes. The IPC says that while it believes that both of these options should be considered, it favors a third proposal, namely, working with Iranian opposition groups "to facilitate democratic change." Its support of opposition groups includes support of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK)^[1]

Co-chairs, directors, and personnel

The most important members of the committee apart from the President, Prof. Raymond Tanter, include the following: [1]

• James E. Akins
• Bill Cowan (CEO of private military corp the WVC3 Group, Inc.)
• Paul Leventhal
• Neil Livingstone
• R. Bruce McColm
• Thomas McInerney
• Charles T. Nash
• Edward Rowny
• Paul E. Vallely

References

External links

• http://www.iranpolicy.org Iran Policy Committee website
• Press Release, "Members of Congress, Iran Policy Committee Meet to Discuss U.S. Policy Options for Iran", April 7, 2005
• Barbara Slavin, "Iran's 'terrorists' helped disclose nuke program", USA Today, April 14, 2005. Discusses another IPC rumination: "Ray Tanter, a Middle East expert on the National Security Council under President Reagan, said the United States should use the MEK to try to destabilize Iran's government before it acquires nuclear weapons"