22 December 1997
The New York Times
By Elaine Sciolino

Expert on Iran, Republican Lawmaker Pleads to Be Heard

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton, meet Bob Ney.

Way down the Capitol Hill food chain is a 43-year-old conservative Republican from rural Ohio who has been in Congress three years and is best known for toughening work requirements for food stamp recipients.

But Ney also has an intriguing background and expertise: He once lived in Iran and is the only member of Congress who speaks fluent Farsi.

In the wake of the announcement by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami that he wants a "thoughtful" dialogue with the United States, and Clinton's reply that he would like "nothing better," Ney hopes to put his skills to good use.

"I haven't sent a personal note to Bill Clinton or anything like that," said Ney, a loyal soldier in the Republican ranks who knows his place. "Being a member of Congress, you don't just singularly conduct foreign policy. But if the president called, I'd be more than happy to help, more than happy, and to find other members, too."

Since Khatami was swept into office last May on a platform of tolerance and respect for the rule of law, Ney has unabashedly told stories about Iran to Rotary Clubs, town meetings and almost anyone else who will listen.

He explains how wonderful the Iranian people are, how great the food is, how family values are more embedded there than in the United States and how he was dead wrong when he supported isolating the country after he entered Congress.

So far, however, Ney has not had much luck getting through to either the administration or the leadership in Congress.

Shortly after Khatami's election last spring, Ney called the State Department and had what he called a polite, but unencouraging conversation with an unidentified desk officer dealing with Iran.

He then took his case to the White House, telling his story to a mid-ranking official dealing with legislative affairs who gave him a thanks-we'll-get-back-to-you reply.

And when he heard that his mentor, Newt Gingrich, was thinking of forming a task force on Iran, he stopped the speaker of the House in the corridor one day and asked to join. He never heard back.

"I've told everybody, 'I'm here.' If anyone wants to communicate, I'm here," he said. "But I don't get the sense it's on the front burner."

Back home in Ohio, Ney corners anyone in his path. While waiting for a haircut at Roger's Barber Shop in Belleaire, Ohio, on Tuesday, he asked a customer what he thought of talking to Iran.

"He was going off the wall about Iraq and he kind of growled a little bit at first," Ney said. "Then he came around and said, 'Well, as long as we don't talk to Iraq.' "

In an interview with Voice of America on Thursday, Ney said, "I tell you, we're dealing with Vietnam! If we can communicate with Vietnam, we can begin to communicate with Iran."

And at a Head Start initiative at the Holiday Inn in Cambridge, Ohio, on Friday, Ney told constituents, "The president of Iran has sent out an olive branch. We should listen to it."

Ney became enchanted with Iran when a teen-age Iranian boy came to live with his sister's family in nearby West Virginia for a year.

As an education major at Ohio State University, Ney spent long hours with the young man learning Farsi, making friends with a clutch of Iranian students on campus along the way.

When he could not get a job teaching high school history, Ney decided to go to Iran. In 1978, with $500 in his pocket, and a suitcase full of blue jeans and Aramis cologne to trade, he made his first trip overseas.

For nearly a year, as Iran was gripped by protests, riots and firebombings in the first stages of its revolution, Ney taught English in Shiraz. Fearing for his safety as the violence got worse, he headed home and never went back.

There was a time when Ney thought the best thing that could happen to Iran was the overthrow of the ayatollahs. He voted for punitive economic sanctions that penalize foreign companies that have ambitious oil and gas development projects in Iran.

But in the last few months, he has changed his mind.

"I was a hard-liner," Ney said. "I was opposed to any communication. I voted for sanctions. But we're alone in our policy. Sanctions have failed. We're alone. What are we going to do, attack the rest of the world. We're supposed to sanction Canada. Canada?"

At a time when a handful of lawmakers are quietly investigating whether they should try to visit Iran, Ney said he would love to go back.

"Would I be willing to do it? Yep. I'm more than willing. Absolutely," he said. "But if that doesn't happen, at least I'd like to make a suggestion that we have some official type of communication -- maybe through some members of Congress. Maybe we could meet on some neutral ground, like Ireland. The mullahs go there a lot. Even an informal type of luncheon, with Iranian food, of course."

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