Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 21:29:31 -0400
From: bobhunt@erols.com
Subject: [libs4peace] (fwd) Iran on the Brink And the U.S. does nothing
To: Individual-Sovereignty@yahoogroups.com, libs4peace@yahoogroups.com ("Libertarians 4Peace")
National Review
April 29, 2002
Iran on the Brink And the U.S. does nothing.
Michael Ledeen
Last Wednesday, April 24, an obscure deputy in the Iranian parliament
went to the podium at 10:45 in the morning to read a prepared statement.
Few in that hall could have known what was coming: a fatwa issued by one
of the country's most prestigious and revered religious leaders, the
Grand Ayatollah Montazeri. His message was directed far beyond the
boundaries of Iran, to all members of the Shia faith. It was a powerful
and politically important message: Suicide terrorism is antithetical to
the teachings of Islam, and those who practice it, and kill women,
children, and babies, are doomed to eternity in hell. The struggle
between the Palestinian people and Irael must be resolved by other
means, above all by negotiations. A tumult broke out when the import of
the statement became clear, but the parliamentary president permitted
the deputy to read the fatwa in its entirety.
The proceedings were broadcast live throughout Iran. Therefore,
although no Iranian publication and, to my knowledge, no foreign-news
service reported the event, the Iranian people were able to hear it in
real time.
This is an event of enormous importance, for it is the first time that aleading Iranian cleric has condemned suicide terrorism, and it is an
explicit attack on the Iranian regime, which has praised the terrorists
and called upon Iranians to volunteer for suicide missions. It is even
more significant against the background of the latest efforts of the
Iranian people, who are trying desperately to free themselves from the
mullahs and ayatollahs. Two weeks ago, the leader of the student
movement called upon workers and teachers to shut down the schools and
factories during the May Day period. Shortly thereafter, another
student group heretofore vigorous supporters of the "reformist"
President Khatami denounced him and proclaimed the reform movement a
total failure. Throughout Khorassan Province workers and students have
been demonstrating for nearly a month. Over the weekend, new
demonstrations broke out near Tehran, where many workers have not been
paid for a year! At Friday prayers, in an amazing confession of
failure, Ayatollah Janati the head of the Council of Guardians and one
of the five most powerful men in the country admitted to the faithful
that Iran was in desperate economic straits. Iran, he said, was as
badly off as Argentina, perhaps even worse.
Janati continued with a vicious attack against the United States,
proclaiming that the failure of the American hostage rescue mission in
1980 showed that God was on Iran's side, and he warned the United States
not to try to take advantage of Iran's crisis. He then unleashed a
condemnation of the Jews, defining the as "murderers by nature," and
indeed, "murderers of the messenger," a reference to the prophet
Mohammed himself.
These are signs of a desperate regime that knows the Iranian people love
America and hate their rulers. Last Thursday, the regime hung six young
men in public, under the pretext that they had "disturbed public order,"
the usual phrase deployed by tyrannical regimes to kill anyone they do
not like. The hangings took place the day after the disgraceful vote in
the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, defeating an
American resolution to condemn Iran for its many egregious actions
against its own people.
But the people of Iran have not been silenced. Last week more nearly
300 students at Tehran University were taken to the hospital for food
poisoning, and some witty students issued a statement that "it is safer
to be a prisoner in Guantanamo than to be prisoners in Poli Sci at the
University."
And what are our leaders doing about this? They are doing nothing. No,
they are doing worse than nothing. The State Department continues to
send its diplomats to meet with Iranians, most recently in Cyprus (when
news leaked in Iran, the regime hastily fired their own
representatives), apparently still believing that some deal can be made
with Tehran's killers and torturers. And while the White House
occasionally repeats the president's condemnation of an unelected regime
that thwarts the Iranian people's desire to be free, these rare
statements are inevitably lost in the greater silence of our top
foreign-policy officials.
Time has run out on Secretary Powell and his bunch of clever diplomats,
and on National Security Advisor Rice and her cautious managers. The
Iranian people need to hear and see that America believes in them,
supports their cause, and hates their oppressors. We have assistant
secretaries of state and National Security Council officials who are
supposed to condemn human-rights violations. Where are they? They can
start by mourning last week's victims in Tehran: Reza Soltani, Behnam
Nouri, Turaz Shafii, Mohammed Bosarghi, Farhad Akrami, and Morteza
Mahsumi, three in their twenties, one teenager, one aged 44.
Our leaders need to say, over and over again, that it is time for the
mullahs to submit to the just desires of their own people. As the
Iranian people have been chanting for many months in the streets of the
country, there should be a referendum on the Iranian government. Let
the people decide if they want to continue the Islamic republic, or if
they prefer a secular republic or a constitutional monarchy. We have no
horse in that race, and our leaders must stress that we are not
supporting any individual or any group; we support an Iranian government
chosen in a free and fair election.
The stakes are very high. The fall of the mullahs in Tehran would send
a devastating message to the entire Islamic world: Theocracy has been
tried, and it has failed. Osama bin Laden's vision has been rejected by
the people of Afghanistan and the people of Iran, by Sunnis and Shia
alike. We must help the Iranian democrats. We must give money,
urgently and immediately, to Iranian National TV, now struggling to stay
afloat in Los Angeles. We must assist the student and labor leaders,
who are often forced to choose between feeding their children and
heating their homes. We must help them communicate with one another.
Can't we provide some wireless PCs to the Iranian opposition?
The most important thing is our leaders' words to the Iranians. We want
the fall of the regime. That is what the war on terrorism is all
about. To remain silent is to be complicit in the repression of Iran.
There is no diplomatic "solution." We want a free Iran. Don't we?
Mr. Ledeen is an NRO contributing editor & resident scholar in the
Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute. He is author, most
recently, of Tocqueville on American Character.
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