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Weekly Commentary
Lessons of Iran for Iraq
There is no end to the appetite of Iran’s tyrant rulers for
blood and death.
Earlier this week, the mullahs’ Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei stressed that "enemies of the Islamic Republic are
trying to humiliate and diminish the value of martyrdom and the
culture of jihad in the eyes of the youth, particularly
students."
The official state news agency, IRNA, reported that Khamenei
asked students to continue to promote the culture of jihad and
"martyrdom" as "a source of national strength and foundation of
pure worship."
Having depleted every bit of legitimacy at home, and abroad as a
direct result of their increasing rogue behavior, the mullahs
find themselves in the dire need of energizing their hapless
ideological base with the promise of coming victories in Iraq
and in the nuclear weapons campaign.
Meanwhile relentless recruiting of suicide volunteers which
began last spring has continued and now in many Iranian cities
government-sponsored groups are busy recruiting. According to
news reports thousands of these suicide volunteers have already
been dispatched to Iraq.
In recent days, several top officials of Iraq have been warning
about Iran’s escalating meddling in Iraq as the January 30
election grows closer. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari
demanded that Iran refrain from interfering in his country's
elections, and said "Iran is an important neighboring country
... It has influence over Iraq. But the decision to go to
elections is an Iraqi decision, not an Iranian one." Zebari
insisted "there's a regional intervention in Iraqi internal
affairs".
In an interview with the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas, Iraq’s Defense
Minister Hazem Shaalan also scolded Iran and said that over a
million Iranians had entered the country to pose as Iraqis in
the upcoming January 30th elections. Shaalan accused the Iranian
regime of “interfering (in Iraq) with money, guns, and
intelligence”.
“The number of Shiite Iranians who have entered the country is
more than a million”, he said, echoing remarks by Jordan’s King
Abdullah II who estimated the same figure in December and said
that Tehran is attempting to create a “Shiite Crescent from Iran
to Syria and Lebanon”.
“We have intelligence indicating that Iran is sending fake
families to Iraq, many of whom are based in Karbala, Najaf,
Baghdad, Al-Amara, and Al-Kut; the documents are in our hands”,
he added.
Meanwhile according to a report by Iran Focus news site, Iranian
agents are systematically kidnapping Iraqis for ransom in the
southern Iraqi province of Missan and taking them to Iran.
Late last month, Iran Focus reported that the police chief in
Iraqi holy city of Najaf, said that the commander of three
terrorists arrested in connection with a car bomb that exploded
in Najaf, had extensive connections to Iran’s Ministry of
Intelligence and Security (MOIS). He said that intelligence for
when and where to attack was given by an MOIS agent to the
terrorist cells.
The more Iraqi political and security officials reveal the
sinister campaign of the Iranian regime in Iraq, the better
chance of lessening Iran’s influence over the outcome of Iraq’s
upcoming election. Keeping silent about Iran’s interferences in
Iraq in the futile hope that Tehran would suddenly relinquish
its two-decades long dream of establishing a client regime
there, only emboldens the mullahs.
The terrorist tyranny ruling Iran has brought nothing but death,
destruction, corruption, despair and misery to Iranians. Its
bankrupt ideology and worldview could not survive in a
democratic environment. Hence the firing squads, gallows and
torture chambers to silence the voices of democracy in Iran. And
what makes Iran’s meddling in Iraq a huge threat is the terror
and savagery their medieval ideology is exported with.
The resolution expressed concern at the
"worsening situation" regarding freedom of opinion and
expression, and freedom of the media, "especially the increased
persecution for the peaceful expression of political views,
including arbitrary arrest and detention without charge or
trial." (USADI)
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The
Washington Times
January 5, 2005
Risks of appeasing Iran's mullahs
Iran's increasing meddling in Iraq and its defiance in its
nuclear weapons program pose the greatest challenge to peace and
security in Iraq and the whole Middle East, as we enter 2005. By
sending thousands of Revolutionary Guards and intelligence
agents into Iraq, as well as spending hundreds of millions of
dollars to recruit mercenaries and enlist support among
destitute and impoverished Iraqis, Tehran is hell-bent on
steering the Jan. 30 elections in its favor.
Its proxies in that country, including the Supreme Council for
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), have put forward a united
slate, hoping to gain a majority in the newly elected
parliament, whose primary task is to draft Iraq's future
constitution. The Iranian clerics have never been so close to
realizing their decades-old dream of erecting a sister Islamic
Republic in Iraq.
On the nuclear issue, the recent agreement brokered by France,
Germany and the United Kingdom on behalf of the European Union,
has given Tehran all that it wanted and more. The Iranians have
committed themselves to virtually nothing permanent…
In return, Iran received a host of incentives, including a
light-water reactor as well as the promise of European
technological expertise to advance its "peaceful" nuclear
program. More importantly, it demanded and received a commitment
from its European interlocutors not only to keep Tehran's
arch-nemesis, the Iranian People's Mujahedeen, on the EU terror
list, but also to fight its activities…
... Claiming any attempt at firmness toward Tehran would be
tantamount to starting an Iraqi-style war, the EU and its allies
on the other side of the Atlantic argue conciliation is the best
approach.
This deliberately obscures the
fact that facing up to the Iranian challenge need not involve a
choice between war and appeasement. As the exiled opposition
leader Maryam Rajavi said during an address to the European
Parliament on Dec. 15, "No concession is going to dissuade the
mullahs from continuing their ominous objectives. ... The
equation of 'either a military invasion or appeasement' is an
exercise in political deception. A third option is within reach.
The Iranian people and their organized resistance have the
capacity and ability to bring about change."…
Appeasement is not the way to contain or change this evil
regime. Nor is it the path to avoid another war. A nuclear-armed
fundamentalist regime will not spare the EU, either. Iran's
missiles already can reach southern Europe…
By putting the People's Mujahedeen in its terror list, however,
the EU has handcuffed itself. The EU should end the blacklisting
of this antifundamentalist group, which provided some of the
most critical information on Iran's nuclear weapons program and
its intervention in Iraq.
For once, we should side with the millions in Iran whose cry is
for freedom and regime change. A modern, secular and democratic
Iran would not only be the key to regional peace and security,
but also a long-term ally as we try to spread democracy across
the Middle East and the world.
Excerpts from an article by Struan Stevenson, a Scottish
Conservative member of the European Parliament and co-chairman
of the Friends of Free Iran Intergroup in the European
Parliament.
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The Chicago Tribune
January 2, 2005
Iran making the best
of Iraqi elections
Washington - The Bush administration, already facing a
relentless insurgency in Iraq, is preparing to confront what
could be an equally daunting political challenge - the possible
emergence from the Jan. 30 election of a pro-Iranian government
dominated by Shiite fundamentalists.
… U.S. officials say Iran has given strong support to the two
leading Shiite political parties in the United Iraqi Alliance,
the electoral slate that most analysts expect to garner the
greatest share of Iraqi votes in elections for a new national
government.
Tehran's support includes an estimated $20 million for the
current election for candidates from those parties - the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the Dawa Party -
according to a State Department official….
Although an increase in strife after Shiite ascendancy would
obviously affect the United States, the potential longer-term
implications of an Iranian-leaning government installed in
Baghdad are also weighing heavily on some American policymakers.
The State Department official who spoke about the issue
suggested the only significant question now is how close to Iran
a new Iraqi government will lean.
"When you pay for something, you expect to get something in
return,'' this official said of Iran's $20 million.
But this official and others also pointed hopefully to evidence
that most Iraqis, including Shiites, have a pronounced sense of
nationalism and are uneasy about the prospect of a strong
alliance between Tehran and Baghdad, who were bitter enemies in
a war fought from 1980 to 1988…
U.S. officials also take solace in the results of an October
poll showing that about 45 percent of Iraqis ranked Iran first
when asked which foreign country was most likely to cause
upheaval in Iraq…
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