Appeasing Islamic Fascism
The mullahs must go ... and go now! Rapprochement
comes later
January 31, 2005
iranian.com
Two events this week should have provided US policy
makers with several sober truths with regard to Iran. On the one
side, we witnessed
Senator Biden (DE) engagements in Switzerland with Iran's Foreign
minister (Kharazi, another "Kh", see: "KhKhKh")
and on another occasion in Poland, Vice President Cheney attended
a remembrance
at Auchwitz,
one of the Nazi's concentration camps. Auchwitz was a prison camp
where there was large scale 'industrial' killing of Jews, gypsies,
dissidents, the disabled, or any one that did not fit into Hitler's
notions of a perfect Aryan race.
Biden is a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.
He is once again being persuaded to influence US policy towards
engagement with Islamic fascists in Iran. The administration must
resist such guidance.
All the parties pushing for engagement are positioning themselves
for clever bargains with the United States: The French and Germans
are saying we'll forego Iraq if you engage with Iran. The Iranians
themselves are saying we'll forego our nuclear program if you engage
with us. And the Brits are playing power broker here, playing both
sides in order to increase their influence inside Iran to post
second world war levels, having persuaded the Mullahs to align
fully behind them in the future. In every case, if a bargain is
made, the United States and the Iranian people will be the losers.
Let us not forget that it was Chamberlain (Britain's Prime
Minister) who flew to Germany and signed a peace treaty with Hitler
(while Hitler was rounding up Jews) preferring engagement to confrontation.
Only an unprincipled, opportunistic politician would have done
that. And the Brits do have a tradition of developing such leaders.
With the recent exception of Tatcher, almost every one of their
leaders rose up from extreme wings of their parties only to betray
their power base once voted in power. They are all power-mongers
- with no commitment to any principles.
And needless to say, both France and Germany have
had their share of involvement with fascism and engagement with
brutal regimes ... such
as Saddam's Iraq. To say that any European policy recommendation
is ever based on selfless and principled consideration is basically
laughable. It wasn't until Hitler had overrun half the continent
that everyone finally opened their eyes and recognized his evil.
And by then, it was too late. Without U.S. commitment, Hitler would
have overrun the continent.
We should not make the same mistake with Islamic Fascists in
Iran. Iran's mullahs have grown very rich and remain symbols of
success for Islamic militants everywhere. They have also provided
valuable financial assistance to Islamic militants everywhere.
The United States cannot support, assist or recognize Iran's theocracy
- in this age of terrorism by Islamic militants. All Islamic clerics
from Morocco to Malaysia are dreaming of an age when they too can
become rich like Iran's clerics, and are planning their own versions
of Iran's Islamic revolution. In the long run, the very presence
of these mullah's in power will lead to a continuing rise of Islamic
militancy and fascism.
This could for example mean the eventual destabilization of Iraq's
nascent democracy as their Islamic radicals rise in power. Or elimination
of any further hope for democracy in places like Egypt where it
is widely believed that democracy today would lead to a takeover
by Islamic radicals. Consider the Palestinian local council elections
this past week, where Hamas, the radical Islamic Party won 60%
of the popular vote. Or consider recent bombings in Uzbekestan
by Islamic militants, which has caused a great deal of fear and
had the negative effect of actually reinforcing Uzbekestan's police
state and dictatorship.
The irony of coarse is that given a chance, Iranian popular vote
would have kicked out the Mullahs a long time ago. The Iranian
people themselves could be the ones telling the whole world how
brutal 26 years of Islamic fascism has been. An open debate in
Iran, advertised to the whole world, would show how bad this regime
has been. The promises of the Islamic militants everywhere would
ring hollow and their support would fizzle out - if Iran's situation
is openly, publicly reviewed. Videos of Iran prisons shown on Al
Jazeera would make Abu Ghraib look like a summer camp! Much like
the defeat of communism, the failure of Islamic fascism to deliver
real benefits to the nation and its inherent brutality would become
self-evident.
By engaging with the Mullahs, the United States would in effect
be dealing with the biggest threat to real democracy inside Iran
as well as the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. If as
it appears now, the Mullahs in Iran have also been meddling in
Iraq and directly assisting Iraqi insurgents leading to coalition
casualties, then such a rapprochement would also be angering for
the US public.
Iran clearly, is not a case like Vietnam, where there was a war
and then one could argue there has been relative peace for a while,
so everyone should kiss and make up. In Iran's case there is an
active threat to the United States through Iran's support for insurgents:
Hamas, Al Qaeda, etc.
Iran's regime is clearly much worse and more sophisticated
than Saddam Hussein ever was. To place them in an American context,
it is like dealing directly with the KKK - dubbed the "KhKhKh" (Khomeini,
Khamenei, Khatami ... ). Why are we even talking to them?
And so this brings me to Davos, Switzerland and Senator Biden's
meetings with another "Kh" from Iran. While such adventures
appear to bolster Biden's stature internationally, they really
do very little to promote a decent position for the United States.
Remember that this is the same Senator who a few cycles ago, pulled
himself out of the presidential race after it was revealed that
he had plagiarized texts of a British political speech. This clearly
tells us a great deal about his original and independent thinking.
Once again, it seems Senator Biden has succumbed to emulating the
Brits.
Democrats have in the past voiced concerns about the delays in
releasing the embassy hostages in Tehran in 1980, which led to
Carter's downfall, and was caused by private back room deals between
Iran's regime and the Republicans. And now, despite Biden's public
outbursts, isn't it strange that Biden, a Democrat would also have
meetings with Iran's foreign minister? For what purpose, may we
ask? Is it legal for a Senator to conduct foreign policy negotiations?
US failures in the past to bring about regime change should not
be a deterrent. In fact, now is the time for Senator Biden to support
bold, brave and creative policies within the executive branch that
would bring immediate and significant change in Iran - and finally
bring about a more democratic and secular government there. The
costs of change today, are in fact lower than the eventual cost
if the regime remains in power.
And by the way, an Iranian national referendum discussed in Davos
is not a catchall solution. We all know the Mullah's will carefully
craft the referendum question (as they have before) and then manipulate
voting to thwart change and hold onto power. Significant change
in Iran will require more than this.
In any case, the mullahs must go ... and go now! Rapprochement
comes later.
The United States must in the long run maintain and expand its
global presence through decency, fair play with real respect and
compassion for the people of these nations. With Iran especially,
the United States does have a debt of decency. Consider Eisenhower's
CIA backed coup to eliminate democracy in Iran (1952); Or Carter's
active assistance in the demise of the Shah and promotion of Islamic
militants (1979). Or even Reagan's back room deals with the same
Islamic militants to swing them against Carter and delay the release
of the hostages to win the 1980 presidential elections... and
subsequent arm sales to both sides extending the Iran-Iraq war
resulting in over 1 Million casualties.
Remember, Hitler was defeated, but it did take appeasement with
Stalin to make it happen. But that appeasement then gave rise to
Stalin and communism. Communism was then defeated, but it took
the cooperation of Islamic militants in Afghanistan (and elsewhere)
to bankrupt the Soviets. With that appeasement, came the rise of
the Taliban and Islamic fundamentalists everywhere.
But the rise of Islamic fundamentalism is in fact potentially
a more destructive force than Hitler or Communism ever was. With
1 billion Moslems sitting on virtually 80% of the world's energy
reserves we can all imagine the consequences.
We should not engage with Iran's Islamic fascists, but defeat
fundamentalism everywhere for the greater good of mankind, at any
cost
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