Letters

Write for The Iranian Editorial policy

Saturday
November 3, 2001

Reza Pahlavi is the man

I would like to remind Mohammad Sahimi ["Dream on"], that MR. REZA PAHLAVI' S CAMPAIGN FOR UNITY STARTED BEFORE THE SEPTEMBER 11th HORRIBLE TERRORIST ATTACK. that has undermined not only the Peace process in the Middle-East but hurt the United States of America not only in human casualties, but morally as never before in its short history. Here in Europe journalists and intellectuals don't hesitate to compare this barbaric act with Pearl Harbor. NOW REZA PAHLAVI AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE TO BE QUALIFIESD AS RACISTS that is in your own words, associated with the far right : "one with the far right in the U.S. which is anti-foreigner, not to mention the fact that it has been preaching that all Muslims not born here should be expelled from the U.S., and that Islam should be outlawed in this hemisphere". Mr. Sahimi article "Dream On" subtly puts out of context the true goals of Reza Pahlavi's campaign which is not uniquely for the ears and the eyes of Iranians in America and that is a REFERANDUM UNDER U.N SUPERVISION IN IRAN to determine the nature of the future DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT OF IRAN, be it Republic or Constitutional Monarchy. IN THIS TROUBLED PERIOD IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND AND IRAN IT IS PROBABLY DIFFICULT TO FIND THE RIGHT WORDS TO ANSWER TO THE ASPIRATIONS OF IRANIANS WORLD WIDE.

While we are talking the IRI president MR.Mohhamed Khatami seems parralized by Ayatollah Khamenei, who represents todays Iranian Right wing. Mr. Sahimi and other so-calledintellectuals what do you suggest? Did you at least have the decency of signing the message of sympathy to the American people in the aftermath of the Attack on this tribune? Did you bother giving your blood or buy the American flag in the country that has sheltered you and most Iranian Americans? SHAME ON YOU , if in the pretext of wanting to use Iranian Nationalism to accuse Reza Pahlavi and his followers as racist you are being extremly cheap. The monsters who commited the September 11th terrorist attack were the RACISTS who have not only hurt America but the World for Good. Whatever the outcome in tomorrows Iran, as anyother place in this world will be conditioned by this tragic event for decades to come if not more. This is no more a question of Racism. This is the logical outcome of what we are all responsible for that is to have shut our big mouths for too long. Ayatollah Khomeiny which we all seem to have forgot in these days fooled the Iranian Nation as a whole Monarchists, Nationalists and Democrats altogether.Boy is he Happy in his Grave he IS AMONG THE CREATORS OF MONSTERS LIKE BIN LADEN. KHOMEINY DIRTIED THE NAME OF ISLAM. Now go tell this to any Arab , Pakistani or other Middle eastern and they will be the first to cut you through. Before concluding on the subject of Racism which you so easily attribute to Reza Pahlavi and his followers, may I ask you Mr. Sahimi who seem to be so well informed a few questions?

1) Who Is responsible for the burning of the American Flag and the take over of the American Embassy with 52 American hostages for 444 days, (which the IRI wants to celebrate its anniversary and does so every year), thus setting the example for other similar actions in the Middle East, such as Lebenon? Let me remind you the Name of Michel Serrat French journalist assassinated brutally after a long ordeal. Jean-Paul Kauffman also held Hostage for more than a year until his liberation.

2) Who Called America THE BIG SATAN?

3)Who Assassinated Anwar El Sadat and destroyed all hope of Arab-Israeli peace process?

4) On whose orders was Sadeg Gobtzadeh Executed who was the first to follow in Khomeiny's footsteps and the first to have had the courage to accuse him openly in the Majlis?

5)Who Assasinated Shapour Bakhtiar in Paris as well as other political opponents to the IRI ?

6)Who Set the Fatwa on Salmaan RUSHDIE ?

7) Who Assasinated Darioush Forouhar and his Wife less than Two years ago?

8) Who sponsored Mr. Arafat PLO before the latter (and its to his credit) accepted to sign the OSLO Peace Aggreement with Itzak Rabin?

9) Who has sponsored the terrorist groups like the Hamas in Lebanon for the past 23 years?

10) Who sponsored Irish terrorist movements in the 80's and early 90's, have you forgotten the numerous trips of todays Velayateh Fagih Ayatollah Khamenei's trip to Dublin on several occasions?

11) Who is responsible for the sending thousands of innocent young kids under the age of nine to the War front with plastic keys to PARADISE?

12) Who created the Dokhtaraneh Zeynab who would throw acid on Iranian women not respecting the strict codes of Islamic traditional cloths. Who encouraged these fanatics to use razor blades to cut the lips of their compatriots who innocently put on lipstic? Yes even under a so called liberal like Rafsanjani this was common.

13) Who denied the rights of homosexual iranians and heterosexual to put it straight to live normally?

The laws forcing immediate marriage between people if they were seen hand in hand is just an example of the absurdities of this regime. The flogging of the same couples if they refused marriage. Their are testimonies of Parents who were accused of pedophilia simply because they were taking their kids hand in hand in a Park. To this day public flogging and sporadic arrestations are common in Iran.

Mr. Sahimi, the list of unpunished crimes committed in the name of Islam, and sponsored directly or indirectly by the IRI is long.

Mr. Sahimi you claim:

"i) In September 1970, the late King Hossein of Jordan , with the covert and overt support of his close ally and friend Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, massacred thousands of Palestinians and drove the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) into Lebanon. This event, known as Black September, provided the impetus for the subsequent hijacking of many passenger airliners by the PLO in the 1970s, long before the Iranian Revolution. It is universally recognized that hijacking of airliners began after Black September."

FALSE: Wow now Mohamed Reza Shah Pahlavi is responsible for Black September ! Yasser Arafat (before Mr. Arafat's got the Nobel prize for Peace). and the PLO were mercenaries and recognized as such by the Western Democracies during the Cold War and aided directly by the Soviet Union and terrorist states like Hafez Al Assads Syria, and Colonel Quadafy of Lybia both leaders sheltered ex-Nazi's ( Of course Mr. Sahimi won't see them as Racist I guess) for years in order to train their armies, and secret police as a matter of fact the SYRIAN ARMY USES THE HITLER SALUT.

NEVER UNDER MOHAMMED REZA SHAH WITH HIS HONORARY TITLE THE LIGHT OF THE ARYANS WERE RACIST ATTACKS PERPETRATED AGAINST ANY MINORITY RELIGIOUS OR RACIAL IN IRAN. BE IT THE BAHAI'IS OR JEWS. THE COMMEMORATION OF THE PERSEPOLIS FESTIVITIES BE IT CLUMSY WAS TO SET THE RECORD RIGHT WITH THE HOMMAGE TO THE FATHER OF THE FIRST DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS CYRUS THE GREAT.

The PLO was responsible for terrorist acts throughout its history against Israel and Israeili interests. The 1972 brutal assassination of Israeli Olympic Champions is an example among other monstrous acts in the history of terrorism and not just for the PLO.

Mr. Sahimi you claim:

"ii) In 1967, the Shah visited west Berlin. During anti-Shah demonstrations there, an Iranian student was shot and killed by the German police. This event was, according to many German political scientists and historians, a prime reason for the rise of the Maoist Baader-Meinhof group in Germany that was involved in many terrorist acts. One of the most famous terrorist hijackings took place in the 1970s when Baader-Meinhof terrorists demanded the release of Andreas Baader from a German jail in return for releasing an airliner and its passengers (Germany refused to go along;, the hijacking was a failure, and Andreas Baader committed suicide in jail)."

FALSE the arrival of the Shah in Berlin and the accidental death of the Iranian student by German Police was just a pretext for demonstrations of the youth in Berlin. The student uprisal in Berlin in 1967 was common in all the Western Democracies including France with May 68 and was often uncontrolable. This was due to the frustration of the youth fed up with the "Consumption Society" and the dissillusionment with the Vietnam War,the end of Colonial Powers in Europe and American Supremacy falsly accused as imperialisme when the real imperialists were the SOVIET TOTALITARIAN STATES. As for the "Maoist Baader-Meinhof group" as you mention it was a "Maoist terrorist group" which was paradoxically directly sponsored by the Soviet Union and responsible for a series of unqualifiable crimes throughout the seventies. These groups were marginal terrorists who killed and brainwashed many militants in the name of their often obscure and nihilistic ideologies. Remember Patty Randolph Hearst, if not I suggest you to read her biography which is a perfect EXAMPLE OF THE STOKHOLM SYNDROM. For younger readers who don't know what the latter is it was the way people kidnapped after a long period of isolation tended to fall in love with their oppressors and spouse their movement. Patty Hearst grand daughter of American Press Mogul was to be photographed during an assault in which she participated wich covered World magazines for years. This was the ideological influence of the Baader Meinhof and other terrorist groups. You seem to forget Carlos who after terrorizing the world for years is now living a perfect retirement in a French Prison and is allowed to marry his Lawyer. Mr. Shahimi seems to forget that the West was infiltrated because of its democratic nature by Soviet sympathisers: take The oxford intelligensia whose emblematic figure was Marcus Philby who after denouncing all Western spies in the eastern block took refuge in the Soviet Union without the slightest complex, and died in his bed. Today Ideologies such as communism do not represent the same threat as in that period. Nevertheless hundreds of the MI6 intelligent services were simply eliminated for good. To shortly before Gorbatchevs disposal the American Ambassador to Austria was a Russian Spy. This indicates the highly complex world of Secret Services.

Mr. Sahimi you claim:

((iii) Aside from these two cases, one of the earliest hijackings and acts of state-sponsored terrorism was carried out by the government of the Shah himself. On October 9, 1970, an Iran Air Boeing 727 carrying 44 persons was "hijacked" and flown to Baghdad. It turned out a few days later that the "hijackers" were in fact agents of SAVAK the Shah's secret police. Posing as supporters of General Teymour Bakhtiar, who had taken asylum in Iraq, the agents murdered Bakhtiar, a man who had served the Shah's regime for many years.

TRUE General Teymour Bakhtiar was assassinated on the SHAH's orders. I must admit you have the talent of putting out of context an event known by all historians that is the elimination of a power hungry General who was planning a coup against the Shah with the help of the Soviet Sponsored Irakian Government of the Time, The King of Morroco also eliminated the General Oufkir in the mid-seventies. I DO NOT CONDONE AN ASSASSINATION BE IT POLITICAL, however no passenger was killed. Such political initiatives were common among Western Democratic governments also during the Cold War when they felt that their interests were in danger.

America closed its eyes on the Assassination of Salvadore Alliende who had he one most probably would have thrown his country in the hands of the SOVIETS

This POLITICAL PARANOIA was enforced by the Cold War. You seem to have a short memory in regard to the GORGI Affaire where Iran was accused of Espionage in France. The European Governments also had their share of political crimes, In the mid-eighties the French government of François Mitterrand deliberatley sunk the Greenpeace Ship "Rainbow Warrior" which resulted in the death of an innocent Green party activist. The same government deliberately accused innocent Irish students in what was to be considered as the most scandolous affair of Mitterands Presidency "L'affaire des Irlandais de Vincennes", Under the same presidency François Mitterrand was also accused of spying on political personalities as well as intellectuals by having their phones controlled. Given the French laxisism this did not lead to a political Scandal and the impeachment of the President as it was in Nixon's case.

Mr. Sahimi you claim:

Among otherthings MR. SAMI you claim that because Iran sold oil to the South African Regime, it thus supported economically the Apartheid. Every democratic country in the World including the United States had ties with South Africa. Everyone closed their eyes on the Apartheid including the ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN. In which case the whole western Democracies are to be accused of Racism.The Apartheid came to an end only because of the end of the Cold War. This created a vacuum that led to the end of major conflicts and in particular the melting of the Soviet Satellite States but also the peaceful transition from Apartheid to the civil society in South Africa today.

Tell me MR. SAHIMI WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN AMERICA IF IT IS THE CASE? Proportionally which regime commited most crimes in the name of humanity, The Shah's regime or the IRI? People like you will find all the arguments in the world to justify what happened in 1979 that is an ideological revolution based on the denial of Western values among which democracy.The Islamic Revolution ate its own children from the start and radicalized with RACIST CHANTS like Marg Bar AMERICA, "DEATH TO AMERICA" and "DEATH TO ISRAEL".

Mr. Sahimi, you seem to aknowledge crimes committed by the Shahs Regime which Reza Pahlavi is the first to acknowledge which is far from the case of the IRI and of President Khatami or Ayatollah Khamenei today. SHAME ON YOU FOR TRYING TO REWRITE HISTORY.

What is the use to ask you to think of the number of innocent Iranians assassinated in the name of Islam since the 1979 revolution. Iran was among the rare Islamic countries in which the practice of Islam was more tolerant than anywhere else in the Middle East and Asia.

People were not beheaded or had their hands cut off as in Saudi Arabia for stealing or other crimes in the name of Islam. Think twice before calling names on others such as racist. Today extremists exist among all political factions, if the DREAM is broken its because of Dis-Unity among Iranians for 22 years. Few had the guts to speak out when they had to do so, because the TERROR OF ISLAMIC SQUADS WAS RUTHLESS where as Today with the internet its easy. Believe me Iranians in Iran don't give the slightest damn about us exiles. THANKS TO ARTICLES LIKE YOURS YOU ARE LYING to the IRANIAN PEOPLE and are undermining the slightest effort done to help Iranians to fullfill their democratic Aspirations and maybe creat a bridge between Iranian exiles and Iranians from IRAN. Believe me they will and it won't be because of exiled Iranians like you and me. Reza Pahlavi is not a Velayateh Fagih nor a Prophet. REZA PAHLAVI IS CRITISIZABLE AS ANY POLITICAL FIGURE but YOU AND MANY EX-REVOLUTIONARIES CONVERTED TO THE VIRTUES OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY have the hypocrisy to do whatever is in your power to undermine Reza Pahlavi's Campaign for a MINIMUM of UNITY TO FULLFILL THE POLITICAL AGENDA OF SELF DETERMINATION BY IRANIANS.

Mr; Sahimi, OF ALL POLITICAL FIGUREHEADS TODAY REGARDLESS OF THE FACT THAT HIS FATHER WAS A CRIMINAL, REZA PAHLAVI IS INNOCENT. DESPITE HIS BLUNDERS, OR HIS SO CALLED OPPORTUNISM HE IS NEVERTHELESS DOING HIS DUTY IN A WORLD WHICH WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. Try to aknowledge at least that, but people like you Mr. SAHIMI are incapable I'm afraid.

On a final note I'd like to assure our American friends that Reza Pahlavi does not intend to install a monarchy in America. I would like to quote the Great American President Theodor Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out where the strong stumbled, or how the doer could have done better.The credit belongs to the man who is in the Arena, his face marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and falls short again and again: there is no effort without error.

But he who tries, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, at best knows the triumph of achievment, and at worst, fails while daring. His place shall never be among those cold and timid soals who know neither victory nor defeat."

Reza PAHLAVI today is the man in todays Political Arena

Dariush Kadivar