Three blind men
Khomeini, Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein

February 24, 2003
The Iranian

I may be naive, but this is how I see it! Listen to commentators and experts mulling over the war on terrorism and the recent claim by many that the current agenda of the US Administration is a war against all Moslems. Then think about who is to blame. You can blame oil, but oil has been part of foreign policy for a long time and never threatened Islam, the religion.

There are three leaders in recent history who are the primary culprits who have brought shame on Moslems worldwide while threatening Western civilization as we know it.

The first fundamental change in perception towards Moslems started with the advent of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed himself the leader of a theocracy in Iran, executed hundreds of former government officials, took American hostages and then fought a war with Iraq which killed a million of Iran's population, then continued executions, floggings, imprisonment and taking away his own people's basic human rights: freedoms of speech and choice.

After his death, his partners in crime - Khamnei, Rafsanjani, Khatami - as well as some other mullahs have protracted this status quo. Meanwhile the Iranian people, of whom most were devout Shiite Moslems, began to question the Islamic rule of law, and many in the younger generation turned against religion. What trumps this is that the majority of Iran's population is young!

The second big change came with the arrival of Osama Bin Laden amongst the already frightful Taliban. He and a handful of his lieutenants (all now known as the al Qaida) began to promote hatred towards the West, while using the war against the Taliban, the Palestinian cause and now the Iraq war, to rally fanatics to kill not only Americans but all infidels, meaning all who are not Moslems while his aim is to destroy Western civilization.

And finally the ruthless and power-hungry Saddam Hussein has been trying to strengthen his position at home and the region by producing weapons of mass destruction to intimidate his own people as well as his neighbors. At the expense of his people's sufferings, he blackmails the world.

Khomeini's legacy has been to spread Islamic fundamentalist regimes in the Near and Middle East and to weaken Western democratic values and influence. Saddam Hossein wants himself to be the most powerful and intimidating ruler of the region. Bin Laden's goal is the world. Dead or alive, Bin Laden is a threat. His small but potent network has spread around the world.

Today both Iran and Iraq's leaders and their followers advocate and promote terrorism, and so does the al Qaida. Meanwhile millions of Moslems around the world, with no hatred towards the West, are suffering for the incredible evil of these men.

Westerners now wonder how to cope with this evil without hurting innocent civilians. Both Iranian and Iraqi people yearn for their rightful human rights and will be the first to celebrate once they are liberated, or liberate themselves, from these oppressive regimes.

Other countries in the Middle East have not made strong statements regarding the potential war against Saddam Hussein. Iran wants it both ways. The al Qaida seem to have found a niche in both countries. None of the countries in the region are happy with the negative perception of Islam around the world. Potential weapons of mass destruction and especially nuclear capability by Iran and Iraq are worrisome to all. Al Qaida terrorists have added further problems to Islam's image and peace for the region.

If any one of these countries attain relative democracy -- and it is high time they should -- there will be a domino effect. All their leaders are worried, and they should be. Western countries -- Germany, France, Belgium and a few others -- will be remembered as partners in crime against humanity if they do not act decisively and join the United States, Great Britain and the coalition to rid the world of terrorism and evil.

If Saddam Hossein remains in power, he, the mullahs in Iran and and the al Qaida network will destroy what we know as the West and Western civilization. That will then become the legacy of the UN and the peace marchers around the world.

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