IRAN 101

During the West’s face off with the Soviet Union trough the disintegration of its empire and continued to present day, there have been numerous expansive organizations tasked with policy studies churning out enabling pertinent information. Russian studies curriculum tailor-made to fill a specific gap in knowledge has been supplying a steady fresh blood to the think thanks as well as the governmental agencies. The different containment policies leading up to détente were all possible because of the information that was produced by the concerted efforts and expenditure of private and governmental entities in the West.

The Russian studies systematically cover every discipline and its sub-fields. For instance the subject of Russian art is further subdivided to cover painting, literature, dance, etc. which in turn are themselves subdivided further to produce the most focused study of the matter rivaling anything, and at times surpassing, what the Soviets themselves had to offer.

This native like knowledge has given an unprecedented insight in to the minds and hearts of the Russians that the policy makers have consistently relied on in times of policy formulation. The regular sports, cultural, academic and low level scientific exchanges between the West and the Soviet block, besides the ultimately useless cloak-and-dagger games, were opportunities for the two sides to size each other up and arrive at a better understanding of the other’s intentions and potentialities.

Ever since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, some three decades ago, a constant gripe among the policy wonks in the West, particularly in the US, has been their dearth of knowledge about Iran. This handicap is often cited as the reason behind the absence of a cohesive policy towards the Islamic Republic.

For geopolitical as well as geostrategic reasons any Middle East policy which does not encompass a detailed long term policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic is a costly exercise in futility.  This hypothesis can best be validated by a simple dissection of the events in Lebanon, Israel, including the territories, Afghanistan and Iraq. In every instance the clash of the Islamic Republic’s agenda with those of the West has bogged down any meaningful progress.  

So the germane question that comes to mind is why such a knowledge deficit about a country as important as Iran? It can not be for the lack of interested knowledgeable experts in the West, both indigenous and transplanted. A recruiting tour of almost any institution of higher education in US would yield enough to fill a SUV. It certainly cannot be a case of out of sight out of mind for it is a loosing bet to wager a week without the Islamic Republic, in one way or another, not capturing some if not all of the headlines. And no one can blame lack of resources for it has been exponentially more costly diving blindfolded into the meat grinder.

As it stands smatterings of valiant and yet uncoordinated attempts are being made here and there, more often than not understaffed, underfunded and tasked to cover plethora of subjects which can only result in a rudimentary end product. The Iranian studies have become to be understood as a glorified language course fortified with basic literature and demographic/ geographic information about Iran. The think thanks that have dabbled in the subject are mostly highly partisan domestic US policy driven entities which by their very nature are destined to produce skewed analysis. 

This tendency has at times played into the hands of the Islamic Republic giving it a platform to further confuse and reinforce the prevailing perception of lacking insight in to the country and the ruling clergy. The very fact that the regime has the ability to pick and choose the “visiting scholars” that are invited for a sabbatical year in the US, making an example of the outspoken ones upon their return, has made the entire enterprise fraught with suspect information.

This void in wide ranging academic studies with customary peer review has made the field wide open for intellectual midgets to hawk their ware at inflated value. Time and again articulate people with nefarious agenda have been called upon to offer their biased opinions solely because there are not many eminently far more qualified others willing to enter the morass. The ones with access to the Islamic Regime’s movers and shakers who at best can be a good facilitators for setting up meetings are touted as experts with infinite knowledge and wisdom on all Iran related subjects ranging from  Islam and Shiism to historical national aspirations and cultural longings.  

The faulty short term dual containment strategy of yesteryears, which envisioned having Islamic Republic kept in check by the Bathist Saddam ruled Iraq is no longer relevant. The need for a robust all out effort to knowledge up on all things Iranian is not going to go away. The bad taste that the reprehensible hostage episode has left in the minds of many in the US is coloring their judgment about the need to have a long term Iran policy that successive administrations could employ. The bellicose pronouncements in regards to response to any Islamic Republic’s possible transgression towards allies by the three US Presidential hopefuls do not add up to a credible, informed policy statement.

The time is past due for the US to alleviate this critical gap and tool up, Soviet era style, to a regiment of wide ranging Iranian study and policy research programs. The lingering threat of “Islamic terrorism” is on par with that of the old Communist empire, in-depth understanding of all its aspects and in particular its arguably the more potentially pernicious version in the form of Islamic Republic of Iran is a must.