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Iran: Targeting the Heart of Terrorism |
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Wednesday, 20 July 2005 |
 By David Johnson, July 19, 2005
On the surface, the recent terror bombings in London and the recent
ascension of fundamentalist radicals, including but not limited to
President-Elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad, to high ranking positions in Iran
may appear unrelated. However, they both should serve as a stern
wake-up call.
The core threat they both represent is a deadly and barbaric fanaticism
under the cloak of Islam. The core threat is by no means alone. Its
spin-off threats include clandestine nuclear proliferation,
facilitation of terrorist operations world wide and heinous human
rights violations perpetrated against Muslims and non- Muslims alike.
The cause for concern is clear. A handful of religious fascists are
working to hijack a religion with 1.2 billion followers. Instead of
preaching peace and tolerance, as the Koran proscribes, they preach the
most vitriolic, violent and inflammatory diatribe. These men do not
hide their apocalyptic, sectarian intentions; in fact they put their
conspiracy theories and hate on the stage every week during Friday
prayer sermons.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei - during a Friday prayer session in
the run up to the historic parliamentary elections in Iraq late last
year - said, "they [the Americans] want to keep the Iraqi public busy
and to spread allegations and disagreements among them [Iraqis] in
order to snatch this extraordinary opportunity out of their hands."
Khamenei's twisted and conspiratorial logic reveals his contempt for
democracy and the United States. He absurdly blames the United States
and its allies for terrorist attacks that killed Americans, as if
democratic leaders were in the business of murdering the citizens they
serve!
The fact is that tyrants, not democrats, murder their own people to
maintain power. Khamenei is no different. Under the mullah's rule
dissidents including democracy advocates, web loggers, journalists and
protestors are subjected to torture, imprisonment and in some cases
execution for their beliefs.
Last week in Tehran thousands of Iranians poured into the streets
shouting, "Free All Political Prisoners Now!" The police crackdown that
followed was typical of demonstrations in Iran these days. State
Department Spokesman Tom Casey said of the event, "we're disturbed by
reports of police brutality against peaceful protestors who were
demonstrating in Tehran. We call on the Iranian regime to exercise
restraint and to permit the Iranian people to exercise their legitimate
right to peaceful assembly and to free speech."
No matter how rational Tom Casey's comments may sound to Americans,
free speech and peaceful assembly are exactly what Supreme Leader
Khamenie is fighting against, both at home and abroad. Democratization
and peaceful coexistence in the Middle East are diametrically opposed
to the plans of all fanatic radicals in the region.
These preachers of death and destruction are not divided by nationalism
or by religion. Shia fundamentalists' spiritual icon Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini repeatedly mourned the fall of the Sunni led Ottoman Empire in
his sermons. Therefore, it would be naïve to assume that Iran's Shia
rulers have no links to terrorist activities of Sunni groups. The
pivotal element is neither Shi'ism nor Sunnism, nor petty nationalistic
rivalries, but the establishment of a global Islamic rule.
Iran's ayatollahs seek a utopian Islamic fundamentalist empire. They
have been reaching out to Muslim communities across the region and
beyond, in Lebanon, Sudan and now Iraq in an attempt to spread their
violent ideology.
The same totalitarian logic that guaranteed the downfall of the Soviet
Union can be found in the institutions governing Iran today. No freedom
of speech, no freedom of religion, zero tolerance for domestic dissent
and relentless psychological warfare against its enemies at home and
abroad are hallmarks of both regimes. The promises of Soviet Utopia
were empty as are the twisted ambitions of Islamic fundamentalism
today. When the heart of the Soviet empire stopped beating in Moscow,
the fragile Soviet empire imploded.
To effectively confront terrorism, free nations must target the heart
of the issue. The war on terror is not a war on Islam. Rather it is a
war that has to target the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism to be
won. With the collapse of the ayatollah's fragile government in Tehran,
it is reasonable to expect a democratic renaissance to take place
across Iran and that that renaissance would spread throughout the
region. Once the West abandons its futile policy of offering political
and commercial incentives to appease Iran at the expense of the Iranian
people, it should then focus its attention on Iran's organized
opposition.
Any serious Iranian opposition to the tyrants of Tehran will have to
face the fanaticism the Ayatollahs evoke and must have a reply to it
that specifically counters it. Muslims who subscribe to the separation
of religion and state must play a leading role. Without an indigenous
counterweight to Islamic fundamentalism, the War on Terror is likely to
miss the core cause of the Middle Eastern terror.
The Islamic Republic of Iran emboldens fanatics to carry out attacks
like the ones that occurred in London last week. The fall of the
Islamic Republic Iran would be a major step forward in the effort to
eliminate inspiration for such attacks. When the West adopts a unified
and explicit policy in support of Iranians' quest for the fall of this
regime, it is imperative that U.S. and EU policy include an indigenous
counterweight to Islamic fundamentalism. A truly multilateral alliance
of this nature is likely to facilitate a rapid implosion of Iran's
fragile fundamentalist government.
The right alliance could facilitate the fall of Islamic fundamentalism
and the terrorist threat it poses faster than any of us in the West
might imagine.
David Johnson currently serves as the Director of Operations of the
U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran. USADI is based in Washington DC .
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