by Hedayat Mostowfi
As the Leader of the Iranian Resistance said; "a viper will never give birth to a dove."
The world was shocked by the release of a photo of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new Iranian president-elect, next to a blind-folded American hostage on the terrace of the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, and by the testimony of six ex-hostages who recognized him as a leader among the hostage-takers.
Ahmadinejad was identified by an ex-officer in the Iranian intelligence ministry, as coordinator of death squads in Evin Prison and the one who shot more than 1000 political prisoners in the head to finish their executions, thus gaining him the nickname, "the 1000 Bullet Man." An Austrian diplomat has stated that Ahmadinejad was a member of the terrorist squad that assassinated four Kurdish leaders in the Mykonos Restaurant in Berlin in 1992. Prior to becoming the mayor of Tehran, when his role in the murder of Dr. Samii, an opponent of this brutal regime was exposed, he was advised not to become a public figure, because of his marred past.
Contrary to many in the West, the Iranian people and those who have no illusions about the Iranian regime, were not surprised at the selection of a terrorist and a murderer as the next Iranian president. To the Iranian people, Ahmadinejad is the true face of the theocratic regime in Iran, a face that Iran’s mullahs tried to hide for sixteen years after Khomeini’s death with the help of their European allies. As the leader of the Iranian Resistance once said: "a viper will never give birth to a dove."
Western countries appear to have quickly forgotten Iran’s role in hostage takings in Lebanon, definite sponsorship of terrorist organizations, many bombings including those at the Khobar Towers, the Marine barracks in Beirut, and those in Argentina, the fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie, the massacre of political prisoners in 1988, 450 counts of assassination of Iranian exiles all around the world, and many more crimes by the Iranian government. Commitment to human rights, freedom, and democracy were speedily put aside in favor of lucrative trade deals offered by Iran. Iranian intelligence officials had free reign throughout Europe to maneuver and assassinate Iranian exiles. Instead of confronting this terrorist regime, those who were the victims of Iran’s terrorist attacks, those that had been fighting against the mullahs and had exposed Iran’s nuclear plans, were blacklisted. The misguided appeasement policy went so far as to include bombing the camps of the Iranian resistance in Iraq, as well as the assault by the French police on Iranian exiles and arrest of Mrs. Rajavi in June, 2003, all to show a green light to President Khatami. However, all that the appeasement policy did was to buy time for the mullahs in Iran to work on their nuclear weapons project, apply more pressure to the Iranian people, and become more organized for subversion in Iraq. After sixteen years, Ahmadinejad’s selection is a clear indication that the era of appeasement is over. Ahmadinejad made things very clear to the Iranian people when he said: "We did not have a revolution in order to have democracy!" and to the world: "Soon, the waves of the Islamic revolution will conquer the world!"
The elections were largely boycotted by the Iranian people, who, contrary to the European governments, have no illusions about the fundamentalist-terrorist regime of Iran. Instead, more than twenty thousand Iranians gathered in Paris on the same day as Ahmadinejad was declared president-elect of the Islamic Republic in order to declare their support for the Iranian resistance and its president-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. Iranians have already found their solution, fighting for their rights, for democracy and for freedom.
Now after sixteen years of its appeasement policy, the world has to deal with the consequences of siding with the Iranian theocratic government instead of supporting the Iranian people in its fight for basic human rights. Ahmadinejad — Revolutionary Guard officer, terrorist, hostage-taker and executioner — as the incoming president of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the final product of the West’s appeasement policy. What is shocking the West is the bitter realization that the fundamentalist mullahs neither can, nor will, reform.
On Iran’s part, Ahmadinejad’s selection is the ultimate declaration of power for the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against the Iranian people and the world. During eight years of the "moderate" Khatami’s presidency, Iran was able to deceive the world and buy time to finish off its nuclear projects. However, mounting pressure from Iranians inside and abroad, and exposure of Iran’s nuclear plans one after another by the Iranian opposition, completely restricted the mullah’s maneuvering power to appear "moderate." Now the mullahs have thrown away the "reform" mask and have declared "waves of Islamic revolution" for the world, as well as showing their claws to the Iranian people. This stage will either result is the entrenchment of a fundamentalist-terrorist government in Iran with nuclear weapons and a terrorist network all over the world, or complete the overturning of the Iranian regime by the Iranian people.
It is time for the West to correct its past mistakes, now not only for the sake of the Iranian people, but to protect the world from the menace of the godfather of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. It is time now to side with the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
The West has to act decisively and firmly against an Iranian regime which acts now in total opposition to the civilized world. As the first step, bans on the Iranian opposition must be lifted. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, stated in her remarks to the European Parliament said; "We do not want money or weaponry from the West. We only want it to recognize our right to struggle for freedom and democracy." There is no need for military action against Iran, and only an ostrich would opt to continue the failed appeasement policy. Many Iranians inside Iran and abroad have long supported a third option as proposed by Mrs. Rajavi: "a regime change in Iran by the Iranian people and their organized resistance."
Additionally, Iran should be referred to the United Nations’ Security Council for its breach of its nuclear agreements. With European support removed from the Iranian mullahs, and with the power of the Iranian opposition unleashed, the countdown to the establishment of a democratic and secular regime in Iran, as well as peace and stability in the region, will finally begin.
14 July 2005
Hedayat Mostowfi is the Executive Director for nationwide Committee in Support of Referendum in Iran.
