Source: The Washington Times
James Morrison’s article "Iranian Fallout" (Embassy Row, World, Friday) correctly points out that in confronting Iran, we are not limited to either accepting a nuclear Iran or bombing the country. Instead, we can support the Iranians in their quest for democracy.
In 1997, the Clinton administration blacklisted the democratic Iranian resistance to please former President Mohammad Khatami, working under the illusion that the mullahs could change. Today we are paying for that mistake by having to confront a regime that seeks nuclear weapons and kills innocent people in Iraq.
The West’s allies are not the mullahs, but the members of the Iranian resistance who used their enormous fan base to provide the international community with vital information on Iran"s clandestine nuclear sites in 2003 for the first time. This year, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) provided the world with details about Iran’s terrorist-training camps and a list of 32,000 Iranian proxies in Iraq. Furthermore, they unified the Iraqi people to fight terrorism and Iran’s interference.
Iranians do not want the mullahs’ regime. Only last month 40 people were executed in public. Jails are overflowing with political prisoners. Students, workers and teachers are on strike almost every day. Our options are: Accept a nuclear-armed Iran, fight another war, or recognize Iranians in their struggle against the mullahs for a secular democracy. We should aim for the latter, and we should seek removal of the Iranian resistance from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list. This course of action is recommended by members of Congress from both parties and is long overdue.
HEDAYAT MOSTOWFI
Executive Director
Committee in Support of Referendum in Iran
Washington, DC