So the mullahs have lied once again to the Iranian people. On Sunday, the regime promised they would not be raising gasoline prices. Less than two days later they raised them by twenty-five percent. Meanwhile housing prices are up one hundred percent, vegetables have tripled, and citizens are beaten up in the streets. And still there are apologists in the West who say this regime has the support of most Iranians.
If a government behaved like this in a free country, it would be turned out of office in a nanosecond. The Yahoo! story is pretty good, pointing out that President Ahmadi-Nezhad promised to spend Iran’s huge oil revenues on improving people’s lives, but in fact it all goes to terrorist groups like Hamas (to which they could have added Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda, Fatah, and the rest of the motley jihadis).
As I have been saying all these years, Iran fulfills every requirement of a “pre-revolutionary situation.” Yet our leaders will not support that revolution. Indeed, according to the mullahs latest fantasy, the leading supporter of “velvet revolution” in Iran is George Soros, and his primary revolutionary agent is an Iranian-American woman who has labored mightily to advance the cause of the Islamic Republic among American academics and politicians.
Quoting an Intelligence Ministry statement, state media said May 21 that Haleh Esfandiari and her employer, the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, were trying to set up a network “against the sovereignty of the country.”
It also accused a New York-based foundation set up by U.S. financier George Soros of being involved in the network.
Poor Soros! Here he’d been lambasting Bush and Cheney for their failure to use diplomacy to pressure Israel to make a deal with the “Political wing” of Hamas, and thereby weaken Iran’s influence over Hamas terrorists. Only to be bitch slapped by the mullahs.
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Colin:Dr, Ledeen,
Is this the kind of approach that would make a difference in Iran?
“The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert “black” operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a “nonlethal presidential finding” that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran’s currency and international financial transactions.
“I can’t confirm or deny whether such a program exists or whether the president signed it, but it would be consistent with an overall American approach trying to find ways to put pressure on the regime,” said Bruce Riedel, a recently retired CIA senior official who dealt with Iran and other countries in the region.”
It’s from ABC’s The Blotter, and it looks like another leak. What I’d like to know, though, is whether a program like this NEEDS to be covert. We’ll get blamed for any anti-regime activity anyway, so wouldn’t it be better if we just openly supported the dissidents, letting them know that the Americans are not only with them in spirit, but concretely supporting their aims? Do you think we’ll follow through with the effort, even though the program’s out in the open now?
ML:
I don’t see the need for it, frankly. It rather sounds like a bad idea that was then leaked in an effort to make sure it never got put ihto effect.
I’ll have more on this later.
May 22, 2007 - 11:29 pm David P.:‘Iran fulfills every requirement of a “pre-revolutionary situation.” Yet our leaders will not support that revolution.’
Even if the West openly supported such a revolution, what type of sanctions or pressure would trigger this revolution prior to the Persian empires successful development of a nuclear arsenal?
ML:
Sorry, I’ve answered that question ad infinitum. Try googling it, you’ll find more than you ever wanted, believe me :=)
May 23, 2007 - 12:01 am Amir:The trickle of reliable information and common sense analyses of the events inside Iran is more than matched by the clever tactics the Mullahs are using to mislead and manipulate the Western public opinion. They rely heavily on irresponsible journalists whose wishful thinking is apparently shaping the policies of Western politicians. An example is Peter Hitchens childishly simplistic article on Iran where in one place by skillfully juxtaposing satirical illustrations of iron rule of mullahs with the implementations of sharia law in Iran, he created the impression that limb amputation is sort of a practical joke and something of the distant past and things are getting better every day in Iran. He writes :“Sharia punishments such as hand removal happened at the start of the revolution. But they don’t any longer”
May 23, 2007 - 6:35 am Drellberg:He is proved painfully and terribly wrong ( no pun intended ) as it was announced that a “public limb amputation” was done for punishment of THEFT (!) in Iran on Sunday, May 20, 2007 which is of course the logical and just punishment according to Islamic Sharia law ( we ‘ve also got every efficient law enforcement officers who implement these and keep us safe. )
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2007/04/during_my_ten_d.html
Hitchen’s reaction to this will be something like “oops! Sorry, made a mistake.”
HIS limbs is safe and sound…yet. But these wonderful Mullahs that he seems to have fallen in love with, believe in a matter of fact sort of way that as an infidel shedding his blood greatly helps to advance the cause of Islam and keep sharia alive, as Khomeini loved to say. Hey you ignorant journalists, Mullahs are killing Americans in Iraq right now and you are calling for the US to admit defeat instead of informing the public about the role of Mullahs in all this and the need for the western world to take effective action against this terrorist regime and its elements in the Middleast.
I have read Mr. Ledeen for many years, and I find him the single most compelling source for anything related to the Middle East. I buy into nearly everything he writes except his signature line, “Faster, Please.” I have never understood why the very compelling evidence that he consistently amasses indicates that our side in this war should be the side that is impatient. The Iranians appear to me to be egregiously overextended. Their Supreme Leader is a dead man walking. Etc. By waiting until now, hasn’t the Bush Administration improved its prospects of getting a better outcome in Iran? And what if we wait still longer? It’s all an issue to me of timing. Given all that I’m reading, I suspect that now may be the time to topple the terrormasters — finally.
May 23, 2007 - 7:22 am kourosh:Well, here we go again. Unless European, Chinese and other countries and entities severe their support of Terrorist Khomeinists by having economic relationship with Mullacracy, nothing can changed in Iran.
European and other countries are directly responsible for human right abused and torture and rape of Iranian people by Khomeinists. Just look at some pictures coming out of Iran these days. While all pictures are horrifying, two pictures stand on their own. The pictures depict two young men who for whatever reason are being tortured by masked Khomeinists agents.
The agents while biting the two men, hanged two buckets on their necks. The buckets are coming from the local mosques and are used to clean Khomeini’s face (butts). The bucket serves a purpose as toilet paper here. In both pictures agents of darkness are trying to shove the part of the buckets usually in contact with the people boutt into young men’s mouth. Now imagine somebody try to shove a used toilet paper in your mouth as a method of torture. Only sick minded Khomeinist murderers are capable of such acts.
By making money out of Iran and having economic relationship with Khomeinists, Europe is directly involved in these authorities. Even most of the outfits and torture equipments used by Khomeinist animals against humans are supplied by European and Chinese. How do European justify their actions is beyond any reasonable person. Well, one thing is clear. You don’t see these pictures on BBC, and are not reported by API, and CNNI. Those entities are after appeasements of Khomeinists, since they know Mullahs are against US. Simple!!!.
May 23, 2007 - 11:18 am kourosh:Well, here we go again. Unless European, Chinese and other countries and entities severe their support of Terrorist Khomeinists by having economic relationship with Mullacracy, nothing can changed in Iran.
European and other countries are directly responsible for human right abused and torture and rape of Iranian people by Khomeinists. Just look at some pictures coming out of Iran these days. While all pictures are horrifying, two pictures stand on their own. The pictures depict two young men who for whatever reason are being tortured by masked Khomeinists agents.
The agents while biting the two men, hanged two buckets on their necks. The buckets are coming from the local mosques and are used to clean Khomeini’s face (butts). The bucket serves a purpose as toilet paper here. In both pictures agents of darkness are trying to shove the part of the buckets usually in contact with the people boutt into young men’s mouth. Now imagine somebody try to shove a used toilet paper in your mouth as a method of torture. Only sick minded Khomeinist murderers are capable of such acts.
By making money out of Iran and having economic relationship with Khomeinists, Europe is directly involved in these authorities. Even most of the outfits and torture equipments used by Khomeinist animals against humans are supplied by European and Chinese. How do European justify their actions is beyond any reasonable person. Well, one thing is clear. You don’t see these pictures on BBC, and are not reported by API, and CNNI. Those entities are after appeasements of Khomeinists, since they know Mullahs are against US. Simple!!!.
May 23, 2007 - 11:18 am HerrMorgenholz:Drellberg: I kind of agree with you. I believe “Faster, Please” is actually something of the IRI’s tagline at the moment. With all the problems that ML outlines above, it makes sense for the Mullahs to go on their recent mad rush: 1)Nukes 2)Attacks on Americans in Iraq 3) The Brit Navy fiasco 4)The “Fatah Islam” thing in Lebanon, and the Hamas/Fatah war in Gaza as a prelude to 6)The coming Hezbollah attack on Israel.
The mullahs are working hard because they are desparate.
May 23, 2007 - 2:09 pm Morton Doodslag:I fear this is yet another call by a neo-Wilsonian to burden the West with another Islamic boondoggle.
When will we accept the facts that:
1. All of Islam is hopelessly broken - that it is UNFIXABLE.
2. That Islam’s problems must not become our own — that we must not mire ourselves in yet another cesspool of horrors as we are in Iraq.
3. That “engaging” Muslims, or attempting to “win Muslim hearts and minds” or “imposing democracy”, (or whatever crackpot scheme you can think of) has not worked, does not work, and will never work, and that continuing to propose such hopeless interventions harms our cause gravely.
4. That Islam poses are far more lethal existential threat to us than pie-in-the-sky promisers of “revolutions” and “reformations” and “moderation” — and that listening to these persons has undermined our security catastrophically…
I think I could go on, but I think you catch my basic drift…
As to what should be done? A lot less winning of unwinnable hearts and minds, a lot less calls for backing this or that particular horse when they’re ALL lame, and a lot more crushing of the heinous infrastructure of Islam seems like a good place to start…
That and our continued allowance of their war doctrine to be practiced on our soil — without the force multiplier of Muslims on our soil and the implicit threat this represents, much of the danger and wind would be sucked out of the Jihadi sails…
Just saying…
ML:
calm down. only a quarter of American Muslims want to kill us all…
May 23, 2007 - 3:27 pm Don Cox:I think it could be counter-productive for anyone in the West to actively support a revolution in Iran. It would allow such a revolution to be presented throughout the Muslim world as a Zionist plot.
ML:
I guess it’s better just to let the mullahs kill all the pro-democracy people, huh?
This sort of reasoning has always left me a bit breathless. I heard it all through the Cold War–”don’t criticize the Soviets, it will make them angry and God only knows what they might do”–and it always made me mad. The United States is supposed to abandon the cause of freedom because some tyrant or other wants to remain unchallenged? Faggetit.
May 23, 2007 - 4:06 pm Morton Doodslag:No need to post this, but LOL… Thanks for being a good sport.
Still — it is a serious topic, and I’m curious about your disposition regarding my main thrust which is: Islam is unfixable, and the more we mire oursleves in it — the worse for us and the better for them…
ML:
I don’t believe it. I’m an historian, I’ve seen things change dramatically, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. But change is the basic fact of human life. Nothing is “unfixable,” if by that you mean it can’t be either defeated or transformed.
May 23, 2007 - 4:11 pm Amir:Re David P.
May 23, 2007 - 6:05 pm Afshin:Your comment shows that you are a computer game enthusiast. Good for you but beware of the occasional delusions caused by over-exposure to virtual reality and fiction…this is 21st century, Persian empire has been dead for some time and interest in it is only historic-fictional, the historic part keeps the historian busy and the fictional part is for you to play with. If you have not lost ALL sense of reality, try to digest these simple facts: there are a few thousand very crazy Mullahs ( use the Internet when you are not playing with your computer to find out what a Mullah is ) and these Mullahs believe in an ideology that says they will eventually rule the world no matter what and the more people get killed in this process the better. And those who sacrifice themselves in this holey cause with be rewarded after their death ( which is better be suicidal ) and go straight to Heaven. Nuclear weapon is only a tool in implementation of this crazy ideology.
The notion that the muslims occupying Iran are going to revolt against their cult is a fantasy.
The time for tolerance of islam has long passed. It’s about time we admit that we are going to have to exterminate all the vermin who subscribe to the evil ideology which is islam.
Bomb the filthy bastards. Kill every last one of them. That’s the only way.
The reward will be not only the security earned by eliminating the threat, but also the everlasting, and tangible, gratitude of the real Persian people (the Zoroastrians.)
ML:
Are you going to ask all the Iranians to fill out a questionnaire before you bomb them? heh. You might blow up an innocent Zoroastrian in the process, after all…
Seriously, most Iranians are opposed to the Khomeini heresy, and lots of them are closet Zoroastrians. It’s a busy place. We need to support the good people…
May 23, 2007 - 6:27 pm Afshin:Michael,
It’s too late to worry about “innocents.” There are about 30,000 Zoroastrians left in Iran, I’m willing to sacrifice all of them. They’ve had 30 years to find a way out.
Seriously, most Iranians are opposed to the Khomeini heresy, and lots of them are closet Zoroastrians. It’s a busy place. We need to support the good people…
One can no more be a closet Zoroastrian than he can be a closet Black. We are a distinct ethnic group, not merely a religion; we are the Persian people, descended from the ancients. (Put away the CIA Factbook, it’s a crock) And, the religion doesn’t accept converts anyway. In fact, there is nothing more offensive than muslims claiming to be Persian. I refuse to allow anyone, especially some filthy muslim, to lay claim to the legacy of my people.
May 23, 2007 - 7:23 pm Salamantis:One dire possibility that I see encroaching over the near horizon is the succession, upon Ayatollah Ali Khameini’s looming death, of even more radical Haghani cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Taghi Mesbah Mazdi to the position of Supreme Leader in Iran. He is Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s spiritual advisor, thus his accession would thus most probably mean that what little restraint is presently placed upon Ahmedinejad’s words and actions would evaporate - not a good thing, especially considering that Ahmedinejad will be feeling some urgency to implement his possibly Hojatiyyist plans before he loses the next presidential election, which he is almost certain to do.
May 23, 2007 - 9:26 pm Amir:Luckily, the election of the Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani list, over the list of Mohammed Taghi Mesbah Mazdi, to the Fourth Assembly, which is in charge of Supreme Leader succession, may have given us something of a respite from such a catastrophe.
Re Morton Doodslag
I agree that it is futile to attempt to win hearts and minds of islamists but you must understand first who are the islamists and what is their agenda. Centuries ago, we in Iran had our own religion and culture then those Arabs invaded our country and imposed their Islam on us. Even today Mullahs who in fact feel obliged to force our children to learn ARABIC at school! This is a clear indication Iranians NEVER accepted this Arab religion and always wanted to free themselves from its yoke but never got the opportunity…until now.
The true nature of this religion whose origins are in ancient Arab culture is known all over the world. Our people are natural allies of the US in war on terror because they have been subject to this Islamic terror themselves for CENTURIES. Mullahs are doing their best to depict Iran as an Islamic state so they would be perceived as natural leaders. This is only a propaganda scheme. Even the most devout Muslim in Iran, with proper historical education will realise the worth of his ancient culture and the wrongs and atrocities the Arabs committed in our country ( historical facts not racist comments .) but an Arab can hardly be anything other than a Muslim…he or she can only be moderate at best.
ML:
That last line is pretty bad. You think that Arabs have a “Muslim chromosome” in their DNA that compels them to embrace Islam? You think there are no Arab Christians or Jews or Hindus or Buddhists?
It’s certainly an overstatement, at best. Think it over. Have a glass of wine. Laugh a little…
May 24, 2007 - 4:37 am Amir:Re Salamantis
First of all you are very much mistaken in thinking Ahmadinejad is restrained in any way. The scheming Mullahs are using apropriate elements according tho the dictates of the time and place. When mullah Khatami was in power in Iran they gained eight years of precius time to develop their nuclear program while the west was fooled into believing Iran in on its way into “peaceful transition.” There is no such thing as a moderate Mullah. Mullah Khatami was as much moderate as Ahmadinejad is now only he has done his duty in advancing the cause of the regime when it was in its interest to “appear” heading toward moderation. Hashemi Rafsanjani was one of if not THE main architect of the present regime, he is responssible for institutionalising financial corruption, sponsering of terrorist Islamists, intimidation of the young among many others. How was it that he so easily gave up power to a “reformist mullah”? Did he suddenly became enlighted and aware of the merits of democracy? NO because that reformist did the regime many services, buying time so that the Mullahs would go nuclear. And if necessary they will do it again after Ahmadinejad is “out of office.” These Mullahs know that to remain in power they must stick together and buy time. And it seems certain people in the West are happy to do nothing and hope for the best.
Re Afshin
May 24, 2007 - 5:28 am Winston:“I praise good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and those that are to be thought, spoken, and done. I do accept all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I do renounce all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds.( From Avesta YASNA, religious text of Zoroastrians )”
This is what Zarathustra said. I suppose there is as much probability of mental illness among Zoroastrians as is there for others.
Mullahs have got their Phd in making false stories and lying
May 24, 2007 - 9:57 am Brownie:I’m reading “Guests of the Ayatollah” and the “students” holding the hostages were appallingly ignorant of any history including their own. They had no real knowledge of what Western civilization or democracy or the U.S. were about.
I’m curious to know if this has changed at all or are these young people and others who support the US and democracy still uneducated and ignorant of history and romanticizing, once again, what they want to be instead of what actually is? And if they are still that ignorant of reality will they, if given the opportunity for democracy, become disappointed and disillusioned with the “warts and all” of democractic government and then swing the pendulum back to the dark ages again?
ML:
It’s a great question and I am sure you will get lots of comment, Brownie.
May 24, 2007 - 9:59 am LarryD:There are explitive few converts from Islam because that’s a capital offense, and they aren’t squeamish about enforcing it.
The Mullahs are running a totalitarian regime, and they know it. It’s very rare for such a regime to be overthrown from within, precisely because such regimes are focused on controlling their own populace. So I have no expectation of any overthrow, absent external force. The recent CIA leak basically killed the sub rosa program that might have eventually resulted in the Mullahs overthrow, but that program could have taken a decade to bear fruit anyhow. Face it, nothing short of an attack (I don’t say invasion) is going to derail the Mullahs nuclear program in time, or weaken their regime enough for the Iranians to overthrow them.
ML:
That program was really dumb, and I hope it’s been killed. It should have been strangled at birth, so to speak.
Democratic revolution does work sometimes. Other times armies are needed to remove/defeat totalitarian regimes. I do not believe there is a general rule on it. But I do believe that Iran does not require an invading army.
May 24, 2007 - 10:48 am David P.:Re Amir,
May 24, 2007 - 12:08 pm TS Alfabet:Thank you for the tutorial, I’ll admit, I’ m only semi-versed, but I am aware of the above content you’ve conveyed in your previous message. My question dealt with a broader issue, that of a nuclear Iran, even with a regime change, the elements of danger still would remain.
It is sad to be so cynical, but the most perilous event that could occur in Iran would be the rise of a so-called “moderate” in place of Ahmadinejad. Since there are no true moderates in Iran, such a person (like Rafsanjani or Khatami) would only lull the West back into the false sense of security that Iran is going to abandon its plan for empire. In a perverse way, we (the West) are better served when Iranian leaders make outrageous statements or take outrageous actions (like the seizure of British marines). At least we then get a small dose of what the regime is all about. Is it too morose to hope that Iran miscalculates badly and actually directly attacks US forces in the Gulf or in Iraq? At that point, there is little doubt that the US could retaliate and set back Iran’s nuclear program by several years and perhaps provoke an uprising by the Iranian people which we could support with air power like we did with the no-fly zone in Kurdish Iraq.
May 24, 2007 - 6:00 pm Amir:Re Brownie
An elementary school book for third-formers has a text in it which depicts in very graphic terms the way a “Zionist” soldier “captures” a three year old girl and leads her at gun point to her house only to get to her five year old brother, which he calls the terror-mastermind, and kill him on the spot. The text is illustrated showing the little girl and “Zionist” soldier aiming the gun very carefully at the back of the little girl’s head. This is a glimpse of the ideas your typical Iranian youth is brought up with. EVERY young man in Iran has been effectively and systematically brainwashed for 12 years at least.
Whenever I get into talk with the young people you are referring to I ‘m struck with the level of ignorance I encounter. At school they have been targets of a constant barrage of regime propaganda, school books providing a balanced diet of falsehoods, lies, Islamism, nationalism ( ironically and with great caution), militancy and Jihadist rhetoric. To be admitted to the college all applicants must take an extremely difficult and rigorous test whose main subjects are: Persian literature and grammar, Arabic language, theology and Quran !!! A young Iranian student activist has passed that test. These guys have practically studied in a religious madrasah, only they hated every minute of it, but still affected by it in some other way all the same. This “other way” cannot be explained in a short message.
Re David P.
May 24, 2007 - 6:01 pm Brownie:You are absolutely right. Only the most stable countries must be allowed to posses nuclear technology and Iran has never been a stable country ( in the sense a western country is ) and will never be IMO. Before the revolution Shah of Iran was considered a reliable and trusted partner for the west so he was allowed to develop a nuclear program. It turned out that Shah was a great coward and couldn’t stand up against a handful of Mullahs. If he had nuclear weapons then Khomeini could put his dark visions into action right away upon arrival.
Then not much has changed, Amir? Sad and depressing. There must be some solution but I imagine that it would take centuries to implement.
May 25, 2007 - 11:41 am Dan:With regard to facilitating regime change in Iran, I suspect that there is quite a bit more going on behind the scenes that is not being reported in the press, and that’s a good thing. If the U.S. is too overt in its support for the Iranian opposition, then it plays directly into the mullahs’ hands. No matter how oppresive their government might be, the majority of Iranians would almost certainly rally around that government if they perceived that a foreign power, particularly America, was actively trying to overthrow it. The mullahs’ could then use that perception to crack down hard on the opposition. Far better to quietly supply the opposition with money and, if needed, armaments while lobbying certain Iranian generals one-on-one to throw their support behind a coup if and when one materializes. I think most Iranians would definitely support removing the mullahs’ from their current positions of unchallenged power if those removing them came from inside Iran itself.
May 26, 2007 - 5:14 pm