Iran’s Ambitions and the Consequences for Iraq – the Human Toll
Monday invariably decides the fate of the week – or so it seems. This weekend I decided I’d launch my week with an optimistic, cheery note. I challenged myself to find a topic, a news item or report that would cast a healthy glow of humanity and decency on at least one small part of our lives and the many challenges we face.
Reading the front page headline of the New York Times, “Iranian Reveals Plan to Expand Role in Iraq“, might I thought, at least enable me to spin some satisfaction from the knowledge that other nations besides the U.S., and the coalition of slightly-less-willing nations, have finally expressed a desire to pull Iraq out of the seemingly bottomless pit of hell it presently finds itself.
That was until I remembered Iran is lead by a religious fanatic with apocalyptic visions and a penchant for vengeance on all things American, Israeli and kafir – in the world.
The NYTimes article begins “Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad outlined an ambitious plan on Sunday to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq — including an Iranian national bank branch in the heart of the capital — that will almost certainly bring Iran into further conflict with American forces who have detained a number of Iranian operatives here in recent weeks.”
The article continues, “Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, said on Sunday that the United States had a significant body of evidence tying Iran to sectarian attacks inside Iraq. “There is a high degree of confidence in the information that we already have, and we are constantly accumulating more,” Mr. McCormack said. He did not address any of the specifics of Mr. Qumi’s comments about plans for stronger economic and security ties, but said that Iran currently plays “a negative role in many respects” in the country.”
The State Department’s comment that Iran plays a “negative role in many aspects” is so painfully understate the situation as to be perverse.
Yes – I’ve found many terrific and informative blogs from middle-class Iranians desperately seeking dialogue between the U.S. and Iran – with a more secular Iran and a less hawkish U.S. administration. But until the people of Iran truly revolt against their oppressive Mullah leaders – any hope for calm discussion appears pointless.
What is evil about Iran? a gripping but incredibly twisted report in The New Republic (dated April 14 2006) entitled “A Child of the Revolution Takes Over | Ahmadinejad’s Demons” raises an example of the religious sickness that firmly grips Iran.
The article starts, “During the Iran-Iraq War [1980's], the Ayatollah Khomeini imported 500,000 small plastic keys from Taiwan. The trinkets were meant to be inspirational. After Iraq invaded in September 1980, it had quickly become clear that Iran’s forces were no match for Saddam Hussein’s professional, well-armed military. To compensate for their disadvantage, Khomeini sent Iranian children, some as young as twelve years old, to the front lines. There, they marched in formation across minefields toward the enemy, clearing a path with their bodies. Before every mission, one of the Taiwanese keys would be hung around each child’s neck. It was supposed to open the gates to paradise for them.”
It continues “… we had child-volunteers: 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds. They went into the minefields. Their eyes saw nothing. Their ears heard nothing. And then, a few moments later, one saw clouds of dust. When the dust had settled again, there was nothing more to be seen of them. Somewhere, widely scattered in the landscape, there lay scraps of burnt flesh and pieces of bone.”
These indoctrinated children were members of the Basiji and were instructed by none other than Mahmoud Admadinejad – now serving the Iranian republic as President and all-around psychopath.
The New Republic article is lengthy and filled with story after story of the fanatical sacrifice of young children, girls, and even mothers – chosen to serve and willingly die for the Ayatollah Khomeini’s vision of a pure Islamic state. The Ayatollah Khomeini called the Iraqi invasion of Iran a “divine blessing”. Fantastic!
From a purely – terrifyingly – religious perspective Iraq is extremely important to Iran and its Shia Islamic beliefs.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posted a translated broadcast from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on January 25 entitled “Waiting for the Mahdi” [the 12th Imam - the Shia's Messiah]
The broadcast begins, “The program describes in glowing terms the messianic age to be inaugurated by the Mahdi. He is to begin his uprising in Mecca, and then march on Iraq, where he will establish his “seat of world government” in the city of Kufa and subjugate the current world powers. This will be an age of unparalleled happiness; there will be completely new technologies at mankind’s disposal, and “corruption, war, and rebellion will no longer exist.” Neither will “liberal democratic civilization.”
Kufa is an ancient city in Iraq – about 80 miles due south of Baghdad – and of major historical and religious significance for Iran’s Shia powerbase.
The broadcast subtlety talks about the destruction of the non-believers – which by default means the Great Satan – America.
If someone could enlighten me with the political agenda of MEMRI, I’d be indebted. Until then … I am gripped by their series of reports on Iranian activities inside Iraq – dating from the start of the Iraq war – in which report after report confirms Iran’s alarming influence and heinous objectives for the Iraqi people.
As if this wasn’t enough to worry about; and just when you’re ready to spin a hefty counter-argument … that the Iraqi people can look after themselves! That their newly elected Parliament can be a sound platform to protect Iraq from subversive Iranian influences, you need to read an interview broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV this past December 28, 2006 in which Iraqi MP Iyad Jamal Al-Din is asked a series of penetrating questions about his support for America, democracy and the future of Iraq.
The interview begins:
Interviewer: “How can the Iraqi public, which is anti-American, and which believes the U.S. is the Great Satan, support people who talk the way you do?”
Iyad Jamal Al-Din: “Whoever believes America is the Great Satan should not shake its hand. I do not consider the U.S. to be the Great Satan. I view it as the sponsor and founder of the project of democracy, and the defender of democracy in Iraq. You can be sure that if America were to withdraw today, there would be Shiite massacres of Shiites, Sunni massacres of Sunnis, and Kurdish massacres of Kurds. The strong would again devour the weak, until somebody would be back the next day – there’s no doubt about it. We are still far from democracy.”
Interviewer: “On what do you base your trust of the U.S. and its plans for the region?”
Iyad Jamal Al-Din: “Democracy is the religion of the dollar and serves its global interests. This dollar has a spirited life – it is dear, honorable, and loveable. It gets vexed real quickly, get it? Dollar has a religion. The religion of the dollar is democracy. This applies to the entire world, because the dollar cannot thrive in dictatorial countries, but only in democracies. For the sake of their global economy, [the Americans] establish democracy.
Interviewer: “Democracy has resulted in what is now happening in Iraq.”
Iyad Jamal Al-Din: “The result of democracy… We don’t know… We are very far from liberty. Do we even know what to do with the values of liberty? The moment Saddam’s club was lifted from over our heads, each and every one of us wanted to assume Saddam’s personality. We had one Saddam, and now we have six, seven, 10, or 15 Saddams. We now have local mini-Saddams. I said this before the war. I said that America would do us a favor by ridding us of Saddam the dictator, but that this favor would be incomplete unless it rids us of the opposition parties. But this did not happen during the war. These people are photocopies of Saddam. Saddam was in power for 35 years, and so was the leader of this or that opposition party – not only in Iraq, but in all Arab and Islamic countries.
“The opposition is the mirror image of the regime. If we want to simplify matters, how come Hosni Mubarak has ruled for 23 years? I want to rule in his place, not because I want to change the nature of the regime, to make it a democracy, which respects human beings and private property… We are still far from all this. Therefore, in my opinion, democracy can be established in our region only through force. Democracy must be established by force, and only America can do it.”
So, in a nutshell, Iyad Jamal Al-Din, an Iraqi member of parliament and an ardent supporter of the United States believes democracy is the worship of the dollar and democracy can only be established by force – and only America can, therefore, force Iraq to be a democracy. Stellar!
To finally emphasize this meandering and extremely angry rant against the cruelty and inhumane levels to which Iran has weaponized religion and religious intolerance inside Iraq, read this except from a new post on The New Republic (dated January 29th):
“War Bonds. My horrifying tour of duty in Iraq, by Scott Thomas” – from The New Republic.
“…a short but unusually healthy-looking Iraqi kid approached out of my periphery wearing an Adidas hat and snowboarding t-shirt …”
Scott goes into great and touching detail about the spirited conversation he and the boy had about the boy’s desire to visit America and his family living in Los Angeles, CA. Wonderfully written and heart-felt.
The former GI then tells how his army buddies returned the next day to the Iraqi village and discovered that the Shia militia had cut the boy’s tongue out for having the audacity to innocently hold a conversation with ‘too many Americans’.
Scott finishes ripping your heart out by revisiting the boy:
“We didn’t go back to Little Venice for a raid or patrol or mission of any type for quite some time–maybe a month or two. But when we did eventually go back, I didn’t have to look very hard to find Ali. He was mixed in with the throng of children who waded up to our convoy screaming for us to throw them chocolate or soccer balls. Of course, he wasn’t screaming, but he was smiling and his hands were outstretched to catch whatever a soldier with a generous streak might be kind enough to throw at him. I wanted to yell, “Hey, James Bond! I hope you get to California!”–but I didn’t. I just watched him scramble for the soccer ball that went bobbing away toward an alley and out of my field of vision.”
Tell me this does not make your stomach turn and your blood boil with rage. That Scott Thomas demonstrates the humanity of America’s efforts in Iraq is plainly evident and courageous beyond measure. But of the evil that percolates throughout the Middle East? One wonders how anyone can return our troops home to the U.S. with a ‘Mission Accomplished’. Simply put, how will it be done?
In a half hearted attempt, with a puny sliver of optimism – I’ll throw you one suggestion – to peruse the blog Iranian Mohammad Ali Abtanhi – a politician – and an ardent fan of the moderate former President Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Mohammad Khatami – who at least tried to bring some semblance of reform to Iran in the years before Ahmadinejad. His ‘about me‘ blog pages conclude with this, “… the only way to save Iran would be to bring about reforms that would fully democratize the Iranian society.”
Tomorrow would not be soon enough for our soldiers in Iraq, for the Iraqis, for that little boy.
Posted on January 29th, 2007 under Al-Jazeera, Iran, Iraq, Kufa, MEMRI, New York Times, The New Republic • 
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