Khomeini's Iran ø Darkness at Noon
UNITED NATIONS Ñ A quarter century ago a dark shadow eclipsed the light of Persia as the shroud of the Ayatollahs fell over Iran. This vibrant and economically virile land, was smothered by the heavy coarse cloak of fundamentalism. In a bizarre sense the Ayatollah Khomeini was able to turn the back the hands of time Ñ not in a remotely romantic way--but to a dour and dismal past through which the medievalist mullahs would impose a regime of political and social sterility and religious intolerance on the remarkably talented Persian people. Darkness had fallen at noon.
The politically inspired Islam which seized Iran, soon spread like a virus throughout many parts of the Middle East and indeed Southeast Asia. The Islamic Revolution in Teheran served as a grim and heady inspiration for fundamentalists the world over.
When the Shah of IranÕs modernizing state was toppled by the mob in 1979, few realized Ñ least of all President Jimmy Carter ø the deep geopolitical impact this would create on American interests. In the short run, a key U.S. ally and oil exporter in the Persian Gulf was now spouting a toxic form of anti-American hatred. Later the hostage crisis Ñ triggered when radical Iranian students seized the American Embassy and took 53 diplomats hostage for over a year Ñ was merely the tip of an iceberg, elements of which still lurk in the deep recess of the Islamic psyche.
The fall of Iran into the hands of fundamentalists caused a major shakeup of the players on the Middle East geopolitical chessboard Ñ the original if ill-placed Western support of SaddamÕs Iraq as a counterbalance to Islamic Iran was one such outcome. IranÕs support to the Hizbullah militias in Lebanon, or inspiration to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was also rooted in the Iranian Revolution.
Now more troubling to the West are continuing reports of Iranian nuclear research which has come to the attention of UN inspectors. Despite TeheranÕs claims to have declared these programs, evidence that Islamic Iran is still pursuing the nuclear genie persist.
But the enduring curse of fundamentalism in places as diverse as the Casbah of Algeria, the mountains of Afghanistan, to the rugged heartland of Yemen was in the Western view, the worst case scenario. What many had overlooked was that this toxic brew of fundamentalism led the likes of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida to export the threat beyond the Middle East--to London, to Paris and New York.
The heinous horrors of September 11th in many ways had their philosophical roots in the high-octane hatred concocted by IranÕs Islamic regime.
In recent years the Islamic Republic has tried to show a moderate face and indeed allow a parliamentary oppositionÑelections are slated for late February. "The elections are meaningless," Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran, told a Paris press conference. "It is critical not to mistake so-called reforms and elections as a cure for the Islamic Republic. Even perfect elections are meaningless for a parliament that does not have the right to make laws. This is a theocracy, remember,Ó Reza implored.
Interestingly young IraniansÑthose who have only lived under the Islamic Republic, have grown increasingly restless and openly opposed to the regime. Knowing only privation and socio/political sterility, people are disenchanted with the ruling mullahs.
Reza Pahlavi, during an address to correspondents at the Paris-based French/American Press Club added, ÒA quarter century ago, a disease from the middle ages took over my country. Its symptoms were fear of freedom and a fanatical zeal to reverse the march of civilization. With strange mutations, the disease spread as far as North Africa and the Far East, creating a brotherhood of terror which is the greatest threat to international security today.Ó
As a vital force in the large Iranian exile community pressing for peaceful democratic change, Reza Pahlavi warned, ÒIran itself became a convention center for the terrorist industry, a meeting place for those who fund, organize, lend logistic and scientific support, plan events and coordinate strategies against the free world. Add up all of that cost ø This is a problem that must be solved!Ó
May the darkness of this dismal regime soon pass and the light be restored to a Free Iran!
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense
issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.  |
