USADI Dispatch

A publication of the U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran


Volume IV, No. 15                                                                                                                                         October 5, 2007


Commentary by U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran

 

Sending the Right Signal to Tehran


Earlier in the week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the New York Post’s editorial board that a stable Iraq will act as "a block" against Iran's growing regional ambitions, whereas an unstable Iraq will serve as "bridge" for Tehran. Secretary Rice's accurate observation was reflected in the President’s remarks later in the week when he told an audience in Lancaster, PA, that standing firm in Iraq would send a crucial signal to ayatollahs while chaos and timidity “would embolden Iran."

France has been also increasingly vocal in its denunciation of Tehran’s drive for nuclear weapons and its destabilizing campaign in Iraq. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters on Thursday that Iraq has become an arena for Tehran’s “operations aimed at backing armed groups whether Shiite or Sunnis to spur conflicts among the different components of the Iraqi people.”

Meanwhile in Strasbourg, France, Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the major Iranian opposition coalition, the National Council of resistance of Iran, noted that the extent of Tehran’s advances in Iraq is far greater. She said that Iran’s clerical regime is the “de-facto occupier of Iraq.” Rajavi who was addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe warned that “the danger of the Iranian regime's meddling and terrorism in Iraq is a hundred times more dangerous than its nuclear threat.”

The message of her remarks was well understood in Tehran. Several days after her speech, Associated Press reported that Iran's parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel canceled a planned speech to the Council of Europe, protesting Rajavi’s invitation to the Council. Even before the opposition leader’s meeting, a group of parliamentarians from all major political groups in the Council had protested Haddad Adel's visit, calling on fellow lawmakers to leave the building if he spoke.

Rajavi’s warning comes at a time when more than 700 Iraqi political figures, among them Parliamentarians, governmental officials, Jurists and tribal leaders wrote a letter to the UN Secretary General in which they held Tehran responsible for the ongoing insecurity and carnage in Iraq.

The letter, demanding the UN to hold early elections in Iraq states that, "4 million refugees, 650 thousand dead and millions injured and devastation of all the economic, social, service and security infrastructure is the heavy price paid for infiltration of Iranian regime and its proxies in our country.” The signatories expressing their contempt for the ruling Tehran-backed Shiite coalition in Nuri al-Malki’s sectarian-based government stressed that "Everyone knows that the basis for the government is not democracy or people’s vote but murder, terrorism, death squads, instilling fear and imported bombs from Iran.”

The letter's assertion was amplified on Friday when the Multi-National Force – Iraq said in a statement that “Coalition forces were targeting a Special Groups commander believed to be associated with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard – Quds Force” killing 25 militants. Last month U.S. forces arrested a senior commander of the notorious terrorism-spawning Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Farhadi in northern Iraq.

Before his capture, Farhadi served as the Deputy Commander and senior intelligence officer of Quds Force's Zafar Tactical Base. Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. top commander in Iraq has described Farhadi as a "significant" player who is suspected of providing weapons, money and training to Iraqi militants since 2005.

Earlier in the week, US military spokesman Major General Kevin Bergner told a news conference in Baghdad that Farhadi has been driving Tehran's intelligence operations in Iraq for more than a decade and "as Zafar commander, he was responsible for Quds Force operations in north-central Iraq, including cross border transfers of weapons, people and money.”


Given this background, Farhadi’s presence in northern Iraq disguised as a “business delegation” was no coincidence. The Dallas Morning News reports that the regime in Iran has been behind the recent resurgence of Ansar al-Islam's, a terrorist Kurdish outfit with ties to al-Qaeda, with “a lurid reputation for beheadings and bombing beauty salons and family restaurants.”


To ensure that Iraq will become "a block" against Tehran, not a “bridge” for its regional ambitions, the clerical regime must be evicted form Iraq; ideologically, politically, economically and militarily. Any other policy recommendation is either meant to serve the strategic interests of Tehran in Iraq, or is based on a reckless naiveté about the true intentions and capacity of ayatollahs’ for turning Iraq into a roaming ground for fundamentalist terrorists and extremists who would have easy access to oil revenue and possibly nuclear bomb, and to more than a dozen states in the region.

In his speech in Lancaster, President Bush said that "Negotiations just for the sake of negotiations often times send wrong signals.” It is time to send the right signal to Tehran tyrants. (USADI)

 

USADI Commentary reflects the viewpoints of the US Alliance for Democratic Iran in respect to issues and events which directly or indirectly impact the US policy toward Iran

The US Alliance for Democratic Iran (USADI), is an independent, non-profit organization, which aims to advance a US policy on Iran that will benefit America through supporting Iranian people’s aspirations for a democratic, secular, and peaceful government. The USADI is not affiliated with any government agencies, political groups or parties.
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