This special briefing focuses on Iran, courtesy of D.J. Persia of Project: FREE-IRAN!, with additions from today's Winds of War host Andrew Olmsted.
TOP TOPIC
* "THE REGIME IN TEHRAN MUST HEED THE DEMOCRATIC DEMANDS OF THE IRANIAN PEOPLE." - George W. Bush
* Nov. 5th was Persian Blogging Day. Read Iranian blogfather Hossein Derakhshan to find out why that matters, and how far we've come.
* JK: Arash Bateni of Freethoughts.org offers "Iran's Nuclear Plan: A Matter of Fact Review." Very good job, with good links.
Other Topics Today Include: Nukes update; State Dept. perfidity; Freedom & Democracy supporters strike back; Many question Nobel winner Shirin Ebadi; Anniversary of US Embassy seizure; Son of Zahra Kazemi accepts award and rejects Ebadi's help; 1994 car bombing of a Argentine Jewish facility; More demonstrations in Iran; Islamic Reformation; Iranian Freedom & Democracy Movie.
Iran's Quest for the Bomb
* AO: Iran continues to string along the international community regarding its nuclear program, now promising to turn over two letters accepting tougher inspection standards and suspension of the nuclear enrichment program. While official letters are a nice touch, until real inspections take place, they're not worth the paper they're printed on.
* Amir Taheri notes that Following EU and State Department policy will also lead to a regime of fanatic clerics armed with nuclear weapons. Of course we all know why the EU supports the Mullahs. Lucrative business deals at the expense of 70 million Iranians!
* JK: Meanwhile, Kaveh offers some regional and strategic concerns about Pakistan. WishI could reassure you there, buddy, but I can't.
Iranian Voices
* Stephan Hachemi, son of Zahra Kazemi, received an award in the name of his dear mother on Thursday night. "I still want the body of my mother brought back to Canada where she belongs," Hachemi said. "I'm still looking for those responsible to be punished."
* Zahra Kazemi's son has rejected Shirin Ebadi's help and is upset the peace prize laureate will appear in Iranian court on behalf of the Kazemi family. Stephan Hachemi said that Ebadi "..represents my grandmother" "This is exactly what the Iranian government wants - for me to recognize the legitimacy of their justice - and that's exactly what I'm not going to do."
* JK: Speaking of Shirin Ebadi, many Iranians both inside and outside Iran have mixed views about the Nobel winner. There is pride, but also questions about her acceptance of Islamic laws of torture, amputations, stoning, beating and flogging.
* Please read this important letter addressed to Shirin Ebadi by Parvin Darabi, Chairwoman of the Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation, a human rights organization defending the right of women against religious, cultural and social abuse.
* Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran, has an editorial in the Wall Street Journal
* If you discuss this issue with informed Iranians and others, you get the sense that Reza Pahlavi is not saying that he wants to be the next leader of Iran, but rather he is saying that despite all of our differences and political views we must all unite for one common goal, which is to get rid of the regime. I recommend reading Winds Of Change.The idea that all of these groups will combine forces frightens the Mullahs, of course. Guess what, it's just the beginning!
* AO: Sunday Iran freed a Berkeley professor who they held for nearly four months on espionage charges. This may represent an attempt by the Iranian government to smooth relations with the west, although it remains to be seen if they will attempt to try Professor Zahedi on the charges, or let the matter quietly drop.
* Meanwhile, November 4th was the 24th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Obviously this was another opportunity for the regime to gather as many fanatics as they could for an Anti-US demonstration. Luckily, IranianGirl posted some of her thoughts on the event.
The International Stage
* In other news a former senior Iranian intelligence agent says Iran was solely responsible for a deadly 1994 car bombing of an Argentine Jewish facility that killed 85 people.
* Of course Iran's Foreign Ministry has denied that any Iranian officials were involved. These are also the guys who claim that Iran is a democracy and citizens have all the freedom they want!
* Since Oct 28th, supporters of the Iranian people and democracy have struck back at the State Dept and EU policymakers with articles, letters, and radio broadcasts declaring their condemnation of policies that would appease the Mullahs rather than facilitate and encourage freedom. We can consider the speech by Bush yesterday to be a culmination of this onslaught. However, before we break out the champagne, lets make sure that these words are put into action.
* Pejman was also encouraged by what President Bush had to say.
* Some time has elapsed since the State Department publicly opened its hand on October 28th at the Committee on Foreign Relations hearing in regards to their current thinking on Iran. Summed up, their stance is that we should negotiate with the Mullahs in Tehran and that it matters little whether or not a majority of Iranians are pleading for our support and want an end to the regime. The second half of the Foreign Relations Testimony that followed included a panel of four men who all sounded like regime mercenaries. They were critical of Israel and very sensitive and apologetic to the Mullahs.
* Michael Ledeen pinned the tail on the donkey with his assessment that "..the bit about supporting democracy in Iran is the usual State Department two-step: They tell you what they think you want to hear, and then, figuring you won't read the small print, they go ahead and do what they want to do, which is usually to appease the tyrants and open a new round of negotiations." He also points out the willful official blindness toward Iranian actions in Iraq.
Socio-Economic Developments
* AO: Iran's youth remains our best hope for a turn away from terror in that state. This weekend Iranian students held a vigil in support of Dr. Hashem Aghajari, who is facing the death penalty for his call for Iranians not to follow Iran's clerical leadership "like monkeys."
* JK: Kaveh has an insightful post that discusses Islamic reformation. He notes: "Reformation, as an intentional transformation, can bring extremely orthodox ideas back into power" - and gives some examples. Looks like it's going to be a good blog series.
* JK: Kaveh also discusses ethnic minorities in Iran.
Etcetera
* Be sure to watch this excellent Flash Movie illustrating the Iranian struggle for freedom.
What I like best is how he now writes against even the Bush State Department [!] without the least sense of remorse or irony.
Geopolitics makes for strange bedfellows, and your argument is self-defeating. If Ledeen does indeed have insider knowledge and has changed his position since, that makes him MORE credible - not less.
One might also observe that the world in 2003 is just a wee bit different than the world in 1983. In case you hadn't noticed or anything. Could it be that the world around Ledeen has changed, and so his views on specific countries' threat levels and appropriate U.S. policies have changed with it? What a unique concept!
Meanwhile, what's your position on Iran? You never seem to say.
Joe Katzman, your argument about insider knowledge of one who recants is superficial and often false. Take, for example, Jacques Doriot, who went from being one of France's leading Trotskyists between the wars to dying in Germany, an active Nazi collaborationist. Wrong twice!
In any event, the problem with Ledeen is not that he has changed his mind about appeasing dictators, although it would be nice to know why and under what circumstances. The problem is his high-handed moral censure of the State Department for (allegedly) doing exactly what he used to do without any of the penitential affect expected of the reformed sinner. It's like hearing about family values from flagrant adulterers like Newt Gingrich and George Will.
To answer your question, I think we should offer the democratic forces in Iran whatever help they ask of us, including "none" if they (quite plausibly) feel that their movement would be tainted if seen as American-supported. Do I think we are preparing a totally-secret attack as the opening of an undeclared war on Iran? I sure hope not. (What's Farsi for "Pearl Harbor"?)
Andrew -
It almost sounds as though you're treating political actions and maneuvoring of an invidiual from two distinctly different time periods as though they have occured within a vaccum untouched by agendas and policy of a certain time period. You do what you do at a given time and place based on your objectives and the surrounding environment and scenario. Ledeen is attacking the State Dept. now because he feels they are wallowing down a path that won't be good for the country and the world (path of appeasing dictators).
I am definitely not saying that Ledeen isn't entitled to change his mind. What I don't accept is how he now takes what appears to be a morality-based and universal stand (and not a practical/realist and locative stand) without any signs of remorse or repentance, or any explanation why he moved away from his own policy of appeasing dictators. Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that the State Department is doing exactly what he says, isn't it possible that their reasons for doing so now are as good or better than his reasons for doing so then? He does not even address this question. Instead, he takes as self-evident now a precept he did not even believe earlier. Your quite correct comment that times change cuts both ways.
Maybe he thinks we have all forgotten!
Thanks folks for a very detailed and interesting briefing on Iran. You guys dig really deep! I tried to ping your post over from *FToI* but got an error message. At any rate, there is a fresh post there on Zahra Kazemi's case you might be interested in, here is the link:
*Hachemi vs. Ebadi: Justice in the Islamic Republic*
Babak - I just read your piece "Hacemi vs. Ebadi". I for one, and I know for a fact many people definitely lean towards the side of Kazemi's son in this matter and are united with him in demanding the return of Kazemi's body to Canada as well as an international trial. In theory this idea and concept of the Ebadi, an Iranian - Muslim woman winning nobel peace prize is great, but in practice it's starting to look more and more as a ploy by the regime and EU to maintain the status quo and continue pushing the little engine of reform that is not likely to ever bring about any reform..
Nevertheless, great piece..
In Unity -
DJ Persia