A Petition on Iran
Iranian poet and dissident Amil Imani has asked David, the husband of our good friend Aussiegirl (who recently passed away) to circulate this petition calling for nonviolent pressure on Iran. Imani was a good friend of Aussiegirl`s, and I am happy to comply.
The petition suggests many good ways to put the screws to the Mullahs, although I think taking military action off the table would be a mistake. I`m not at all sure that Iran can be reasoned with at this point, and I suspect it may be too late to support a general uprising against the Revolutionary Government. Christopher Orlet once pointed out to me that Islamic governments never seem to suffer from uprisings and he`s right; I can think of few examples. We`ve seen revolutions against Westernized monarchs or republics by Fundamentalist Moslems, but not the other way around. I`ve always advocated a Contra strategy in dealing with Iran (build a resistance movement and force the Mullahs out) but that would take time, and may not be successful if Orlet is correct. Time is not on our side.
I`m still pondering whether I will sign or not. I want all of you to follow the dictates of your conscience, and sign if you think it is appropriate. This petition offers many good ideas, and a large number of signiators will aid in the diplomatic efforts.
The petition suggests many good ways to put the screws to the Mullahs, although I think taking military action off the table would be a mistake. I`m not at all sure that Iran can be reasoned with at this point, and I suspect it may be too late to support a general uprising against the Revolutionary Government. Christopher Orlet once pointed out to me that Islamic governments never seem to suffer from uprisings and he`s right; I can think of few examples. We`ve seen revolutions against Westernized monarchs or republics by Fundamentalist Moslems, but not the other way around. I`ve always advocated a Contra strategy in dealing with Iran (build a resistance movement and force the Mullahs out) but that would take time, and may not be successful if Orlet is correct. Time is not on our side.
I`m still pondering whether I will sign or not. I want all of you to follow the dictates of your conscience, and sign if you think it is appropriate. This petition offers many good ideas, and a large number of signiators will aid in the diplomatic efforts.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 6:48 AM
2 Comments:
I dont know if this will help. In the case of the 15 yr. old Iranian girl who while defending herself from being raped killed one of her attackers the petition to exonerate her helped. To change the thinking of a gov`t whose stated purpose is hatred I doubt if it wont just get trashed.
Fars news agency reported this today:"Asked to elaborate on the documents proving involvement of the US and Britain in recent incidents in Iran's Sistan and Balouchestan province, he said, "The weapons that the terrorists have used are US and British made. Moreover, the arrested terrorist agents have meantime, confessed that they have been trained by English-speaking people."
The defeatist in our country will run with this regardless if the weapons were made in the 1700`s and the documents were signed by Thomas Jefferson.
Amil is a real good person who changed my mind on bombing Iran. As he pointed out it will bring the border liners in Iran into the radicals camp creating more terrorists and suicide bombers willing to blow themselves up on every street corner here in the States.
When Irans leading nuclear scientist died a couple weeks back that hurt them and from the few subtle announcements made by FARS they are in trouble.I see the possibility that because he couldnt deliver on Irans nuclear deadline they eliminated him as a warning and in so doing shot themselves in the foot.Look how many Generals and scientists Hitler killed.
Excellent points all, Mike!
Yes, it is a difficult situation, one I`m not at all convinced can be solved by an airstrike or some other such half-measure. We must either press for revolution in Iran, or be prepared to go all out with a full scale invasion-which would mean a WWII style military action of gigantic proportions.
Of course, special ops could be used in certain measures; I`m not sure how effective they will be.
Still, the clock is ticking, and I fear we have squandered our chances to effectively deal with this.
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