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Jewish World Review Dec. 12, 2002 / 7 Teves, 5763
Michael Ledeen
The Real War
But no major news organization - aside from this one - follows Iranian events carefully, if not day-by-day
at least week-by-week, which makes it difficult to maintain perspective. More's the pity, since the past
weekend's monster demonstrations all over the country suggest that the Iranians have turned an historic
corner.
Reporters in Tehran (there is not a single eyewitness account from any other city) estimated the number of
demonstrators between 1,500 and 10,000, the first being the official figure, the latter coming from the
London Telegraph. I have three eyewitness accounts of between 2,000-3,000 demonstrators in Tehran
alone, as well as reports of large-scale fighting between demonstrators and security forces in several major
cities, from Isfahan and Tabriz to Qom, Mashad and Shiraz, all over the country. Similarly, the newspapers
reported dozens of arrests, while it seems certain that roughly 2,000 were arrested in Tehran, with hundreds
more locked up elsewhere. Regular police did not participate in the repression, and were rewarded by calls
of "Thank you, police!" from the demonstrators. The bulk of the dirty work seems to have been done by the
so-called "Afghan Arabs," brought in from Afghanistan and Iraq. As of Wednesday morning, I was still
receiving reports of ongoing fighting in several cities.
It was the biggest organized demonstration, nationwide, since the revolution of 1979, and it is safe to say that
foreign reporters failed to report its true dimensions because they were told they would be thrown out of the
country if they did so.
Plus, there was no real coverage of the biggest breaking news of the weekend, which was the crystallization
of the revolt into a truly national movement, and the continuing signs of widening fissures within the regime.
The demonstrations started on the university campuses, but huge crowds of citizens - orders of magnitude
larger than the student groups - marched through the streets to join the protests. And their chants tell you
everything you need to know about the true nature of the national movement: "Referendum! Referendum!"
And, most tellingly, "We are paying the price of our parents' mistakes 23 years ago!" Which, of course, is
when the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power from the shah, and installed the Islamic republic.
Contrary to the constant description of the protesters as "reformists," the protests have gone far beyond calls
for an Islamism with a Human Face. Their most eloquent spokesman is the distinguished scholar Dr. Qasem
Sholeh Sadi, who recently published an open letter to Supreme Leader Khamenei that oozes contempt for
the regime, and calls for Khamenei to resign. Derisively referring to the Supreme Leader as "Hojjatoleslam
Mr. Ali Khamenei," thereby stressing his lack of theological standing, Sholeh Sadi denounces the endless
failures of the regime, from foreign policy to the internal misery of the Iranian people. And he underlines the
true nature of the popular vote for Khatami: "You know well that the twenty million votes for Mr.
Khatami...were more a strong 'no' to you than a 'yes' to Mr. Khatami."
As I wrote many months ago, Khatami was the empty vessel into which the rage of the Iranian people was
poured. "You have...labeled independent press as an enemies' base, turned your wrath against the
students...How long can you continue your opposition to the vote of the people?"
Meanwhile, back in Washington, a national-security directive on Iran languishes somewhere in the
constipated bowels of the bureaucracy. Those of us - a growing number, I'm pleased to say - who
believe our national interests and our national character demand active American support for the Iranian
revolution, hoped that the Bush administration would join the struggle, marvel at the stubborn unwillingness or
inability of this government to support the independent Iranian broadcasters (like National Iranian TV in Los
Angeles, recently silenced because they lack the funds to continue satellite broadcasting), and the Iranian
opposition leaders (who could and would be even more active if they had a safety net of money to feed their
children in the event of more mass arrests, and up-to-date communications gear to better coordinate action
in several cities).
Why is the National Security Council taking so long to formalize our policy? Why do the principals -
Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice, et. al. - not get this thing done? And why on earth has the president not demanded
that it be done quickly? We are not talking about military war here, we are talking about the kind of support
for freedom fighters that the United States has traditionally delivered in such cases, even in countries that
were not involved in a terrorist war against us. But Iran is the world's leading terrorist power, the keystone of
the terrorist network, the inspiration and protector of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of Hezbollah, the
supplier of Islamic Jihad and Hamas, a major producer of weapons of mass destruction, and the engine of
the global jihad.
Faster, please.
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12/09/02: Tom Friedman's Reformation: His Iran
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