The book, Arab Rebels and Iranian Dissidents,
compares revolts in the Arab world beginning in 2010
with activities of Iranian dissidents in and outside
Iran during periods of intense political activity.
Chapter One examines European revolutions in relation to
Arab revolts, investigates political and economic causes
of Arab uprisings, and closes with lessons learned from
prior revolutions regarding prospects for regime change
in Iran. Chapter Two examines history, achievements, and
future prospects of the Iranian Mojahedin. Achievements
include being so important to Tehran that it pays
inordinate attention to and persecutes the Mojahedin.
Secular groups that spearheaded Arab uprisings lacked
organizational skills to govern; the Mojahedin reveal
such ability by surviving despite efforts to destroy
them. Chapter Three explores U.S. interests and role in
Arab and Iranian revolutionary activity. The Mojahedin
pose a political threat to the Iranian regime, which is
a source of leverage to reinforce the U.S. threat of
military action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear
weapons. The Mojahedin are in position to ramp up their
capacity to reveal nuclear secrets. Also of strategic
value are more than 100 Mojahedin disclosures of Iranian
regime violations of nonproliferation obligations.
Several major revelations have been validated by
independent observers. Iranian dissidents neither
require nor request arms and military support; Libyan
rebels, however, asked for and received U.S. air support
to overthrow the Libyan regime in 2011. And Syrian
rebels may receive lethal American support as that Civil
War grinds on and there is evidence of chemical weapons
use by Damascus. Regarding Libya, hark back to the
spring of 2011. The idea behind the international
intervention in Libya was to provide support for the
people as they sought to overthrow the Gadhafi regime.
The story behind the story of Libya is how the major
powers eventually chose to support rebels rather than
continue supporting military dictatorships. The western
powers had accepted the legitimacy of the regime in
Tripoli, although it had little popular support. There
was an assumption that regime change from within was
unlikely; and it was unnecessary and even undesirable to
change this rogue state with external military force.
Libya was a status quo regime that often cooperated with
Washington in areas like terrorism and
proliferation—American priorities. But once the Libyan
people rose up, President Obama used the changed
political landscape to pivot toward the people away from
a rogue regime. The Arab uprisings and June 2013
elections in Iran offer Washington a window of
opportunity to reset its policies away from just
engaging Tehran to support people-inspired political
change in Iran. President Obama can induce the
leaderless Iranian street to rise up in their eternal
quest for freedom. How? Mr. President: Empower
expatriate supporters of the Mojahedin to facilitate the
trip up the road to liberal democracy symbolized by
Azadi Square. With removal of the terrorist tag and
increased support from the American public, heightened
congressional clout, and enhanced international stature,
U.S. officials should reach out to the Mojahedin. U.S.
envoys now have the opportunity to meet the Mojahedin at
the White House, State Department, and abroad in
American embassies. Sessions also could be held in the
newly-reopened offices of the U.S. Representative of the
National Council of Resistance of Iran in Washington DC,
which are a block away from the White House. It is in
the U.S. interest to hold such meetings, which would
signal to the Iranian regime that all U.S. options are
truly on the table, implicitly including regime
change.
|
|