Joe Conason: How to Deal with Iran

[babylonsister]

How to Deal with Iran
By Joe Conason

The loud, angry and sterile debate over the Iranian president's visit to Columbia University raises a more serious problem that has long confounded American policymakers: How to cope with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's real masters, the corrupt regime of mullahs who determine both foreign and domestic policy in Iran. Their rule has meant awful suffering for the Iranian people, whose democratic aspirations remain frustrated, and instability for the Middle East and the world, as the leadership in Tehran constantly seeks provocations to distract from its own failures.

Now the same geopolitical geniuses who promoted the invasion of Iraq -- and thereby endowed the mullahs with more influence than they ever enjoyed before -- insist that the only solution is another war. They claim that we are already at war and should begin bombing Iranian nuclear and military sites as soon as possible.

What we should have learned after nearly 30 years is that neither blustering threats nor diplomatic isolation have advanced our interests, but have only bolstered the worst elements in the Iranian autocracy. And what we could begin to learn this week is that direct engagement, even to the point of entertaining a demagogue like Ahmadinejad in a prestigious educational forum, may eventually prove more useful.

Once merely a small-time populist politician in his hometown, Ahmadinejad has become a folk hero throughout the Muslim and Arab worlds thanks to his provocations against America, Israel and the West. Sunni Muslims and secular-minded Arabs who might otherwise oppose Shiite authoritarianism applaud him because they perceive him as standing up for them against Western oppressors. Each expression of American outrage against the Iranian president from afar, every screaming tabloid headline and radio rant, only inflates the significance of this unimpressive and fundamentally unimportant man. And the constant threats of war from within the Bush White House and its neoconservative echo chamber intensify the effectiveness of his propaganda, both within his own country and across the Middle East.

The moment of dialogue at Columbia, by contrast, shrank Ahmadinejad back down to a more realistic size. Unlike Tehran, where his thugs can intimidate, imprison and even murder those who dare to question him, he had to stand and listen meekly as Columbia students and president Lee Bollinger demanded answers about his government's repressive acts. Although Bollinger went over the top in parroting various White House themes in his brusque language, his commitment to free speech reflected well on the United States.

The U.S. government should make sure that the Columbia videotape is broadcast everywhere, proving that we live up to our ideals and do not fear the likes of Ahmadinejad. Let the world watch him respond with pious banalities, feeble dodges and absurd falsehoods -- "we have no homosexuals" -- and then judge whether he is a hero or a fraud.

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/09/how_to_deal_with_iran.html

[Possumpoint]

1. Article Ignores Tenants of Shiite Theology

In Islam, especially the Shiite branch, all teachings and power belong to the Mullahs. Per the teachings of the Koran, Shia are required to offer obedience to them over all others. They are not suppose to offer allegiance to any secular entities such as government or country. Under the Iranian Constitution the Mullahs have the right and power to over rule laws and ban any progressive candidates they see fit. They can and do block all reform.

Would love to have a peaceful resolution to events in the Middle East but it won't happen until the people themselves rise up and overthrow the religious masters. This would be problematic with people whose religious training has dictated otherwise. We have dealt with other Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia on a peaceful basis for over 60 years. Sure has been a lot of change in that country, hasn't there? Maybe some time in the next 20 years women will be allowed to drive but the Mullahs want that blocked to avoid women mixing with men they aren't related to.

IMHO Islam is a back wards religion that is afraid of the modern world and any changes that would impose on their theology. There is at the present time, no allowance made for change. The Koran dictates otherwise. That is the law of the prophet. The fundamentalists want their society to remain rooted in the 9th century. They wish to export this theology to the western world.