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07 May 2003

Senator Brownback Calls for Supporting Iranian Democracy Movement

(Seminar on the future of Iran stresses the promotion of democracy)
(820)
By Afzal Khan
Washington File Special Correspondent 
Washington -- The United States should open a dialogue with the people
of Iran and support democratic forces that are in opposition to the
Islamic regime there, according to Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas).
Brownback was keynote speaker at a seminar on the future of Iran
hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Hudson
Institute and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in
Washington March 6.
Describing the Iranian government as "tyranny of the mullahs,"
Brownback said that the United States must abandon any talk of
engaging with the regime because it has not implemented democratic
reforms. He said that clerics in the regime have misled the youth of
Iran by saying that the United States would end sanctions soon and cut
a deal with the Islamic government.
"The United States has cut no deal with Iran and will not do so,"
Brownback emphasized. He added, "we are friends of the Iranian people
but are opposed to the regime."
Brownback stressed that it was crucial for U.S. policymakers to
understand that the Iranian regime is meddling in post-war Iraq just
like it is doing in post-war Afghanistan. He pointed out that Shi'ite
mobs in Iraq were chanting "death to America" echoing Iranian mobs
during the 1979 revolution that overthrew the shah.
Referring to an earlier speech by President Bush at AEI, Brownback
said that change in the region necessitated the promotion of
democracy, which is the true road to peace.
"Don't stop the horse in midstream, go for democracy in the (entire)
region," Brownback said. He added that the country is "on the verge of
a historic shift" and that it was in the U.S. national security
interest to have a democratic Iran.
Brownback said he has introduced a resolution in the Senate for the
support of democracy in Iran. He said his legislation calls for
funding radio and television broadcasts into Iran, translating books
into Farsi to promote democracy, and supporting an Iran Democracy
Foundation for Iranian-Americans pressing for democracy in Iran.
Bernard Lewis, noted scholar on Islam at Princeton University, said
that Iran fears the prospect of democracy in Iraq because a majority
of Iranians "cordially detest" their Islamic regime. Lewis said while
the 1979 revolution in Iran was genuinely broad-based, that revolution
today has entered "a Stalinist phase."
Lewis explained that the U.S. military presence in Iraq is now
presenting a greater threat to the Iranian regime than Saddam and that
there was "a danger of contamination" from democracy spilling over
from Iraq through Iranian Shi'ites going for pilgrimage to the holy
cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq.
Lewis said that Iran wants democracy to fail in Iraq and the United
States to walk away. He warned that the image of "a soft America"
afraid of casualties as proclaimed by Osama bin Laden is still
prevalent in Iran, and that "a Lebanon-type of terrorism" practiced by
the Hezbollah that drove Israel out of south Lebanon may be easier to
undertake in Iraq.
Uri Lubrani, a former Israeli ambassador to Iran and now adviser to
the Israeli minister of defense, said Iran wants to first take charge
of the holy Shi'ite cities of Najaf and Karbala and then infiltrate
trained cadres into the rest of the country. Lubrani said Iran does
not want U.S. bases in Iraq and that it would employ the terrorist
tactics of the Hezbollah in Lebanon to get Americans out of Iraq.
Later, during a question-answer session, Lubrani said an Iranian
"solidarity movement" should be encouraged to change the regime in
Iran similar to Poland's experience in toppling its communist regime.
Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA Middle East specialist and now a
resident AEI scholar, addressed the prospect of an Iran with nuclear
weapons. Gerecht said Iran is now in a position to have nuclear
weapons in less than two years. He added that the Islamic regime is
still capable of handling student dissent for another two years.
The "moment of spontaneous combustion" for the regime to collapse from
within has not come yet, although it could come in the future, Gerecht
said.
Gerecht said Iranian clerics as well as the more liberal elements of
the Iranian population support the building of nuclear weapons so the
program would move forward.
On terrorism, Gerecht said that Iran did "a foolish thing" by allowing
certain elements of the al-Qaeda to take shelter in Iran, notably
Mohamed al-Zawahiri.
Morris Amitay, vice chairman of the Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs, said he thought that U.S. military action against
Iran was unlikely, at least "between now and 2004" when U.S.
presidential elections take place. However, he reiterated that "regime
change in Iran should be top U.S. priority."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)