[DoctorZIn]

You are asking interesting questions. I admire your efforts and concern.

SMCCDI works with many groups on both the right and left.
I have regular contact with their US leadership and they are very supportive of our president and his efforts.

There is a lot of pressure on groups like this to be inclusive. Even our greatest supporters in the US Senate have asked Iranians in the US to create a single group that can represent the Iranian people's cause, from far left to far right.

I believe SMCCDI is simply trying to work with all those that will champion their cause.

I think your real question is whether these radical left wing groups will be able to exert undo influence on a post Islamic regime. If we refuse to work with them because the left also supports their cause, the left will be the only ones giving them counsel and advice.

This would be a greater mistake.

[William McKinley]

I think that leaving totally unanswered what type of governance will be fashioned after the theocracy is deposed is not an acceptable stance.

The revolution that took place and put the Islamic Republic Party in place was leftist in style and tactics, and was supported by the Iranian left. They may feel they ended up being betrayed, but any leftist movement or revolution leaves the people who supported it feeling betrayed- it is only a matter of if it happens right away or later.

It was students, as every American recalls, who took the hostages. The left was a major force in the universities of Iran, as is generally the case.

The Islamic Republic Party formed a government based on a form of Islam but with the typical leftist tight control over the economy by the state-- and without economic freedom there can be no real freedom.

The destabilization of the Shah's regime was accomplished with the street demonstrations, propaganda, and general strikes that the left always employs.

It would be incredible naivety for us to believe that the leaders of the SMCCDI have not thought about what their plans are, should they succeed. They have. They don't want to say. They need to if they want to get the support of people like me-- for if they are leftist they will end up under a form of repression just as bad as they live under now, but in getting there there would be many risks for American lives and wasted American dollars.