Today, Washington is abuzz with a new term: Engagement. As attractive as it may seem, the question remains, to what end and at what expense? Are the people of Iran left out of this equation?We submit that while engagement in fact may be an important diplomatic tool, any dialogue with the clerical regime must not exclude the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people, namely liberty and human rights. If so, the west will only succeed in alienating the Iranian street, which by all measures has consistently rejected the regime’s venomous anti-western orientation since its inception.
With the new theme of hopefulness emanating from Washington, it is hard to imagine that the new president, elected on the platform of people power, could remain indifferent to the plight of 70 million Iranians who demand the same.
Engagement is only acceptable if it is based on a dual track approach that includes the Iranian people in parallel to the ruling clerics.
Engagement with my compatriots should start by using every opportunity to voice and recognize pro-democracy activists and movements within Iran and the condemning of human rights abuses perpetrated by the regime.
We believe that a democratic Iran will guarantee a popularly elected secular system of government with checks and balances and a clear delineation of power. This will ensure a vibrant civil society wherein people of different ethnicities, religious, socio-economic groups, and political persuasions will coexist peacefully while rebuilding their homeland. Iranians are a gifted people with a great civilization. It is time to allow them to freely choose for themselves the political system of their choice, and towards that goal, all Iranians and non-Iranians who share this end must unite.
Reza Pahlavi's views are precisely the recipe for true peace and stability in what has been and will continue to be the witch's kitchen.Hussein is against everything Reza Pahlavi has expressed here--two track, secular, democracy--
Hussein is a crypto-Islamist with a fascist core, the Marxist hatred of the masses, of their freedoms, aspirations--except to exploit for revolution and repression.
Hussein retains the glutinous Robert M. Gates who coauthored with Zbigniew Brzezinski the 2004 Council on Foreign Relations paper Iran:Time for a New Approach
Hussein falls all over himself wanting to hug Ahmadinejad, Hugo, Fidel, Kim, any America-hating dictator, but no freedom-loving peoples here or abroad.
Imagine George Bush having secretly asked Putin to keep Iran from attaining nuclear weapons in exchange for standing down from missile defense in Eastern Europe--
The conditions are perfect for Iran to get the weapons, develop delivery, continue repression at home and destabilization abroad.
It is vital to there being a world future that we depose the mullahs.
Imagine one nuclear weapon in one U.S. city, delivered by any of a number of unconventional means.
In this the mullahs have more to lose than Hussein.
He's knocked down all the security measures Bush installed after 911 that have kept us safe.
Now Hussein gives the green light to terrorists and the mullahs who pay their freight that it's a kinder gentler world for their evil machinations.
