Another Option on Iran
New York Post, June 15, 2008
While we bicker, Tehran is
sprinting towards its nuclear arms goal in defiance of
United Nations Security Council resolutions. Most recently,
in May, the International Atomic Energy Agency voiced its
"serious concerns" about the regime's nuclear ambitions.
Tehran's terrorist proxies continue to incite violence in
Iraq. All this begs the question: isn't there a better way
out of the current deadlock? The answer is "yes."
Tehran's main fear is that the US might go for a option
besides air strikes - reaching out to Iranian resistance
groups for help. Although not yet contemplated by the
administration, this option enjoys strong bipartisan support
from members of Congress.
Several years ago, in an effort to placate the ayatollahs in
exchange for short-lived benefits, the Clinton
administration and later the EU blacklisted Iran's largest
and most active opposition group, the People's Mujahedin
Organization of Iran, or MEK. Needless to say, they got
nothing in return.
In a landmark ruling in May, the UK Court of Appeal ruled
that the MEK's inclusion in the list of terrorist
organizations was "perverse" and "unlawful," and must
immediately be set aside. The British Government has abided
by the ruling and laid a draft order before the Parliament
removing the group from its blacklist.
Relying on its network throughout Iran, the MEK is
organizing student demonstrations, gathering intelligence on
Tehran's nuclear weapons program and stirring up social
discontent. The MEK promotes a secular, Democratic
government, which would embrace separation of chuch and
state, religious freedom, equal rights for men and women,
freedom of press, speech, political association.
Military strikes against Iranian nuclear targets would not
bring about change in Iran; it is only the Iranian people
and their organized resistance who have the qualification
and the duty to accomplish that.
Washington does have a viable choice: removing the
restrictions on the Iranian democratic opposition, which
would unleash the enormous potential of the younger
generation, already engaged in nationwide anti-government
protests. This is the only logical option with promise of a
way out of the current Iranian policy impasse.
Alireza Jafarzadeh is a FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs
Analyst and the author of "The
Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear
Crisis" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
Jafarzadeh has revealed Iran's terrorist network in Iraq and
its terror training camps since 2003. He first disclosed the
existence of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and the
Arak heavy water facility in August 2002.
