How
US Can Solve Iran's Nuke Issue|
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How
US Can Solve Iran's Nuke Issue
Sam Ghandchi
http://www.ghandchi.com/743-iran-us-nuke-eng.htm
If you are looking for the same
diatribes that have been written about nuclear issue with Iran in the last 30
years which have not really made a dent, please do not read further. Otherwise,
this is a very straight forward statement about what US is doing to Iran versus
what it can do to resolve this issue.
United States during the last thirty years has tried either to use all the back
doors to talk to Islamic Republic or has tried to execute various plan B
projects using some obedient opposition groups with the Iranian monarchists and
Reza Pahlavi at the top. Individuals such as Michael Ledeen and Kenneth
Timmerman have been instrumental in the king-making efforts with such symbols of
dictatorship, trying to sell them as Iran's "democratic" opposition. Any
individuals from real democratic opposition of Iran who worked with these people
lost their own credibility.
Some Israeli advisers have called for using news agencies such as VOA for US
plan B efforts and thus have caused the loss of credibility of such
organizations that have commitment to their audience to offer balanced
uncensored news, exercising and promoting American values of democracy and not
to become instruments of US government- the very thing which they criticize
about media in countries like China, North Korea and Islamic Republic of Iran.
For example the new editor of VOA, ..and his supervisor for VOA
Persian web have caused a drastic drop of newsworthy material in the VOA Persian
broadcasts. Of course, this is not surprising as ..at one time reporting about most important events of the decade at BBC had
completely "forgotten" about Iran's Green Movement of 2009 (1).
The VOA charter is different from the charter of Radio Israel, and working for
VOA is not the same as working for Israeli foreign ministry. Iranians hate CIA
to decide for them what to see or watch and like to get all the news and make up
their own mind. News should be a product of journalistic environment and not a
center with intelligence watching over one's shoulder, something the US yes-men
cannot create. The thing that we criticize about Islamic Republic when big
brother interferes in the news selections and their media end up with
censorship.
Democracy cannot be built in an environment when people would be scared by
intelligence supervision. If such policies were going to work, there would be no
need for VOA in the first place. And Mr. Ledeen should have been successful when
for years he tried to make Reza Pahlavi the king of Iran and isolate democratic
voices of Iran tired of continuation of 1953 coup policies.
These policies are a total failure because they neglect the Iranian people and
their aspirations for independent thought. This is not a cliché. Just remember
when US Congress looked at former Czechoslovakia's situation, they looked for an
independent-minded leader like Vaclav Havel to invite, but when US government
looks for an Iranian to talk to, they think of Reza Pahlavi who is paid by CIA,
or they invite journalists who only say what they like to hear. In short, the US
officials have been looking for Iranian yes-men the same way the British looked
for people of such character in Iran during their time of influence. Talking to
Iranians, the U.S. government should see that Iranian people today only go for
mutual respect and independence and this is exactly why the ones US has picked
to talk to, have no credibility among Iranians.
What can US do? United States needs to first break the wall that separated the
two nations in the 1953 coup. Again this is not a cliché. It means all the
management at US agencies that deal with Iran and Iranians, starting with VOA,
should make sure to have the kind of people in charge, who look for equal and
unbiased approach to Iranians and not discriminate against people on the basis
of political thought which is so central to Iranian life today. In other words
to talk to Iranians who are not yes-men and are even critical of them. The
current managers .. are part of the problem
and not the solution. These are not the kind of people that can help the US
relation with Iranians. They would be best to work at Radio Israel and the
Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Next thing the US should do is to clearly speak to Iranian people not just by
Norouz greetings. US should cut thru the chase and say what it really wants to
do to remedy the errors it made when it did the CIA coup of 1953, and when it
helped the Shah and Savak rule of terror for 25 years, and when in the last 30
years it has helped Reza Pahlavi and not the real Iranian democratic opposition,
those of Iranian descent who want a similar democratic republic for their
country of origin as there is in the U.S. Iranians talk to their relatives back
in Iran and this is how the credibility of US government words is checked. It is
not just apologizing about 1953 coup but it is about apologizing for continuing
the same policies towards Iranians for 30 years after the 1979 revolution,
trying to make US puppets to represent Iranians and creating fake opposition
councils. This is not about Islamic Republic, this is about respecting Iranian
people and considering them as equal not as servants.
Look at the time of Soviet Union. The communists in Iran were surprised why
despite all Soviet propaganda at Radio Moscow, people did not want the
communists. Because people knew more about what the reality of communism than
the Iranian communists. How? They knew from their relatives who were truck
drivers going thru those Eastern Bloc countries seeing the misery. People knew
by hearing from relatives who had moved to those Eastern Bloc countries. The
same is true about Iranians today. They trust more the words of their relatives
who live in the U.S. and when they hear that US is still making a puppet and is
trying to do king-making for Iran, they lose trust. When they hear about
discriminations in favor of monarchists in American government offices, they
will not trust the words US says about supporting human rights. Human rights is
about deeds and not words, otherwise Islamic Republic says all kinds of words
about justice and freedom. People can see the honest action and treatment of
mutual respect feeling equal..
Now to solve the nuclear issue, once this fake gateway of Iranian monarchists
and yes-men is brought down, the U.S. will be able to see what real Iran's
democratic opposition wants and working together, the solution arrived will be
able to gain the support of Iranian people inside Iran. Using Radio Farda (RFL/RE)
to tell Iranian people that they have selected Reza Pahlavi as the person of the
year for 2011 (2), only creates more mistrust among Iranian people towards the
U.S. as it is an insult to Iranians' intelligence; they will say the U.S. is
doing the same things it did at the time of 1953 CIA coup and 25 years after
that in Iran when trying to push its own choice as Iranians' choice.
Two weeks ago I wrote an article entitled "Mr. Obama Please Tear Down this
Wall," (3) I still believe that is what the U.S. needs to do to make any change
in the relation of the US and Iranian people. Supporting human rights in Iran
starts with having honesty with Iranian people and not trying to make Reza Pahlavi a leader for Iranians which he is not. Mr. Pahlavi does not represent
Iran's democratic opposition (4) and hundreds of interviews on VOA, RFE/RL,
Deutsche Welle, and BBC will not do the job. Iranian people do not want CIA to
select their leader.
Islamic Republic has been able to show the nuclear issue to Iranian people as
equivalent to nationalization of oil at the time of Mossadegh because US policy
towards Iranian people and democratic opposition has not changed. Otherwise,
Iranian people would not view the nuclear as an issue of independence and would
consider it just like many other world class issues like pollution and global
warming that would be addressed from a global perspective and not thru a narrow
nationalistic keyhole.
Sam Ghandchi, Editor/Publisher
IRANSCOPE
January 19, 2013
Footnotes:
2. http://www.rferl.org/content/farda_audience_late_shah_pahlavi_son_iran_person_of_year/24523974.html
3. Mr. Obama Please Tear Down this Wall
http://www.ghandchi.com/736-obama-monarchy-eng.htm
آقای اوباما لطفاً اين ديوار را خراب کنيد
http://www.ghandchi.com/736-obama-monarchy.htm
4. Reza Pahlavi Does not Represent Iran's Democratic Alternative
http://www.ghandchi.com/741-reza-pahlavi-not-democratic-alternative-eng.htm
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http://www.ghandchi.com/734-voa-eng.htm
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http://www.ghandchi.com/744-voa-iran-eng.htm