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How Can We Win Without Going To War With Iran?

Ghazal Omid - 10/3/2007

It would be a mistake to go to war with Iran. America neither has to go to war nor negotiate with Iran. There is a third choice. There is an expression in Farsi, “You don’t have to open a knot with your teeth when you could open it with your fingers.” This proverb should not be interpreted to mean negotiation. It simply means logical decisions based on facts that make sense are better options than are obligatory triggered by emotional fuel.”

As a Human Rights Activist, Political Activist and, most of all, as an Iranian, I watched in dismay as Ahmadinejad’s elaborate PR campaign successfully manipulated the United States to Iran’s advantage. Farsi speaking dissidents watched with anguish during his twelve minute interview on CBS 60 Minutes, during which many of his comments were translated much gentler than his actual statements in Farsi. His absurd claims during his Columbia University speech that women in Iran are free and there are no ‘gays’ in Iran made me nauseous. On Tuesday August 2, 2005, Ottawa Citizen (Canada) reporter, Aaron Haller had a full page article regarding two Iranian under-aged gay boys who were publicly hanged.
Gay or straight people should have equal rights to live without fear. The Iranian regime is publicly murdering gays in Iran, even as Ahmadinejad publicly denies the existence of any gays in Iran

Iranians watched the booing, the laughter, heard the translation of his Farsi speech and, as a native Farsi speaker, noticed the difference between his speech and what America heard on their televisions. America doesn’t realize how the Iranian regime fishes the Freedom of Speech pond in this country; squeezing the American media into creating a larger than life image of the Iranian Islamic regime both here and in Muslims nations. They are winning this PR game! America is falling for it because the American media provides the podium for him to win.

How do we know that? Plain and simple: compare Ahmadinejad’s appearances on USA and world media to the attention given Human Rights activists who report a crime by the Iranian regime. Not even close. News about him and his atrocities is popular TV fare, grabs more audience, makes money and benefits the network rather than the people of the United States or Iran. Unless the Iranian people are given equal opportunity to speak against him on national media, the American media is, perhaps and hopefully unwittingly, playing right into his hands.

Just as did an apparently overwhelming majority of people in America, I thought inviting Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University was a horrendous mistake and said as much on MSNBC on Sunday, Sept 23, 2007.
http://www.bankruptterror.org/videos/GO092307.php

Some may ask: Why is it wrong, in a land which champions Free Speech and Freedom of the Press, to invite him to speak at a university so we can examine the facts for ourselves? Why should we not afford a national propaganda podium to a brutal dictator with no morals, common sense or recognition of reality? Is this not free expression?

Yes and No. We need to make a distinction between his right to free speech and his right to be heard and should realize that we have no obligation to provide a forum for his lies. He was free to make any comments he wanted. However, his speech and the booing by the students were not broadcast to Iran but the selected applause was. In my opinion, both 60 Minutes and Columbia University had an obligation to make demands of their own which would have illuminated him for what he is in a much brighter light.

• They should have demanded oversight of direct Satellite programming to Iran on the News Hour so the people of Iran can see what really transpired. He needs this publicity as much as he needs an atomic bomb. Americans are falling into the elaborate traps of his professionally coached PR campaign because they are operating by American standards and rules. By making him a media superstar, their PR campaign is turning a paper tiger in to a real one. The Iranian regime doesn’t have nuclear power; yet. Are they trying to obtain it? Yes, but they are about eight years away.

• The US media should have had his speech translated by an expert, independent linguist and run it as an English subtitle under his own Farsi speech so America could see for itself what he says about America in Farsi. America should know that he uses his own translator. His much stronger Farsi message is what the Iranians saw on their television; not the gentler English translation fed American people. I contacted a CBS producer after Ahmadinejad’s 60 Minute interview and was told he provided his own translator and that CBS did not want a literal translation but something that sounded good in English. He said CBS was satisfied with the opinion of an independent Farsi translator that the translation was accurate. With all due respect to CBS, I disagree with their method of handling Ahmadinejad’s interview. Last year, I attended a Washington Times conference where a chador clad woman member of the forum charged that Ahmadinejad’s comments were censored by media. I stood up and said that is not true because he brings his own translators. Inexplicably, the skeptical audience chose to believe the chador clad woman with an obvious agenda over my personal knowledge as a native Farsi speaker with sources to his entourage. For the record, America needs to know that when Ahmadinejad talks, he uses his own translator!

• I offered a CBS producer that they could benefit most and help Iranians by working to help avoid a war with Iran, preventing American soldiers and Iranian women and children from being killed. He replied, “We are not here to help Iran or anyone. We are here to tell a story to inform the American people.” I guess he is right about telling a story. Gripping war stories by adrenalin driven journalists are more popular TV topics than boring peace and saving lives.

• Columbia University should have allowed someone from the Iranian opposition, preferably a woman, to ask Ahmadinejad tougher questions. Columbia University did not have to comply with all his demands. It gave him unfettered license to espouse his unfiltered propaganda. They should have confronted him with a panel of his opponents posing questions for which he could not rehearse his dissembling responses, allowing Iranians inside to see the outside opposition active, giving them courage and reassurance that they are in the hearts and minds of America. The Iranian regime knows extremely well that:

• Courage and heart are the true factors in the fight against the current government of Iran. http://activistchat.com/community/heroes.html

• This is the precise reason why public hangings are elaborately photographed by ISNA and broadcast on national Iranian TV in order to terrorize the seeds of the coming velvet revolution. http://www.isna.ir

• A panel of Iranian Human Rights activists could have shown him and the audience by the wounds on their bodies and in their hearts what he is doing to the people of Iran so the students would not have clapped for him instead of bursting into tears or sitting in silence. Many Iranians outside Iran have direct satellite connection to Iranian television and we know that only the segments showing applause by students was transmitted to Iran as evidence of a positive reaction to his trip. All the booing was censored.

• Columbia should have not invited him in the first place but, after doing so, made a mistake in insulting him. In retaliation, a group of Iranian scholars in Iran wrote protest letters questioning this treatment of the President of a country. Like him or hate him, he is a President, at least for now. The insult did no good for America abroad.

As much as I am tempted to congratulate the President of Columbia University with a rousing “atta boy” for accurately calling Ahmadinejad a dictator, I hesitate to do so. America negates that praise because it can’t seem to figure out that the dictatorial Iranian regime uses American Media, American Universities and Freedom of Press to its advantage. For what it is worth, I have to give him an A+ for deception, lies, manipulation, and all the despicable things at which he is very good. He is well coached by Iranian/American regime lobbyists and think tanks who, enjoying the protection of US freedom and laws as they accept major money for enabling Ahmadinejad and his ilk to become larger than life, out of control monsters.

What are the objectives behind his actions? He has two. He is daring the United States to either:
1. Go to war with Iran or
2. Accede to his “peaceful” nuclear atomic facilities and negotiate ad infinitum.

Either way, his elaborate PR campaign has made him a star. So much so, it has left us with seemingly no choice but to go to war to remove the dangerous Iranian regime from power. We seem confused and restless approaching a three pronged fork in the road of Human History.

Americans have been conditioned to see only two choices; left and right. There is a third one.

• The foggy road straight ahead is the right path. It has, however, been purposely obscured by the government of Iran. This road is the way of the genuine Iranian opposition. Unfortunately, either we are not seeing it or are ignoring it.

Instead, we look to the far right side of the road which President Bush seems to be frequently advised to take. This “Hitting the targets with a few B52 bombers.” approach is the road to war with Iran. It appeals to the frustrated and frightened as the most expedient way to rid the world of this cancerous cell once and for all, ASAP, preferably before the next election.

There seems to be perception of a non-existent urgency approaching panic that we must do something precipitous. Prior to the 9/11 anniversary this year, there was an intense campaign to intimidate senators into funding an unnecessary war with Iran. If that happens, history will harshly judge America for sloppy political analysis of the events of their time.

• The Government of Iran prays for a war with the USA. War would be a death sentence, not only for the Iranian opposition but also potentially for millions of innocent others. The Iranian regime sees war as necessary if it is to continue in power and disregards “collateral damage” as insignificant. The initiation of war with Iran would be Armageddon.

• If not for the eight year Iraq/Iran war, the Iranian regime would not have remained in power as long it has. This time, they are wishing for a global Jihad, a holy war of Muslims against Americans, the so-called “infidels.” Has anyone in America noticed that Ahmadinejad has been coached to smile frequently? Why? It is because he is using the opportunity given him by American media and freedom to appeal to Iranians and Muslims around the world.

His fake smile and body language says, “I did what I could to stop a war but despite all my gallant efforts, America wants Iranian children dead. America wants you to die.” This is his message to the children in Iran. With this message, everybody in Iran would pick up a flag. Hell, even political prisoners who are now fighting the Iranian government, paying with their lives in its medieval prisons would pick up a flag to go to war, even though Iranians hate its central logo. Americans don’t know the Iranian government is using human shields to protect the nuclear sites. Ahmadinejad himself has said ten thousand school children have been placed near the sites.

Why would anyone allow its children to be killed in that fashion? The reason is: the Iranian government has turned the nuclear facilities into a Nationalistic Circus de Solait. The right to have unnecessary atomic energy, allegedly for peaceful purposes is a bogus nationalistic campaign reminiscent of that of Mossadegh fifty years ago asserting control of Iranian oil. Consequently, many youth view having atomic energy as a right. Perhaps not incidentally, there have been no reports in the Iranian media or elsewhere about the death of scientists working in the Iranian nuclear facilities.

Thanks to Iranian regime lobbyists -- American companies such as Shell America and Iranian businessmen and women in the private sector who deal with the regime daily, the regime launders its money, not in underground basements but in broad daylight with the unknowing or unconcerned help of American financial institutions. Tracing the money is difficult because deposits are not direct but are in the form of transfers from one account to that of many consumers and customers who are legal citizens of their country and may not be aware of the practice. The Iranian regime does everything legally and winds up with clean money. www.tccim.ir

One might say: We live in a media era. How can Iranian people be so naïve as to believe the nonsense they are being fed? My answer is: Yes, we in the free world live in a media and technology era but people in Iran don’t. They have very little access to accurate news and are bombarded day and night with propaganda by the Iranian media. Not everyone has access to the internet and those who do are watched. Even their telephones are bugged, thanks to the latest Motorola super computers. They don’t have access to free press. Iranians were told that at the Columbia University speech Ahmadinejad was called the most powerful man in the Middle East instead of being labeled a dictator. Reality is, the lives of average Iranians is ultra basic and much bleaker than the average American can imagine. While America looks for moisture on Mars, ten million Iranians go to bed hungry, 300,000 children live on the streets of Iran, people sell their kidneys to feed their families and children are sold to obtain money to feed the rest of the family.
http://ghazalomid.com/gallery/poverty_images/ChildrenforSale_jpg.jpg

What would happen if we go to war with Iran? How bad can it be, a cynic may ask?

• American politicians have no plans for what to do next. They think destruction of the nuclear plants would be a victory. It may well be a dubious victory but it is almost certain to be the beginning of Hell for all of us. Iranian regime will not give up power easily; particularly when it has a supply of 65 million soldiers.

Another dangerous fact, yet to be considered or acknowledged by those wanting to go to war with Iran, is: Iran is not Iraq or Afghanistan. Not only has the Iranian regime adroitly used the media to their advantage, it is cleverly creative in addressing their paucity of access to military equipment. The government of Iran has not used its tremendous assets to help the Iranian people. Instead, it has funded terrorism and turned itself into a Soviet Union style Islamic military state. In the event of a war with Iran, this preparation will require exponentially more aggression to overcome than did Iraq and Afghanistan, countries bordering Iran on the east and west, assuring massive, unnecessary civilian casualties.

• Iranian plants have been known to leak. Already, a few Iranian scientists have lost their lives while working at those facilities. Any bombardment would immediately contaminate vast areas of Iranian soil and water. Within hours the Middle East would face the same disaster.

• Persons with infectious diseases such as SARS could be in the US within 24 hours. The Iranian regime could reinforce the presence of children at potential targets with bio-chemical agents that would be released if attacked. The affect of radiation will linger in the Iranian soil and water. People and goods coming out of Iran could be radioactive.

• We will have earned the eternal enmity of the surviving Iranian people, now American sympathizers. Having lost everything, they would volunteer en mass to hurt America. The Iranian regime has already signed up thousands of suicide bombers.

• The significant, overlooked fact is: Although Iranians are mostly Shiah; religion is not their most important component of preserving their nation. Persia survived overwhelming invasion by Mongols and Arabs. Even though 1300 years has passed since Arabs invaded Iran, the memory is still fresh. No matter the United States good intentions, it will still be forever considered an invader. Persians were forced to speak Arabic for a thousand years, yet, today, Farsi is still our language. Iranians love their country and heritage more than life. We call our country ‘mum e mihan’ and swear upon on the Iranian soil. This ardent nationalism portends a ferocious fight should America invade Iran; a disastrous fight that can be avoided because you can have the Iranian people as friends. They are on your side in opposing the repressive mullahs. Iran and Israel are the only two countries in the Middle East whose pride is not in their religion but in their nationality.

Thanks to American politicians and their mismanaged plans, devised by ill-informed advisors and philosophers, we now have an Islamic state of Afghanistan on the east of Iran and a sort of Shiah/Secular/Sunni conglomeration on the west, which, as we all know, depends on the government of Iran’s collaboration to keep the insurgents in check and prevent a civil war between Shiah and Sunni. Ahmadinejad wasn’t at all shy to mention that his government had three separate talks with Americans in Iraq in order to stabilize that country’s tenuous, momentary “peace.”

• War with Iran means escalation of bloodshed of foreigners in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• European countries have been warned by the Iranian regime for some time of the presence in their countries of elements of hardcore, radical Muslims which the regime claims to have restrained from excessive violence. In the event of an attack on Iran, the regime threatens to remove its influence on them and they will have a free reign of terror in Europe.
• China has become the power they once dreamed to be via their policies and the money they invest. China, however, has no problem either way. America owes China a lot of money. A huge percentage of goods sold in the USA are imported from China. Either way, war or peace, China is a winner. China’s position at this moment in history is much like that of a TV game show where the player has a choice of answering or leaving with the money. If this regime lasts, China will sell Iran a lot of weapons and help it become nuclear. If the regime is destroyed, China will offer cheap goods to make Iran more habitable after the war. China will become richer from the misery of the Middle East and America.
• Russia, which fears losing Iran to America could mean the end of Iranian natural gas for their country, could take actions we may not expect.

The entire Middle East would become embroiled in a regional war and, I believe, in about twenty four hours our waters and food in America would be affected. Not to mention that we would destroy the ancient, beautiful Persian culture. Future generations would condemn us for not taking the right step; perhaps the easiest of all. Governments make mistakes. Some people make money during wars. But, all the people will pay for the politician’s mistakes for decades to come.

Trite but true: Governments do, people pay.

So what is the next choice?

1. The road to the left is prolonged negotiation, which every clear thinking person knows should be avoided. This only means more power to the Iranian regime and, inevitably, an Atomic Iran; a death sentence for the Iranian opposition.

So what is the third choice? We are at the junction of a tri-furcating road. The two major outside forks don’t take you where you want to go but the smaller, dirt road directly ahead of you will take you to your desired destination. The third road is not the popular road but it is the right one. This is the road of the Iranian people which has not been properly explored but is the one that should be paved for peace in the Middle East.

2. This central road is about the Iranian people who have been left behind, hungry, forgotten, tortured, murdered, raped and hanged, waiting for someone to help them throw off their oppressive government.

Iran is under a full fledged dictatorship with millions of people going to bed hungry, thousands of children sleeping on the streets, women prostituting themselves to feed their babies at the risk of being stoned to death if caught and we are asking them why they are not rising up. Why? Without outside support, they are basically powerless. When they do protest, they are arrested, subjected to a kangaroo court without legal representation, sentenced to death or long imprisonment where men are tortured and women are raped, with virtually no outside contact.

Did I mention voiceless? While the US media has turned Ahmadinejad into a super star, you seldom hear about the public hangings, lashings and stoning to death at the whim of deranged mullah judges. Iranians are waiting for Americans to extend them a hand. Thank God more than 85 percent of them are eager for a “white” revolution. Even many government workers would welcome a regime change.

• Sanctions:
Sanctions, even though well intended, do not affect the Iranian regime. They fall on the backs of the Iranian people. For sanctions to work, all the loop holes in American and European laws must be closed so private entities would not be able to deal with Iranian regime.
• If there are so many dissatisfied people, why hasn’t this regime change happened? Because the Iranian regime uses available money to help terrorists and to invest in the private sector of foreign counties, including yours. They lobby to hamper the efforts of the real opposition and create fake opposition (fog), using your own country’s laws to fight you. All the while keeping Iranians on the Persian plantation on a short leash and shorter rations. And we wonder why they aren’t rising up?

• How do we help them? First by avoiding mistakes and copying successful strategies of the past. Look at the examples and methods of velvet revolution which caused the fall of the Berlin Wall and the contraction of the Soviet Union. Iran is an Islamic state but, in fact, is very similar to the Soviet Union. Perhaps similar solutions are applicable.

• Iranians are fed up with this regime and eager to help those, inside and outside Iran, they trust displace it. Money cannot buy this trust. It must be earned by the demonstrated action of people who have been in touch with Iranian people and are a bridge between East and West; obviating the question of how to contact Iranians and earn their trust. Americans and Europeans will not need to work directly with resident Iranians. They will operate through a network of trusted expatriate Iranians with a track record. America doesn’t become the invader; it simply becomes a big brother

• The Iranian regime is much more vulnerable that they want to admit. It is weak in many critical places which have been identified and examined carefully. Many of us know who we should and should not trust within the Iranian community and even within the regime in our effort to shake the it to its foundation.

• With the above information in hand and the backing of a willing foreign government, Iranian people of all ages and walks of life will lend their support to a velvet revolution without jeopardizing this plan of action. We need networks and companies outside Iran to supply satellites, servers, laptops, cell phones and technology toward effecting a non-violent regime change. We need to be able to feed people and keep them safe in their own homes before we ask them to go to work to topple the regime and take a positive step for the future generations.

• With the right messages, Iranians will come to help but for all this to happen we need a hand, not just empty promises, before we will be able to forge ahead with the plan.

• Last but not least is the Human Rights issue in Iran. If we could get the support of all the Human Rights organizations in the United States and massive protests by Americans against the gruesome pictures they see on TV of Iranians being raped, hanged and murdered in cold blood, we could show Iranians that the American people care about them and will earn their trust. Iranians to this day are paying a heavy price for the actions of its government. Many Americans are still angry about the 1979 hostage taking. Few, if any, of the people suffering today had any responsibility for that dark chapter in Iran’s history. Hopefully, Americans can put that episode behind them and rally to the support of common Iranians.

Make the laws work against the government of Iran and not its people. Iranian people need to be educated about the actions they should take and those they shouldn’t. They need to be fed, helped and encouraged. For instance, nobody outside Iran paid any attention to the Kavoosianfar executions. How do we expect the Iranian people to fight for freedom when we don’t care if justice has been served or whether they had a chance to be heard. This policy of, “Oh well, there are too many of them” doesn’t help Americans nor Iranians. http://activistchat.com/community/heroes.html

The Columbia University president made a comment about human rights in Iran, but only mentioned a few Americans names. What about the 210 Iranians killed by the regime this year? Didn’t he have any names?

Efforts that can be described publicly are:

“For the triumph of evil, it is only necessary for good people to do nothing.”
---- Edmund Burke

• One of the easiest and best ways America can show support for the Iranian people is a mass media campaign against Human Rights abuse in Iran. The revolution of 1979 would not have been possible without media influence. The same can be done to topple the current regime. Having only Ahmadinejad on all the time does No good for the Iranian people. Instead, the focus needs to be on Human Rights abuse by the regime that includes raping women in prisons, Iranians within Iran have not yet seen the crimes against women we know happen daily. The Government of Iran censorship could be broken.

• The Iranians have seen public death by hanging and stoning but haven’t seen the cleverly censored sensitive cultural factors such as the sale of their children on the internet and rape of their sisters in prison.

• Another idea is protests by American people along with Iranians to let the Iranians know they care about Iranians as much as they care about their own.

• Currently, there are approximately 7000 servers in Iran, all belonging to the government. If we could provide our youth with a safe internet, we could supply them with the latest technology that would enable them to monitor and filter what Iranians watch on internet and block programming both inside and outside Iran. People will become acutely aware that there is an opposition fighting for their liberation. All of these activities have been successfully tested in real time.

• Iranian youth have brilliants ideas. Brave Iranians could create a campaign of fear against the government and no one would have to leave their homes and risk arrest. This could inspire a white revolution. Americans and Iranians both win.

• Identify and expose the layers of fake opposition the government of Iran has working for its interests inside this country and around the world. Clearing this underbrush away, would turn the monstrous Iranian regime into a small tarantula walking on a wall, trying to rule on the strength of the giant shadow it casts. In fact, the Iranian regime is so frightened that I have heard many times over from inside sources that the heads of the regime always have their suitcase packed!

All the information presented above are facts. The United States does not have to go to war. The good people of America, Israel, Iran and the Middle East do not deserve to be killed in a war we can avoid. We can help each other fight the evil rather than one another.
My question to everyone who reads this article: Is it not better to help the Iranian people rise up and earn their freedom than to shove the kind of freedom we think it is right for them down their throats? Freedom is not free and cannot be given. Help them but let them earn it. You only value what you work for. Iranians are your best future allies and deserve to taste freedom. Persian culture is truly unique. Glorify that culture instead of ruining it with war. We are at a moment in history to make decisions which future generations will praise. Or, we can make the same mistakes over and over again.

For the sake of our God, if you have any kind of belief, if you worship our God from any religion or even if you don’t have any belief but have a clear conscience, think of the Iranian people. Think of peace in our world. Look into your own child’s eyes or the eyes of the children you love. Don’t let the nightmare of destruction and death for the children in our world come true.

Please don’t allow the Iranian regime turn your anger into an Armageddon.

In the fight against Evil, we shouldn’t become evil.