So amid the multitude of excuses, er .... justifications, for the war on Iraq that the US and Great Britain nade was the so called domino theory. That is if Iraq is made into a real democracy it will spread by example to other nation states in the middle east (the fact that it didn't work in south east asia doesn't seem to matter). So if we accept that as one of the primary reasons for invading Iraq (which I most asuredly don't) then you would think that the coalition would do everything in its power to promote democracy in countries neighbouring Iraq. Apparently not.
Iran has been a thorn in the US' side ever since the Shah was overthrown in the Iranian revolution of 1979. Remember the Iran-Contra scandal? A reasonable person could be excused for thinking the US government would like to see the reign of the Revolutionary Guard and the Imams in Iran come to a speedy end would support groups that had that as their stated aims. Apparently not.
Since the Iranian revolution there has been a large group of fighters, the Mujahedeen Khalq, located in Iraq along its border with Iran. THere stated goal is to overthrow the Imams and the Revolutionary Guard and bring democracy to Iran. Of course Saddam co-operated with them and allowed them to use Iraq as a base, why not he hated Iran and wanted to conquer it himself. It was a partnership of convenience that would have dissolved the instant either party attained its goal, not a partnership of like minded groups.
Yleem Poblete, staff director for the House International Relations Committee's subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia.described this group as follows:
"...these folks are pro-democracy, antifundamentalism, antiterrorism, helpful to the U.S. in providing information about the activities of the Iranian regime, and advocates of a secular government in Iran,"
So how does the US reward this group for being so helpful and fully aligned with the purported goals of the US in the region. They bombed the hell out of them and are still chasing them, supposedly because they co-operated with the Iraqi government. Well duh! Of course they supported the Iraqi government - they had little or no choice if they wanted to have a safe base from which to operate against Iran.
So the question arises, what sort of deals were made with Iran this time to get the US to go after these guys? Do we have a sort of Iran Contra redux? One can only hope so - what a blemish that would be on the Republican party, first Reagan then Bush, conspiring with the enemy for political gains at home. It also calls into question the whole story iof the US wanting to bring democracy to the middle east.
This is somnething that needs to be made more visible to the general public and to your congress critters. Full explanations are needed for this action and a bi-partisan congressional comittee should investigate. Don't give Runmmy et al time to spin it.
Posted by The Dynamic Driveler at April 17, 2003 11:55 AM