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Citizens to Topple the Bush-Cheney Junta?
Fri Jun 27 05:00:05 2003
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InformationTimes.com COMMENTARY - Thursday, 26 June 2003
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SHOULD IRAN HELP AMERICANS TO CHANGE THE BUSH REGIME?
Should All Arab and All Muslim Rulers Assist the Patriotic American
Citizens to Topple the Bush-Cheney Junta?
http://www.InformationTimes.com

DEAR AYATOLLAH
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1440
June 24, 2003

by GABRIEL ASH

(YellowTimes.org) -- Dear Ayatollah Ali Khameini:

You do not know me, yet nothing I know about you makes me think that
I would like you if we met. Neverthless, we do have some common
concerns. I therefore decided to give you some comfort and advice.

The White House is giving you grief lately. Let me assure you that
you are not alone. The White House is giving grief to the great
majority of the human race (and quite a few other species). Hang in
there!

On the matter of nuclear buildup, I must reluctantly admit that I
understand you. I know you are racing toward The Bomb, despite your
denials. I don't like it at all. But you would be insane if you
didn't.

Over there to your west, you've got Israel, a nuclear power with
imperial ambitions and a readiness with ferocious nonchalance to make
meatloaf out of civilians (don't take my word for it; ask your
friends in Lebanon). Israel's nuclear suitcase is in the hands of
generals suffering from periodic bouts of paranoid schizophrenia.
Symptoms include delusions that Adolf Hitler hides in Gaza disguised
as a ten-year-old, fears that Secretary of State Colin Powell is
trying to implant control chips in the backs of their necks, and an
unshakable belief that God is an invisible real estate broker who
communicates with them by telepathy.

As if that nuclear lunatic asylum in Palestine weren't enough, you've
just won a new neighbor across the desert, the United States. Your
new neighbor happens to be the only country ever to have used nuclear
weapons. The U.S. vaporized two Japanese cities -- Nagasaki and
Hiroshima -- for the hell of it. Japan had already communicated that
it was ready to surrender. Imagine what such a country would be ready
to do with nuclear weapons if victory actually depended on it.

Just to add to the general clarity, the current administration
officially announced that it might use nuclear weapons against non-
nuclear countries in a conventional war. And the U.S. Congress has
just authorized renewed development of small, tactical nuclear
devices. A couple of bombs will protect you from Paul Wolfowitz and
Shaul Mofaz better than all the non-proliferation treaties in the
world -- treaties are only as good as the credibility of the
countries that sign them.

If you still have doubts, ask yourself who's doing better today, the
disarmed Saddam, who did what he was told by the U.N. and scrapped
his nuclear program, or that wacko survivalist in North Korea, who
goes to sleep every night with an armed missile under his pillow.

I hope you don't share the sentiment of your poetically inclined
colleague in India that nuclear weapons enhance your virility. I am
sure that this kind of vulgar chest thumping is beneath you. I hope
you agree with me that we would be better off in a world without
nuclear weapons. But that isn't an option. As long as the U.S. is
committed to keeping its arsenal and even developing new weapons, a
few bombs in your possession will go a long way toward keeping the
Sharon-Wolfowitz axis-of-evil at bay.

I have some advice for you: while you go about building that big
nuclear stick, speak softly. The shouting match you engage in against
the United States may feel good, but it isn't helping you.

Give an interview to Fox News. Talk about how you love rodeo. Reveal
that you secretly own a full collection of Bette Davis B&W movies.
Say how much you are anxious to be invited to a George Bush barbecue.
Don't worry. No matter how conciliatory you sound, you will still be
verbally abused by the Tasmanian Devils who make policy at the
Pentagon. They can't help it.

What's in it for you? The U.S. is an awesome superpower. No army can
deter it. Wolfowitz, Perle and Rumsfeld aren't afraid of you, no
matter what you do. Nuclear power helps a lot, but the only power
that the U.S. has learned to fear over the years is people power, a
power Washington think-tanks are constitutionally unable to fathom.
This is the power that defeated the U.S. in Vietnam. This is the
power that makes George Bush pull his hair in frustration in
Palestine. Iran's best deterrent against the U.S. is the unity and
determination of the people. You want that power behind you, but you
won't have it unless Iranians are convinced that the U.S. is the
bully. People power cannot be coerced. So tone down your rhetoric and
let the Pentagon display its fangs.

Speaking about people power, there's something else we need to
discuss. You have accused the U.S. of fomenting massive
demonstrations against you in the last few weeks. Now, I am very much
opposed to CIA-induced coups of the sort that did Mossadegh in in
1953. I am also against "regime change" by tomahawk missiles. But
helping students demonstrate? You lost me. How exactly did the U.S.
help the demonstrators? By parachuting placards? I'm afraid you, too,
are coming down with paranoia.

The students of Tehran didn't take to the streets because of U.S.
interference. They took to the streets because of you. You fancy
yourself as Iran's leader. But you and your Council of Guardians are
not leading Iran; you are standing in Iran's way. In 1979, you threw
off the tyranny that the U.S. had imposed on you 23 years earlier.
And then you replaced it with a new tyranny. That, your betrayal of
the revolution, is what fuels the discontent of the people. The
people of Iran are motivated by the love of freedom, not by the empty
rhetoric of Emperor Bush.

You may find it expedient to suggest that freedom is an American,
Western import. This is the one point of agreement between you and
the White House, but you are both wrong. Freedom isn't Western. It is
Western and Eastern and Southern and Northern; it is universal; it
comes from within each of us. Freedom is equally at home, or rather
equally ill at ease, in every religion, every belief system and every
nationality. Pretend as it may, the U.S. cannot export freedom. It
can only export stuff like Coca Cola. Coke may be advertised as
freedom, but it isn't. It's a silly, carbonated drink. You know very
well what freedom is. Freedom is not having to take orders from you.
Freedom is not being afraid of your goons. That's what the students
in Tehran want.

The U.S. has a vision for Iran. It is a vision of a vast market that
can be tapped, natural resources that can be plundered, routes of
control connecting Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia
that can be secured for the operation of American hegemony, and a
docile population that can be safely ignored or handled by strongmen.
If you fear that vision, you should pay attention. Iran's ability to
frustrate U.S. designs to reduce it to an American colony depends on
the power of these students, the power of the Iranian people. If you
want to help, move out of their way. By obstructing the pull of
democracy, you and the clerical establishment, not the students, will
be preparing the ground for a new U.S. colonial age in Iran. You
think I'm crazy? Check your western border. What was the contribution
of that great nationalist Saddam Hussein to the cause of Arab
freedom?

But if you insist on getting even with the U.S. for supporting
Iranian dissidents, I think I know the perfect revenge for you.

America, too, like Iran, is full of dissidents. Like their sisters
and brothers in Tehran, American dissidents want freedom, democracy,
accountability, transparency, honest elections, tearing down the
police state, etc. They are a thorn in the side of the White House
just as the students demonstrating in Tehran are a thorn in your
side. Why not give us some help?
[Gabriel Ash was born in Romania and grew up in Israel. He is an
unabashed "opssimist." He writes his columns because the pen is
sometimes mightier than the sword -- and sometimes not. He lives in
the United States. Gabriel Ash encourages your comments:
gash@yellowtimes.org  . http://www.YellowTimes.org  is an international
news and opinion publication.]

Losing the Hearts and Minds
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Democracy, Safety, and Obligations
Ten Reasons to Abolish All Nuclear Weapons in the Whole World
Including the Nuclear Weapons and Other WMDs of the United States,
Israel and India.
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The Real Clash of Civilization: Liberals vs. the Crypto-Nazis
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The Real Clash of Civilizations: Progressives versus the Neo-Cons
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The Bush-Cheney Junta's Case for War in Iraq Based on Forgery and Lies
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Israel's Nuclear Arsenal is a Very Dangerous Threat to America
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Website of the President of Iran, Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohammad Khatami
http://www.president.ir

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