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Lawrence J.
Haas
Read Larry's bio and previous columns
July 14, 2009
Iran: Of Courage and Cowardice
“I am not scared,” said
a young woman, her clothes drenched in blood, during last week’s protest
in Tehran to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 1999
student uprising against Iran’s brutal regime, “because we are in this
together.”
Hundreds of miles away
in the Italian town of L’Aguila, leaders of the Group of Eight
industrial nations pretended that they, too, are “not scared” of the
regime. They again voiced concern about Tehran’s crackdown on
protestors, they again pressed Tehran to help defuse the controversy
over its nuclear program, and they again threatened tough sanctions if
the regime refused to do so.
The blood-soaked woman
(whose words appeared in a New York Times article) and the
well-coifed Western leaders share fears of a radical regime that
threatens its enemies within and beyond its borders.
But the woman and the
leaders are living worlds apart. And unless those worlds come closer
together, with the leaders adopting a bit of that woman’s resolve, the
world could be headed for a dark future.
President Obama has
rightly described a nuclear Iran as a “game changer,” for it will
trigger a regional nuclear arms race and threaten the security of
Israel, the Arab states, Europe and the United States. It also will
force the United States to think twice before trying to constrain Iran’s
regional ambitions, confront Iranian-backed terrorist groups and help
those Iranians who seek a democratic future.
Thus, a nuclear Iran
would leave both the Iranian people and the West more vulnerable to an
outlaw regime. But consider what average Iranians are doing and what
Western leaders are doing to address the problem.
Average Iranians
display a breathtaking courage. After all, the regime has long
suppressed domestic dissent in the most brutal fashion, arresting,
torturing and not infrequently killing labor, women’s, student,
democratic and religious leaders.
To the protests that
have swept Iran since last month’s disputed election, the regime has
responded accordingly. Its crackdown has left scores (if not hundreds)
dead and many more in prison.
Seeking to end the
protests, the regime warned Iranians that they would deal harshly with
future expressions of dissent. But thousands will not relent and, in
fact, are making plans for even more protests.
By contrast, Western
leaders mock the very notion of courage, avoiding conflict with the
regime while congratulating one another on their “unity” in expressing
”concern” about Iranian activities and warning of tough sanctions
sometime down the road.
After the Group of
Eight leaders announced last week that they will consider sanctions
against Tehran in late September, when they will meet again in
Pittsburgh as part of the G-20 meeting, French President Nicolas Sarkozy
said their statement “shows the unity of the G-8 against the situation
in Iran.”
William Burns, the U.S.
undersecretary of state, joined in the self-congratulation, calling the
statement “significant in that you have all eight members of the group
indicating they have serious concerns.”
“Serious concerns” may
sound, well, serious – a prelude to serious action. But we’ve seen this
movie before. The West criticizes and complains, issues statements and
warnings, and imposes sanctions that fall far short of what’s needed to
squeeze Iran’s economy, fuel greater domestic dissent, threaten the
regime’s grip on power and, in this way, convince the mullahs that they
must shift course.
What Western leaders
really want is what they’ve always wanted – to negotiate a way out of
the controversy. What they can’t seem to accept, or even comprehend, is
that Iran doesn’t want the same thing.
“For the past six years
we have extended our hand saying stop your nuclear armament program,”
Sarkozy said. “Do they want discussions or don’t they want them? If they
don’t, there will be sanctions.”
No, Mr. Sarkozy, Iran’s
leaders don’t want “discussions.”
Nor do they believe the
West will ever impose the kind of sanctions that would really hurt.
Based on the history of recent years, who can blame them?
What the regime wants
is a nuclear program, which it pretends is for civilian energy but which
everyone knows is for weaponry.
“(T)he Islamic
Republic of Iran will . . . not retreat even one step from its peaceful
nuclear activity,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared as Sarkozy and his colleagues
were issuing their latest threats.
Will Western leaders
show some real backbone before it’s too late?
© 2009
North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
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