LET MY PEOPLE GO:

Iran: Freedom on the Horizon (Dariush Shirazi, January 8, 2004, Mens News Daily)

The fanatics who hold the Iranian people hostage today, were brought to power in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, not only by American and British Administrations that had turned their backs on the Shah and wanted to replace him with an Islamic regime that could balance the ever-increasing communist threats in the region, nor by Europeans who were drooling over the prospect of future oil wealth at the expense of the Iranian people, but they were also brought to power by the parents of today's Iranian youth, who had hoped that Khomeini's "modernized Islam" was their key to a brighter future. They were mistaken.

After more than one-hundred thousand executions, rapes, stonings, mass imprisonments, and 25 years of resistance, the Iranian people are more determined that ever in their struggle to bring about the freedoms, liberalization and progress that has always existed in their hearts but has failed to manifest itself under the current regime.

When looking at the dynamic in the region and in Iran itself, one first must acknowledge the major distinction between the Iranian people and the regime of ruling Clerics. The difference is like night and day. The people of Iran are the carriers of a bloodline that has known beauty so unimaginable that it brings tears to your eyes to witness their current enslavement. In their true hearts and souls, they are not adamant believers in Islamic tradition, but rather they are rooted in a culture and a past that extends far beyond the invasion of Islam by the Arabs some 1400 years ago. They are a people who respect and love all cultures, peoples and religions. Their true religion is Zoroastrianism, an ancient monotheistic religion whose three tenets are "good words", "good thoughts" and "good deeds", and much of the artwork which today is referred to as Islamic Art are actually Persian masterpieces that were partially absorbed after much of Persia fell to the Arabs. However, what good is it to become entrapped by the days of old, or to delve too deeply into a discussion about Persians and Arabs, Zoroastrianism and Islam, when what is important is to look objectively at the current scenario and decide where we stand as human beings and as Americans. [...]

The Iranian people's hearts are racing as they plan and plot against the regime around the clock and wait for the moment when they can come to the streets and seize their long-awaited freedom. A free Iran will help facilitate not only the fall of remaining tyrants in the region, but will also be the driving force of progress and evolution throughout the Middle East, with it's highly educated young population, responsible utilization of vast natural resources, and a peaceful regime that is neither a threat to American security nor the stability of the world. An Iranian nation that is by the people and for the people, will be nothing less than one of the greatest partners in the journey ahead.

Whether you are pro-Bush or anti-Bush, you must support the Iranian people. The war on terror cannot be won simply by removing tyrants, but only through an approach that both removes such criminals as well as eliminates the fire that drives their tyrannical tongues.

So as they sit, wait and wish for the long-anticipated liberation from their captors, we must do our duty to hear their cries, understand their wishes, and stand upright in defense of liberty, justice and humanity. Not only for the sake of the Iranian people, but for the sake of us all.

President Reagan said at Bitburg:

Twenty-two years ago President John F. Kennedy went to the Berlin Wall and proclaimed that he, too, was a Berliner. Well, today freedom-loving people around the world must say, I am a Berliner, I am a Jew in a world still threatened by anti-Semitism, I am an Afghan, and I am a prisoner of the Gulag, I am a refugee in a crowded boat foundering off the coast of Vietnam, I am a Laotian, a Cambodian, a Cuban, and a Miskito Indian in Nicaragua. I, too, am a potential victim of totalitarianism.

Today, I am an Iranian.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 8, 2004 02:52 PM