WHY NOT US?

REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS ISSUE WARNS AGAINST "PRO-AMERICANISM" (IPS, 4/30/03)

As Iranians expresses more and more their wishes to see the Americans take action against the present regime, the Revolutionary Guards issued warnings against those who call for normalising relations with the United States.

"The Revolutionary Guards would issues warnings and cautions for the society whenever it feel it is needed. This is one of its duties to enter the arena when it considers it as a necessity", said Mr. Ali Sa'idi, the acting Representative of the leader at the Army of the Guards of the Islamic Revolution, better known as Pasdaran, or Revolutionary Guards.

This was the Pasdaran's second stern warnings in as many days, coming after foreign media reported of wide spread and generalised deception of the Iranians with the present rule of hard line clerics.

In an article carried on its 25 April issue, the influential French daily "Le Monde" said the Iranian rulers are worried by a "fierce pro-Americanism" expressed by the Iranian population. "They are especially worried of the vox populi, that asks for a change of the regime with the help of the American marines", the daily wrote in an article dated from Tehran.

"If one admits that the Iraqis are delighted with Saddam Hoseyn's end, one must also think about the possibility that maybe, the Iranians would celebrate at the end of the Islamic Republic as well", the paper quoted Mr. Behzad Nabavi, an influential member of the reformist camp and a Majles Deputy-speaker. [...]

According to "Le Monde", most Iranians are openly calling for American intervention in Iran.

"We don't want the Islamic Republic anymore", an architect told the paper on condition of anonymity. "It took us a quarter of century to realise that the revolution is a failure", he added, calling like many other Iranians, for the American help for change the regime".

"The Afghans and the Iraqis have been freed from dictatorships, why not us?" a filmmaker said.

Here's why we're unfazed by the prospect of an Iraqi Islamic Republic oriented towards Iran. The Islamic revolution happened first there and has already been adjudged a failure, as all totalitarianisms must be once they're tested in the real world. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 30, 2003 10:07 PM