October 24, 2008
Iran va Jahan
Shaheen Fatemi

Why should an entire nation, far away from America, be interested or even anxious about the outcome of elections in a foreign country? Under normal circumstance, the interest of the Iranian people in the American elections, at most, should be that of curiosity and not much more.

Are people in India or Spain or for that matter practically any other country, perhaps with the exception of Iraq, Israel and Afghanistan, necessarily anxious or even interested? I doubt it. Most probably if it were not for the disastrous foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) over the past thirty years, we would not be asking this question today.

Those who some thirty years ago manipulated the genuine desire of the Iranian people for reform at the time of the late Shah into a bloody revolution had no agenda or plans for governing the country. Their lack of competence was obvious from the day one when they formed the very first so-called ‘provisional government.’ This fact was so obvious at the time that even Khomeini’s hand-picked prime-minister, Mehdi Bazargan, admitted to this fact and publicly regretted the fact that the revolution had succeeded so fast and so easily! Perhaps one must add that the only item on their obstructive agenda was those vague notions expressed in Khomeini’s cryptic religious writings: wishing to re-establish antiquated Islamic rules in a modern and western-oriented society.

It did not take long, even for the slowest of the so-called new leaders, to realize that their prescriptions are not only outdated but will be ridiculed by most of the population. I believe it is because of this dilemma and out of sheer sense of incompetence that they chose the path of terror and xenophobia.

Within days people were shocked to see hundreds and thousands of executions ordered by the Sharia courts under the direct orders of Khomeini. To re-enforce this state of terror and confusion, some common hoodlums, masquerading as students, were ordered to occupy the American Embassy in Tehran and incarcerate 53 American diplomats as hostages for four-hundred and forty-four days.

While thirty years have passed since those dark days in the history of Iran but the regime still remains incompetent in solving the problems of the country and still continues its policy of domestic terror and foreign misadventures. The only new element is its desire to ensure its longevity under the cover of nuclear black-mail. Perhaps, if it were not for this latest development and IRI’s agitations against Israel, Americans would have made their peace with the regime long ago, ignoring the gross violations of human rights and the plight of the Iranian people.

In the meantime, five Presidents, three Republicans and two Democrats have come and gone without any tangible impact on the scene. Many years ago, those Iranians who had high hopes and believed in the American rhetoric expected concrete actions, of the kind which was used against the racist regime of South Africa, but were soon disappointed. Iran is neither South Africa nor Burma, Iran has oil and the industrialized countries need oil. Whoever is elected will not be able to do much for the cause of the Iranian people. Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, or Bush II, and whoever is elected later this month, are contained and directed by the American foreign policy establishment which is dominated by major oil company lobbyists. Waiting for Americans is waiting for Godot

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