Real Face Of Iran Exposed

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

This commentary was published in Gulf Times on 10/12/2010

What did Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intend to tell the world at the international level? Why did he exonerate al-Qaeda of the Sept 11, 2001 attack, which remains the greatest criminal act of this age? The regular lies the dictatorial government tells the media were useless at the international level, especially when the issue had to do with terrorism and the intention to exonerate the terrorists. The terrorist group had declared complicity in the worst terrorist attack, but why did Tehran transform itself into an advocate for al-Qaeda group? Actually, this exposed the real face of the Iranian government and the falsity of all its slogans. It is pertinent now to put everything in its proper perspective at the international level regarding Tehran’s role in international crimes.

The international community will no longer allow Tehran government to openly defend terrorism while depending on the use of force to threaten and intimidate other countries with war. This is a deliberate suicide attempt. A good example of this is Russia which used to be the greatest ally of Iran, but now opposes Iran’s efforts in stockpiling ammunitions and rockets. Russia has been reviewing its ties with Iran and even denied entry to Iranian officials who were working on the nuclear file.

The Iranian President openly announces war in the region whenever the international community decides to control Tehran’s crazy nuclear program. The latest Iranian speech has become a major source of concern, because the leadership claims that Iran is a regional superpower and that the current faceoff is between two superpowers. This statement indicates that America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will seem like a child’s play in a war against Iran. Iranian leadership should reflect seriously to realize the implication of challenging the entire world and violating international regulations. It appears that the previous Iraqi-Iranian war which left millions dead from both sides with monumental destruction and economic collapse never taught lessons to Iranian leaders.

Also, the Iranian leadership never learnt to stop using provocative language and military maneuvers, while knowing that there is no alternative to dialogue with the international community, which will draft the course of the dialogue as well as the mechanism. This stems from the fact that the international community is in-charge of deciding the course and the end of wars.
The Iranian leaders should be convinced that wars do not make a country great; real superpowers have economic power, the ability to overcome unemployment, improve the living standard of citizens, make scientific advancement, and they have low crime rate and protect the rights of opinions and expression. Countries don’t become great by military buildup or hot utterances which are capable of bringing disasters on people. How can Iran become a superpower when its seven million citizens are in exile or running away from evil actions?

The final question is: Will history repeat itself? We hope this does not happen and that Iranians will learn from experiences of the past and the present dictators, right from the German Nazis to the propagandist Gamal Abdul Nasser government and the cruel Saddam Hussein. They should think deeply about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to take a cue and understand that power and extremism under the disguise of religion can only produce destruction. They should also realize that flexing muscles or power play against the international community and the repeat of policing propaganda under which the Shah government lived no longer make any impact and do not have any place in the contemporary world. This is simply because all countries in the region enjoy sovereignty and independence and it is impossible for any other government to police over them.