It may be propaganda but, with the exception of destroying the Taliban (which seems more and more unlikely) it sure sums up where we are today.Mohsen Rezai: Now, the [Iranian] officials should be careful not to view America and the West as clumsy and incapable people.
[...]
America's arrival in the region presented Iran with an historic opportunity. The kind of service that the Americans, with all their hatred, have done us - no superpower has ever done anything similar.
America destroyed all our enemies in the region. It destroyed the Taliban. It destroyed Mr. Saddam Hussein. It imprisoned the hypocrites [Mojahedin-e Khalq] in France. It did all this in order to confront us face to face, and in order to place us under siege. But the American teeth got so stuck in the soil of Iraq and Afghanistan that if they manage to drag themselves back to Washington in one piece, they should thank God. Therefore, America presents us with an opportunity rather than a threat – not because it intended to, but because its estimates were wrong. It made many mistakes.
In addition, America has now despaired of toppling the Islamic Republic. Therefore, the threats we face are not about toppling the Islamic Republic, but about blocking Iran's influence in the region. There were times when America was confronting the very essence of the Islamic Republic, but today it is confronting Iran's influence in the region. The entire nuclear dispute revolves around this. The Americans know that we do not have the atom bomb, and that we don't want to pursue the atom bomb. But the Americans claim that a nuclear Iran – even a peaceful one – will make its neighboring countries dependent upon it, and will expand Iran's influence in the region.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Iranian propaganda?
From an interview with the Secretary of the Iranian Expediency Council (whatever that is):
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Khomeini created the Expediency Council in the eighties. It advises the Supreme Leader (now Ali Khamenei) in matters of policy. I believe it also mediates between the Iranian parliament and the Islamic General Council when they cannot agree (which is frequently!). Rezaee stood in the 2005 Presidential election, but withdrew two days before. I doubt he considers his opinions propaganda, but certainly his views will not be sympathetic with those of the US government. He has an estranged son living in America who denounces both his father and the Iranian regime. Certainly, he speaks rightly of how the US and Britain have unintentionally cleared away many of Iran's regional problems, while creating a hornet's nest for themselves.
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