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SPEAKING
FREELY
The American hand in
Iran
By Trish Schuh
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing.
Like the color-coded
terror alert system, the technicolor "velvet
invasions" blink a warning. Despite receiving an
ugly bruise in Uzbekistan, the US Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA)and its non-governmental
organization (NGO) regime-change industry hope to
stage another cardboard coup in Iran. But it could
be a black and blue revolution.
Citing a
"mission accomplished" in Iraq, President George W
Bush told 25,000 soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas:
"The establishment of a free Iraq is a watershed
event in the global democratic revolution. That
success is sending a message from Beirut to
Tehran."
Tasked by the Bush administration
with sending that message from America to Tehran,
and "winning hearts and minds" is author and
"Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" member Jerome
Corsi. On May 16, Corsi's NGO, the Iran Freedom
Foundation (IFF), inaugurated a 12-day "Iran
Freedom Walk" from Philadelphia's Liberty Bell to
Washington, DC.
Dipping two fingers in red
paint, Corsi waved a peace sign in solidarity
"with the blood of oppressed Iranians" and called
on "the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther
King". He declared, "I love the Iranian people.
America does not hate the Persian people. We love
the Persian people. We want peace and we love the
Persian people." Corsi's voice then dropped to a
whisper; "We stand here today and we pray in the
name of the gods. I embrace Jesus Christ as my
savior - and we also pray in the name of Allah,
Zoroaster and the B'hai."
But Corsi has
expressed very different opinions on Islam in the
past. According to his own postings on
FreeRepublic.com, on November 18, 2001 Corsi used
a racial slur to define Arabs: "Ragheads are
boy-bumpers [sodomizers] as clearly as they are
women haters - it all goes together."
Using the incendiary style he perfected
for "Swiftboat veteran" television attack
advertisements, Corsi declares, "Islam is a
peaceful religion as long as the women are beaten,
the boys buggered and the infidels killed."
Comparing Islam to a disease, he added, "How's
this for an analogy? The Koran is simply the
'software' for producing deviant cancer cell
political behavior and violence in human beings'
and Islam is like a virus. It affects the mind.
Maybe even better as an analogy: it is a cancer
that destroys the body it infects. No doctor would
hesitate to eliminate cancer cells from the body."
In April 2004 Corsi said, "Let's see why it isn't
the case that Islam is a worthless, dangerous,
Satanic religion. Where's the proof to the
contrary?"
Surrounding Corsi at his walk
were three dozen Los Angeles Iranian dissidents
and pro-monarchists interviewed by an Orthodox
Jewish journalist and by the CIA-backed Voice of
America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Farda. The Los
Angeles Times of March 20 revealed that
"Tehrangeles" has become a crucial recruiting
ground for Iranian expatriates who gather
information for the US intelligence community.
Also providing assistance are various Farsi
language media which broadcast messages against
the Iranian government into Iran.
According to the March 4 Los Angeles
Times, the US currently spends US$14.7 million a
year on Farsi "opposition broadcasts" into Iran.
The Voice of America's Farsi service reaches an
estimated 15 million Iranians with news programs
and websites, and the Bush administration has
recently requested an additional $5.7 million for
2006 to expand the hours of transmission.
Los Angeles Farsi radio station KRSI noted
the similarity between current US efforts and the
CIA's 1953 overthrow of Iran's democratically
elected premier Mohammed Mossadeq. When asked if
he was CIA-affiliated, Corsi replied: "No, I'm
not. I've never held a government position, never
had any government position at all. I've been in
universities. I'm an author. I'm in business. I'm
not related to the CIA. It's just not true."
But when later asked how he became so
committed to Iranian liberation, he explained,
"When I was a young man I was an expert in
antiterrorism and political violence. I had a top
secret clearance when I was in universities and I
worked to assist the State Department and the
government." Corsi's publisher, Cumberland House,
states in his biography that Corsi's top secret
clearance came from the government agency US
Agency for International Development (USAID).
USAID has often served as a conduit for American
covert operations funding, under humanitarian
auspices.
This writer asked Corsi about
the Iran Freedom Foundation's funding. He said the
money came from sales of his book Atomic
Iran and from private donations, adding that
the IFF would apply for government funding when it
became available.
That funding may be on
the way. On February 11, a promoter of the IFF,
Worldnetdaily.com, announced that Corsi had helped
Republican Senator Paul Santorum write the Iran
Freedom and Support Act of 2005. The legislation
was to authorize $10 million in assistance to
pro-democracy NGOs that challenge the Iranian
regime. Corsi called that figure a "starting
point".
It was an accurate projection. In
a May 5 Financial Times article, "US offers grants
to help oppose clerics", Guy Dinmore reported that
lawmakers demanded a bill aimed at overthrowing
the Iranian government be increased to $50
million. This did not include the millions of
dollars provided by the State Department's Middle
East Partnership Initiative. "We have turned
opposition into a profession," commented Ray
Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations. "This
money is going to go up."
Such "soft
power" opposition activities are escalating. The
May 29 New York Times quoted Nicholas Burns, under
secretary of state for political affairs, as
saying the Bush team was "taking a page from the
playbook" of colored revolutions where US-funded
pro-democracy NGOs helped nonviolently overthrow
noncompliant governments.
The IFF lists
several such activities on its website. Corsi's
book, Atomic Iran, is being translated into
Farsi for clandestine distribution in Iran, there
is an online petition targeting the mullahs, IFF
university associations are mobilizing college
students, and a national speakers bureau to
educate Americans on Iranian atrocities has been
deployed.
The IFF is also filming a
documentary and has begun running TV ads entitled;
"An Atomic 9-11: When Evil is Appeased", accusing
Iran of plans to detonate a 150 kiloton nuclear
bomb in New York City. (When Corsi was reminded
that it was the US that began Iran's nuclear
program in the 1970s, and that Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld sat on the board of ABB,
which sold North Korea its nuclear reactors in the
1990s, he refused to address the issue.)
The IFF's efforts are supplemented by an
array of related sister organizations, such as
Regime Change Iran, Alliance for Democracy in
Iran, Iran of Tomorrow Movement, the Iranian
Opposition Council, and The 70 Million People of
Iran, which are organizing an election for a
secular interim government in exile "ready to
assume Iran's governmental functions". The group
has also issued an ultimatum letter to world
leaders, demanding they void all contracts with
Iran. (Halliburton contracts in Iran were not
mentioned). This small US-backed group, presuming
to speak for 70 million Iranians, even borrowed
the State Department lingo by urging "the removal
of the Islamic republic to win the war on terror".
The goal of these strategies, Corsi
announced at his event, was to incite mass
protests against Iran's June 17 presidential
elections and thus try to destabilize the regime.
As early as 2003, Reuters printed
allegations that the US had infiltrated several
million dollars into the country to bribe
officials and pay protesters. The Economist of
June 13, 2003 headlined; "More unrest on the
streets of Tehran. Is America pulling the
strings?"
America is pulling strings, with
Israeli assistance. The former head of Mossad's
foreign intelligence division, Uzi Arad, told
Worldnetdaily.com: "Support of Iranian opposition
by the international community could be an
effective way to handle the current regime" and
that "its stability can be greatly reduced by the
people themselves." Pro-Israel lobbyist Michael
Ledeen wrote for the neo-conservative American
Enterprise Institute, "Mr Bush is correct that we
should actively help the brave Iranians who are
leading demonstrations against the regime ..."
Israel's Student Solidarity Movement and
The Jewish Agency recently staged protests at
Iranian embassies worldwide. The Israeli newspaper
Ha'aretz reported the "AIPAC [American Israel
Political Action Committee] spurring Congress to
pass a sanctions bill against Iran". AIPAC is also
pressuring the US to support the Iranian
Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) for use against Iran's
mullahs.
MEK has been legally designated a
terrorist organization since 1997 for killing US
citizens, for its role in the 1979 seizure of the
US Embassy in Tehran and for attacking coalition
troops in Iraq. Human Rights Watch recently
condemned them for use of torture, bombings and
assassinations. Nevertheless, 150 congressmen have
petitioned Bush to remove them from the terrorism
list, and several lawmakers spoke at their 2005
convention in Washington, DC.
The Israeli
Communication Ministry's R R Sat provides
transponder capability to the MEK to broadcast
programming on its two channels.
Iran-interlink.org even hints that Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon personally approved funding
for the broadcasts, because of his alliance with
the MEK's influential Maryam Rajavi.
On
May 28, the IFF's walk reached the White House.
The closing rally featured Richard Perle, former
assistant secretary of defense and pro-Israel
architect of Bush's Middle East policy. Corsi then
phoned the White House, where Bush congratulated
the marchers and offered support. Vice President
Dick Cheney's office also thanked the IFF. Corsi
vowed, "If we can find sufficient monetary
resources, we plan to send funds inside Iran to
support those oppressed."
In response, USA
Today reported that Iranian ambassador to the UN,
Mohammad Javad Zarif, denounced these types of US
measures as a violation of the Algiers Accords.
The accords freed 52 American Embassy hostages in
exchange for a US promise "not to intervene
directly or indirectly, politically or militarily,
in Iran's internal affairs". Iran may file a
complaint with the International Court of Justice
in the Hague to stop US interference.
According to Reuters, Iran's Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi threatened:
"Iran has always defended its interests with full
power and will continue to do so. It won't
hesitate even for a fraction of a moment to defend
itself" and Iran's government has pledged harsh
resistance. If the CIA and its associated regime
change NGOs succeed, it could be very bloody black
and blue coup.
Trish Schuh has
worked with ABCnews, al-Arabiya, Tehran Times,
MehrNews, Syria Times, Iran News Daily and
Muslim's Weekly. She studied Arabic and Islam in
Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and recently
observed the presidential elections in Iran.
(Copyright 2005 Trish Schuh)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing. |
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