Blame it on Iran

Wednesday,June 20,2007

Everything that happens in the Middle East, Washington throws the blame on Iran. The US has persistently been doing this for the last over half a century, and Iran has always been able to bear it best. It is an excellent foppery of the super power, that, whenever it is sick in fortune, often the surfeit of its own behaviour, it holds Tehran guilty of all its disasters. It started during the World War-2, when Britain and the USSR were concerned over Reza Shah’s friendly relations with Germany. In 1941 both the countries invaded and occupied large areas of Iran. They forced Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahalavi Dynasty in 1925 after a ‘coup d’etat’ which ousted Ahmad Shah, last of the Qajar kings. In the absence of a viable alternative, they permitted his son Mohammed Reza to assume the Peacock throne. The nouveau Shah’s reign began against the backdrop of social-political disarray, economic problems and food shortages. Despite his vows to be a constitutional monarch who would bring forward the power of the parliamentary government, Mohammed Reza increasingly involved himself in governmental affairs and opposed strong prime ministers. Prone to indecision, the new king relied more on manipulation than on leadership. He concentrated on reviving the army and ensuring that it would remain his main power base. In the context of regional turmoil and the cold war, the Shah established himself as an indispensable ally of the US and crowned himself in 1967 as “His Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza Shah Pahalavi, Shahanshah Aryamehr of Iran. His pompous, but hollow hold over Iran ended in consequence to 1978-79 widespread uprisings when his government collapsed and religious clergy that was opposed to American hegemony took over the country. Iran emerged as a country that was flexing its muscles in a way that was threat to US and its satellite Israel. In a bitter reaction, a group of militant Iranian students ransacked the US embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, and held 63 diplomats as hostages for as many as 444 days till Jan. 20, 1981. The ordeal reached its lowest ebb when the US military attempted a botched rescue operation on April 4, 1980. The failure of the so-called “Operation Eagle Claw” resulted in the death of 5-US airmen and 3 Marines. Some political analysts believe the crisis was the primary reason of defeat of President Carter in 1980. However, the crisis ended with the signing of ‘Algiers Accord’ in Algeria in January, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the president. Ouster of the Iranian monarch and stand off with the US were the sins for which Tehran was not to be forgiven. It was made the pretext for launching a proxy war on Iran in which Saddam was used as the frontline scapegoat. Despite objections from the congress, it was President Reagan who removed Iraq from the US list of known terrorist countries in Feb. 1982, and the same year ‘Hughes Aircraft’ despatched as many as 60 Defender helicopters to Baghdad. To augment the war, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) was ordered to provide all the strategic information on Iranian deployments, tactical planning, plans for air strikes and bomb damage assessments. At the same time in October 1983, Reagan administration secretly prevailed upon Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt to transfer US weaponry, including Howitzers and Huey helicopters to Iraq in utter violation of the Arms Export Control Act. This was followed by a ‘National Security Directive’ in November the same year stating that Washington would do “whatever was necessary and legal” to prevent Iraq from losing its war with Iran. As a follow up, “Banca Nazionale del Lavaro” of Italy and its branch in Atlanta began to funnel $5 billion in unreported loans to Iraq. Baghdad, with the official US approval purchased computer controlled machine tools, computers, scientific instruments, special alloy steel and aluminium, chemicals and other industrial goods for Iraq’s missile, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes. Donald Rumsfeld was sent as Reagan’s emissary to Baghdad in December 1983, to reassure Saddam Hussein over the supply of chemical and biological weapons, which were subsequently used against the Iranians. These lethal chemical and biological weapons were freely used by Saddam to quell the Kurdish uprising in Northern Iraq, which resulted in the massacre of over 100,000 civilians. This could not have happened without the tacit consent of the US high command. As the bad-luck would have it, Saddam was attacked for the alleged possession of those ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that the US had supplied him during the Gulf War against the Iranians. Iran-Iraq war ended in August 1988, after both the sides accepted a UN-sponsored ceasefire. It was one of the longest and most destructive wars of the 20th century with more than one million casualties. Despite the human and material cost, none of the adversaries made any territorial or political gains. The fundamental issues dividing the two countries remained unresolved, but the US resolve to make Iran a subservient state did not die. With the beginning of the third millennium, Tehran’s uranium enrichment programme has become the latest eyesore to Washington, not because it is dangerous for the US or Europe, but it is an attempt by the Iranians to rid their dependence on the West or Washington to acquire nuclear energy for their economic emancipation. Peaceful nuclear enrichment programmes are allowed by the IAEA Charter to which Tehran is a signatory. As usual, the UN Security Council under Washington’s pressure is passing one sanction after another to stop Iran from going ahead with its nuclear plan. US has not been able to find an excuse to launch an attack on Iran, because Russia and China strongly oppose it while the European countries have a lukewarm approach to Washington’s aggressive designs against another sovereign state in the region. They don’t want Bush to repeat the same folly that he committed in Iraq. Even the IAEA Chief Al-Baradei has warned that an attack on Iran would be disastrous for the world. While the diplomatic channels are working to end the stalemate, the US administration is going ahead with its unilateral bombardment of Tehran with all kinds of accusations. It started with reproving Iran for supplying IED (improvised explosive devices) to Iraqi militants who were playing havoc with the US-occupation forces. Iran’s possible role in aiding insurgents in Iraq has long been hotly debated, and last month some Western and Persian Gulf governments charged that the Islamic government in Iran was also bolstering Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. In an interview with ‘The Associated Press’ last week, US Gen. Dan McNeill said that the Taliban fighters were showing signs of better training, using combat techniques comparable to ‘an advanced Western military’ set up. British PM Tony Blair had earlier wrote in the May 31 edition of the Economist that it was clear the Taliban were receiving support, including arms from some elements of the Iranian regime. Tehran rightly pointed out that it made no sense that a Shiite-led government would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban. The vital question! How many more resolutions on Iran while there is none against the Israeli nuclear build up, blatant atrocities on the Palestinians and genocidal war on Lebanon? The IAEA should have a uniform policy in the region. Why doesn’t it recommend to the “Security Council” to declare the Middle East ‘a nuclear free zone’ that includes Israel? Would Washington support any such move?


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