|
 unday
was the 22nd anniversary of the armed seizure of the American Embassy
in Tehran, and the ruling mullahs and ayatollahs have always organized
mass demonstrations in honor of the great event. This year it was
even more important than usual, because it followed two weeks of
humongous anti-regime demonstrations, involving millions of ordinary
Iranians, who took to the streets to show their hatred for the theocratic
regime and to demand democracy and freedom. The mullahcracy accordingly
called for monster rallies, complete with the ritual burning of
American flags.
It was a dud.
Even in Tehran, according to Radio France Internationale, only a
few hundred showed up, and many of them were clearly members of
the secret police, the Basij, and most of the others were very young
children. Once again, the Iranian people thumbed their noses at
their tyrants in open defiance of the regime.
The rulers
have been acting incoherently of late, sometimes acting with their
usual violence (a few days ago, the leading human-rights lawyer
in the country was publicly beaten and thrown in prison), sometimes
descending into pathetic public whining. The most recent example
came on Sunday, when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme ruler himself,
publicly denounced all those calling for reform of the Islamic republic,
reserving his harshest language for formerly revolutionary students,
whom he branded "traitors."
"...The
problem with some of our officials is their weak and torpid faith
and Islamic thoughts, and their attraction to Western political
prescriptions," he told a group of students summoned before
him in Esfahan. "Why should some of our officials defend Western
liberal democrats?" he demanded. It was the first time he had
ever referred to his critics a "liberal democrats," another
indication of the depth of concern by Iranian rulers. Their greatest
crime, he said, was to "address themselves to the general public
and call it modernism," instead of expressing their concerns
in "scientific and specialized circles," namely behind
closed doors.
Amazingly,
Khamenei gave a thumbnail sketch of precisely what has gone wrong
inside Iran since the Revolution. "These extremists,"
he said, apparently having learned from the Clintonites the proper
epithets to hurl against political opponents, "who in the beginning
of the revolution used to brand us a conciliatory are now on the
opposite side, ready to officially apologize to the Americans and
the British and roll out the red carpet for Zionist capitalists."
In short, we
have it on highly credible authority that the Great Satan is making
a comeback in Iran. You should be skeptical when your allies tell
you how popular you are, but you can always believe an enemy. Especially
when said enemy is showing signs of losing the will to crush his
opponents. A few days ago, the leader of the democracy movement
of Iranian university students was released from jail after being
held for more than two years. He promptly gave a radio interview
to a pro-democracy station based in Los Angeles, in which he reiterated
his conviction that time was running out on the regime.
The lesson
we must learn from these brave Iranian freedom fighters is that
Islamic radicalism does not work, and the most devastating weapon
we can employ against it is the people of the Middle East. The mullahcracy
may or may not fall in the near future, but it is clear to anyone
who cares to look — including the Islamic tyrants in Tehran
— that it does not work. After 22 years of ceaseless indoctrination,
the Iranian people hate radical Islam. They want to be free of it.
So when people talk to you about an inevitable "clash of civilizations,"
remember that there are many clashes, and the one that is taking
place within Islamic civilization is going badly for the radicals.
It follows
that we should challenge the Middle East tyrants, secure in the
knowledge that our values are truly universal, and the people
who today groan under despotism will join with us to achieve democracy
and freedom tomorrow. President Bush, tear down those walls! Give
your full support to the Iraqi resistance! Stop rewarding the vicious
and corrupt tyrants of the Middle East, and embrace the people there.
Tell Syria's Assad, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, the Palestinian Authority's
Arafat, and all the others, that a great revolutionary war is coming
to deposit them on the dust heap of history's failed lies.
Say it publicly,
so that their people can hear it. And say it bravely, so that the
American people understand the true nature of our struggle.
|
