[Peace-discuss] Despite Thin Intelligence Reports, US Plans To Overthrow Iranian Regime

[patton paul]

Here's some information about what the Bush administration is planning for
Iran.
-Paul P.


Despite Thin Intelligence Reports, US Plans To Overthrow Iranian Regime
by Jason Leopold


Here we go again. While postwar Iraq continues to crumble, the Bush
administration is now setting its sights on a new targetIranin its
so-called effort to reshape most of the Middle East and bring democracy to
countries ruled by vicious dictators. But the Bush administration is again
relying on flimsy evidence and thin intelligence information in claiming
that the Iran poses an immediate threat to the United States.

The U.S. still hasnt uncovered any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Rumsfeld said in an interview reported by CNN Tuesday that its possible
the WMD in Iraq may have been destroyed prior to the war. So right now,
the Bush administration doesnt have much credibility here or with
countries that rightfully opposed the war in Iraq.

Ari Fleischer, Bushs press secretary, said during his daily press briefing
Tuesday that Iran hasnt taken the appropriate steps to round up al Qaeda
terrorists allegedly hiding out within its borders. Moreover, Irans
pursuit of nuclear weapons puts the U.S. in grave danger. Therefore,
regime change is in order.

The future of Iran will be determined by the Iranian people, and I think
the Iranian people have a great yearning for government that is
representative of their concerns, Fleischer said.

Fleischer also said Iran's claim that its nuclear program is designed to
produce fuel for civilian nuclear reactors is a "cover story."

Our strong position is that Iran is preparing instead to produce fissile
materials for nuclear weapons, Fleischer said. That is what we see.

An Iranian opposition group says the Iranian government is building two
secret nuclear sites that might already be partially operational,
producing enriched uranium that could be used in nuclear weapons.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of
Iran, claims the Iranian government has "planned it" so that it can "be
able to get the bomb by 2005."

The NCRI provided detailed information about the previously undisclosed
sites -- Lashkar-Abad and Ramandeh, about 25 miles west of Tehran, but
offered no direct evidence.

Iranian officials have denied harboring al-Qaeda operatives and said the
country would vigorously defend itself against any U.S. threat, which in
the eyes of the Bush administration, could set the stage for another war
and further increase anti-American sentiment and put the U.S. in more
danger of terrorist attacks, according to several Democratic lawmakers.

However, the real cover story is the one the Bush administration is
spinning in order to win public support for what was already planned for
Iran months ago, well before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Before the United States military decimated Iraq, the neocons at the
highly influential think tanks the American Enterprise Institute and the
Project for the New American Century were already advising Bush
administration officials, like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, on
how to overthrow the ruling parties in Iran, Libya and Syria after the war
in Iraq was over.

Many of AEI and PNACs former members are now working in Bushs
administration. PNACs influence on Bushs foreign and defense policies are
so powerful that many of its recommendations on how to transform the
military have already been adopted by the Pentagon.

But unlike Iraq, using military force in these other countries to replace
the rulers wasnt being considered as a way to oust the regimes, according
to former Bush administration officials. Whether or not that becomes the
course of action now is debatable, but even if military force isnt used
for regime change in Iran or other Middle Eastern countries the reasons
for engaging in political warfare in that region is just as troubling as
the reasons the U.S. launched a military attack on Iraq: intelligence
information that suggests these countries pose an immediate threat to the
U.S. is thin and possibly non-existent.

Still, the Bush administration has its agenda and it seems that Iran is
indeed its next target. Instead of military action, the Bush
administration will encourage a popular uprising in its effort to
overthrow Irans supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and lend financial support
to Iranians to get the job done.

To get Iranians to rise up against its government, U.S. Senator Sam
Brownback, R-Kansas, has drafted an amendment to the Senate Foreign
Authorization bill titled The Iran Democracy Act that calls for using the
new Radio Farda to host programming from Iranian Americans who communicate
with their families inside Iran about the desire for an internationally
monitored referendum vote on what form of government Iran should have.

The amendment would also provide grants for private radio and TV stations
in the U.S. that broadcast pro-democracy news and information into Iran.
The amendment also provides funds to translate books, videos and other
materials into Persian - specifically, information on building and
organizing non-violent social movements.

Moreover, Brownback introduced legislation that would establish an Iran
Democracy Foundation to provide grants to the Iranian-American community
and for the radio and TV Stations in the U.S. that broadcast directly into
Iran.

This is the type of political warfare the Bush administration believes
will force Irans government from power. But the Bush administration will
have a hard time convincing Iranians that it can follow through on its
promise. For one, anarchy is running amok in postwar Iraq and many critics
have accused the Bush administration of abandoning its goal of
democratizing the country. Furthermore, Iranians remember how the first
President Bush encouraged the Kurds to rise up against Saddam Hussein
during the 1990s only to be abandoned by that administration and
ultimately slaughtered by Hussein.

But that doesnt stop the think tanks from believing that it cant be done.

'For Iran, the approach might be compared to the approach the United
States and other democratic states took to Poland in the 1980s', said
David Frum, President Bushs former speechwriter, who is credited with
coining the phrase axis of evil, in an April 5 presentation at AEI. 'In
Poland, as in Iran, an economically incompetent authoritarian regime ruled
over an increasingly angry population. In Poland, as in Iran, a mass opposition
movement rose up against the regime: Solidarity in Poland, the student
democratic movement in Iran. Back in the 1980s, the United States and its
allies never confronted the Polish communists directly. Instead, they
imposed stringent economic sanctions on the regime--and contributed
hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for its covert newspapers and radio
stations and to support the families of jailed or exiled activistsas the
regimes economy disintegrated, the Polish communists were compelled first
to open negotiations with Solidarity, next to permit Solidarity to compete
in semi-free elections, and finally to step aside for a Solidarity
government. Fourteen years later, Poland is a democratic state and a
staunch NATO ally'.

Richard Perle, who sits on the Defense Policy Board, a group that advises
Rumsfeld, is more blunt in the reasons for going after Iran and he is not
shy about suggesting that military force be used if necessary.

'The idea that our victory over Saddam will drive other dictators to
develop chemical and biological weapons misses the key point: They are
already doing so. That's why we may someday need to preempt rather than
wait until we are attacked, Perle said in a letter to AEI members earlier
this month'.

Michael Ledeen, another influential AEI scholar, claims that the U.S.
ought to bag Irans regime because of its anti-American views.

'The Iranian people have shown themselves to be the most pro-American
population in the Muslim world, but the Iranian regime is arguably the
most anti-American on Earth. Let's support the people, and help them bag
the regime'.

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__________________________________________________________________
Dr. Paul Patton
Research Scientist
Beckman Institute  Rm 3027  405 N. Mathews St.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  Urbana, Illinois 61801
work phone: (217)-265-0795   fax: (217)-244-5180
home phone: (217)-328-4064
homepage: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ppatton/index.html

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the
source of all true art and science."
-Albert Einstein
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