Iran is a Danger and Should be Condemned

by Robert J. Romano

June 14th, 2004

Developments out of Iran recently are quite the cause for concern to all freedom-loving nations.  Iran Mania has reported that "Some 2,000 Iranians, one as young as seven, have signed up with a shadowy Islamist group to carry out suicide bombings in Iraq and Israel, a Tehran daily reported Saturday... 'So far 2,000 people have registered,' the group's spokesman, Mohammad Samadi, told the reformist newspaper Shargh. 'Twenty-five percent are under 18 years, 55 percent are between 18 and 40, and the rest are 40 to 80,' said Samadi, spokesman for the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the World Islamic Movement." These actions, left unchecked by the Iranian government, pose a clear and present danger to Iraq, Israel, and to international security, since they will apparently run across nations' borders if they are not prevented.  The emergence of thousands of suicide bombers within Iran with the intention of attacking the soon-to-be sovereign state of Iraq, and the Jewish state of Israel, is one disturbing development among many.  If the government of Iran had any intention of preventing and deterring terrorism within her own borders, they would not only condemn this organization, but would closely monitor their actions, and arrest the group's leadership.  That is, if they do not want to leave the impression that they indeed support these actions, and do not knowingly harbor terrorists.  Such a public demonstration by this group obviously cannot go unnoticed by the leadership in Tehran, and this would be an opportunity for the government there to participate in the global war on terrorism by shutting down this group and all terrorist organizations that operate within Iran.

        Enough wishful thinking, though.  Iran has long been known to be a state sponsor of terrorism.  No condemnation has been issued, and the group's leadership operates freely in Iran, recruiting terrorists to carry out operations.  Instead, it is up to the governments of Iraq and Israel, who are targeted by this group, to identify its members and to neutralize the threat by the means it deems to be necessary.  Every nation has a right to self-defense, and responding to clear and present dangers such as terrorist organizations openly declaring their murderous intentions is well within that mandate.  Iraq, which shares a border with Iran, has a solemn duty to protect her own citizens from not only insurgents operating internally, but also external threats, which in this case could not be more clear.  The U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran, in the American Daily, has stated that "Nonetheless, the most ominous news from Iran last week has to do with the formation of Karbala-bound Battalions tasked with carrying out suicide attacks against the Coalition forces in Iraq... Iran is launching this requiting campaign under the religious pretext of defending the Muslim holy shrines against the infidels. In reality, this is a part of mullahs’ sinister goal of expanding their Khomeini-style theocracy into Iraq. Iran’s ruling regime has frequently and skillfully used the cloak of religion to legitimize its tyranny and advance its political and diplomatic goals. And this is just another example." The government of a free Iraq ought to be mightily concerned, which they undoubtedly are, and apparently needs to be ready to meet the danger, based on these reports.  The prospect of terrorists traveling across the border in order to carry out suicide attacks, which endanger not only military forces, but civilians as well, must be taken seriously, and dutifully preempted in some fashion.

        While the threats against Israel probably come as no surprise considering its decades-long struggle against terrorists, and is no less deplorable, the danger being directed at the burgeoning democracy in Iraq demonstrates that the terror enemy has ambitions beyond attacking so-called "infidels," and indeed has interest in attacking fellow Muslims when expedience demands such.  Of course, such flagrant threats are not prudent, for they openly identify potential dangers, and they offer the opportunity for those nations targeted to take those actions deemed necessary to protect themselves.  It also further exposes the extent to which terrorism is tolerated within Iran.  Any nation targeted by terrorist organizations has the obligation to condemn open threats, and to respond accordingly.  It must be made clear that terrorists traveling to these nations will not be welcomed, and should expect to be captured or killed on the spot before they ever get the chance to carry out their murderous designs.   Whenever such declarations are made, even if not directly sanctioned by sovereign states, they have to be met with diplomatic pressure against those states responsible for policing their own.  It is therefore up to the international community to pressure Iran to quit allowing terrorists to operate freely within her borders.

        Of course, this is more wishful thinking, at least the part where Iran would dutifully take such actions, but the part where the friends of freedom work actively against these types of dangers is not.  To allow such a clear and present danger to quietly go by not being condemned and unpunished in any fashion would be the height of irresponsibility.  Whenever such threats are made, they must be answered by those that are targeted, and pressure applied to those states from where the threat originates and are also responsible for maintaining peace and security in the international community.  Why has Iran not condemned and punished these actions? Unless they do so, the world is forced to believe and acknowledge that Iran has not changed her terrorist-sponsoring ways.  From the U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran again, which has discovered that "The website, Rouydad, added that state-organized groups such as Hezbollah and Bassij 'have begun forming battalions of suicide bombers against Coalition forces in Iraq.' These moves 'have gone beyond press releases in recent days and have entered operational stages,' according to the website... It also quoted an official of the Revolutionary Guards, Hassan Abbassi, as saying, 'Our main weapon is jihad… and through it, we are shaking the foundations of the infidels.' He added, 'Reconnaissance has been done on 29 weak points in America and the West to prepare attacks on them. Our plans aim at 6,000 nuclear warheads in America, so that they would blow up. By doing reconnaissance on their weaknesses, we will pass on the information to guerrilla groups and take action through them.' ... 'We have set up a department to deal with Britain and the collapse (of the British government) is on the agenda.'" Clearly, these groups outlined pose a transnational danger, and Iran must be held accountable on the world's stage.

        Of further concern to all nations allied to confront and defeat state sponsors of terrorism is Iran's continued development of nuclear programs quite capable of manufacturing nuclear weapons.  If Iran does not fully account for its activities, and is continually exposed to be hiding more than it has declared, the world is similarly forced to assume the worst and that its programs serve no peaceful end.  Pakistan's Daily Times reports that "Iran’s cooperation with UN nuclear inspectors is 'less than satisfactory' and it cannot withhold full cooperation indefinitely, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday... 'We still have a central issue, and that is whether Iran has declared all its (uranium) enrichment activities,' IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei told reporters." When coupled with the continued threat of terrorism posed by Iran, these developments cannot be viewed as anything other than a gathering danger.  Iran, since it sponsors terrorism, cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, for such weapons in the hands of terrorists would obviously put the killers in a position to commit blackmail on a scale never seen before, or to attack with no warning on a genocidal scale.  The twin threats of terrorism and the development of nuclear programs when coupled together cannot service peaceable ends, and do not add to security in the region and around the world.  They pose a danger that must be confronted and defeated before it is too late.  Unless Iran drastically corrects her course, and routs the terror enemy and submits to a rigorous inspection regime of her nuclear programs, the world must assume the worst.