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I beg you, hold back

Reader comment on item: Will Washington Betray Anti-Regime Iranians?
in response to reader comment: Iranians need to tell us what freedom is...

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), Sep 4, 2008 at 16:12

The USA needs to stand back from what is happening inside Iran. I for one trust the MEK about as far as I can throw the Statue of Liberty. In their own circles, they boast about having been the first "revolutionary fighters" insdie "the nest of spies" back in 1979, so the USA has absolutely no business at all backing them. Their peculiar mixture of Islamicist radicalism and revolutionary Marxism is scarcely calculated to inculcate positive views of the USA.

We have stuck our collective noses into too many of the world's hotspots with nothing to show for it than the status of being almost universally disliked. Our only successes--the rebuilding of South Korea and Taiwan--are wasted, because it is clear that a hostile Communist China is poised to be the dominant player in that region, no matter what.

Much as I respect Dr. Pipes' expertise, I believe that official America is simply too clueless about the varioua regions of the Islamic world, Islam, people who don't speak English, and religion in general (including the Evangelicals living in the suburbs of Washington, DC itself) to craft reasonable policies to deal with a part of the world in which political ferment is couched in an alien, theological vocabulary.

Yes, Islamic radicalism is likely to make a mess of much of the world lying between the Kama and the Comorros, Nigeria and Nigxia, and Mauretania and Mindanao. But, perhaps, when the Islamic radicals' future "Army of Martyrs for the Liberation of Al-Quds" (or whatever they will call it) becomes just that and nothing more, and perhaps ends up making Israel roughly the size it was under David and Solomon out of military necessity, that fermenting Crescent of Crisis may just cool down and come to realize it has more to gain by cooperating with its civilizational near neighbors than by perpetrating Huntingtonian "bloody borders".

BUT: The USA embarking on a crusade against Iran will only freeze us where we've been for far too long. We cannot--and hence must not even try--save the Islamic world from itself.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (38) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
About Ahmadinejad nuclear intentions [358 words]worriedSep 12, 2008 09:17138340
Will USA betray ARI [135 words]IfrahimMar 8, 2009 13:47138340
Iranians need to tell us what freedom is... [333 words]A Befuddled American VoterAug 5, 2008 15:01136314
I beg you, hold back [344 words]Peter HerzSep 4, 2008 16:12136314
Betrayal work of Washington [151 words]HCAug 4, 2008 17:49136276
Hard to trust Washington! [180 words]SohrabAug 5, 2008 22:24136276
Betrayal Work of Washington / Hard To trust USA [153 words]HCAug 6, 2008 16:07136276
Iranian Resistance: The only solution to Iran problem [84 words]AlexJul 26, 2008 16:10135694
i prefer Mollahs to MEK [115 words]zigouratJul 21, 2008 10:02135481
Amen to Zigourat [41 words]Peter.HerzJul 30, 2008 15:20135481
Second that [95 words]ParsaAug 4, 2008 20:36135481
Second that [51 words]ParsaAug 7, 2008 19:03135481
To Heck with the MEK [337 words]Peter J. HerzJul 20, 2008 18:00135441
Shahdom [8 words]Robert A KerrJul 20, 2008 00:04135413
Washingon betray people ? [8 words]Doug CorriganJul 19, 2008 20:04135404
Criminal Waste of a Potential Asset [196 words]Bob SternJul 19, 2008 12:45135400
disposable alliances, a political manoeuvre [88 words]trans-parereJul 18, 2008 18:05135373
definition of terrorist [19 words]joe roseJul 18, 2008 11:05135364
A moral duty and politically savvy [121 words]Stuart RoseJul 17, 2008 22:32135350
Will Washington Betray Anti-Regime Iranians? [36 words]GeorgeJul 17, 2008 18:18135344
Opportunists will make use of MEK opportunists. [205 words]M.D'SouzaJul 17, 2008 17:54135343
Use the resource [104 words]Arif Jayish Al AmirkiJul 27, 2008 20:13135343
Yes, in a word [85 words]Arif Jayish Al AmirikiJul 17, 2008 14:12135337
Depends one which Washington you mean [242 words]Lame CherryJul 17, 2008 14:08135336
Iran and Israel...Marxists and Capitalists vs. Islamists [207 words]DE TeodoruJun 21, 2009 18:33135336
3,500 anti-regime Iran [172 words]YnnatchkahJul 17, 2008 13:16135333
In support of Dr Pipes [640 words]Gabrielle (Australia)Jul 17, 2008 11:53135330
u.s.allies [26 words]jeff lipsonJul 17, 2008 09:41135326
Action, not words [122 words]Rebecca MouldsJul 17, 2008 08:58135325
Will Washington Betray Anti-Regime Iranians? [77 words]orange yonasonJul 16, 2008 21:01135308
Send MEK to Indonesia [77 words]MaureenJul 16, 2008 20:38135305
Obligations to Allies, Big & Small [268 words]RubiconJul 16, 2008 20:03135303
Betrayal [79 words]William C. LinkJul 16, 2008 19:55135300
Iraqi Sovereignty. [116 words]hyman peskinJul 16, 2008 19:50135298
Anti-Regime Iranians want to live in US [92 words]Romesh ChanderJul 16, 2008 19:22135296
MEK [60 words]Jonathan UsherJul 16, 2008 19:14135295
Will We Ever Learn? [118 words]MarciJul 16, 2008 18:49135293
Will US betray Iranian anti-regime citizens? [59 words]GaryJul 16, 2008 18:39135292

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