terrorism
Eliminating the Iranian Threat
By Erick Stakelbeck
Washington Terror Analyst
CBN.com –
WASHINGTON - Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich compares the rise of Iran today to that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. He recently called Iran the "the single most urgent threat to America’s national security."
One Iranian native, Alireza Jafarzadeh, knows just how dangerous his homeland is. He exposed Iran’s then-secret nuclear weapons program to the world in 2002.
Jafarzadeh said, “Iran, under the Ayatollahs, is like a five-headed dragon. You're dealing with the nuclear threat of Iran, its meddling in Iraq, its support for international terrorism, its opposition to peace in the Middle East, and finally, the suppression of its own population.”
Jafarzadeh said Iran has enlisted the help of North Korea in building a network of tunnels beneath Tehran, where the Iranians are developing missiles that could include nuclear warheads.
“They want to dominate the whole region,” Jafarzadeh said. “They want to create a global Islamic rule, and they're very serious about it. And the means to do it is to--for the ayatollahs--is to get the bomb as quickly as possible.”
And just how close is Iran to becoming a nuclear power? Experts say it could be anywhere between a few months to a few years before it has the bomb. This contradicts U.S. intelligence reports that it will take Iran another decade.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) said, “The CIA is totally off base in saying that it is going to be 10 years before they have a nuclear weapon. My prediction is they will have a nuclear weapon --either by buying it, or developing it indigenously, in a matter of months, or one to two years at the outset, longest possible time.“
Curt Weldon is vice-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. His book, Countdown to Terror, calls Iran the worldwide command post for Islamic terrorism, and details Tehran’s poisonous influence in Iraq.
“They want Iraq to be constantly destabilized, they want to eventually get us out of that region,” Weldon explained. “And that's why we're going to continue to see car bombings, we're going to continue to see the use of IEDs. I've even received information that I've passed to the CIA that the approval has been given to use chemical weapons in Iraq against our troops.”
Analysts say thousands of Iranian agents are currently active in Iraq. Their goal? Drive out coalition forces and set up a Shiite Islamic state.
American officials have also been troubled by increased cooperation between the Iraqi and Iranian governments. Last month, Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani traveled to Tehran, where he spent three days meeting with Iranian leaders.
Ilan Berman is the author of Tehran Rising--Iran's Challenge to the United States. He said, “They look around the region, they see the type of political processes that are underway in Iraq and Afghanistan--and in Central Asia and the Caucasus--and they know that if they can outmaneuver the United States, they're in position to become the center of gravity of the post-Saddam Middle East.”
Since coming to power in August, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has conducted a purge of the Iranian government. He has replaced dozens of high-ranking Iranian officials with members of Iran’s radical revolutionary Guards Corps. All decisions regarding Iran’s nuclear program are now in the hands of the revolutionary guards.
Ahmadinejad's bizarre Islamist views have also raised eyebrows.
He fervently believes that an Islamic messianic figure--called the Mahdi--will soon reappear to lead Muslims to victory over the infidels. During a speech at the U.N. in September, Ahmadinejad used several references to the Mahdi. And he says that during the same speech, he felt a divine light surrounding him and that the attention of world leaders in the audience was unblinkingly focused upon him.
Ahmadinejad has publicly doubted whether the Holocaust really happened. He has also suggested that the state of Israel be moved to Europe. But it was an October conference in Tehran called "The World without Zionism,” where Ahmadinejad made his most controversial comment to date--calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Jeremy Issacharoff is the deputy chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He said Iran has supplied the terrorist group Hezbollah with more than 10,000 short-range rockets, most of which are deployed in southern Lebanon, well within reach of Israel.
“We can see a very clear picture of what they're doing with Hezbollah,” Issacharoff said. “Would Hezbollah be able to work without the Iranian backbone of money and supplies and training? I don't think it would have been able to become such a power in Lebanon with all that implies in internal Lebanese terms--without Iranian help.”
Even Iran’s own people are at risk.
Iran is a hard-line Islamic state, where freedom of speech, religion, and thought are strictly forbidden--and public executions are the norm. Christians in Iran are routinely tortured and imprisoned. Just last month, an Iranian convert to Christianity was kidnapped from his home and brutally murdered. Iranian dissidents say that the government was behind the killing. Ahmadinejad has reportedly vowed to put an end to Christianity in Iran.
Analysts around the world agree action needs to be taken against Iran. But what kind? Opinions vary. The U.S. and the Europeans want to eliminate the Iranian threat through diplomacy. If that strategy fails, they may refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council in hopes of enforcing sanctions. Some Israeli officials have also suggested this tactic.
“If a country cannot abide by the very basic ground rules in the United Nations, then I think it would be very appropriate, first and foremost, for there to be a very strong international reaction,” Issacharoff said.
Approximately 70 percent of the Iranian population is under the age of 30, and discontent with the current regime is widespread. So could an increase in funding and support for democratic opposition groups within Iran help them topple the mullahs?
One former CIA analyst, Clare Lopez, said that America had great success in supporting pro-democracy groups during the Cold War. “I think we can do the same thing now, for the jailed and oppressed journalists, students, bloggers and others whose human rights are being oppressed inside of Iran today,” Lopez said.
One point that all sides agree on? Preemptive strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities would be extremely risky. The sites are scattered throughout the country--many of them in underground bunkers. And Iran would likely retaliate by directing terrorist attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East and against Israel.
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