Iran So Far Away

Stefania Lapenna, Tech Central Station:

The most pressing challenge the free world faces today is Islamic terrorism and its deadly goals. Nations differ over how to handle this threat. Worse, it seems they ignore the enemy who threatens our very existence. Everybody knows the names of the groups and organizations that contribute to international of terror, but often they ignore those who directly help and fund such Jihadist groups.

It is well known that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the main funder of terrorist activities across the Middle East, from Iraq to Lebanon and even Afghanistan. To the surprise of some, the Islamic regime finances Al Qaeda, even though the latter is a Sunni and Wahhabi organization. News reports indicate the Jordanian terrorist and Al Qaeda's number-two in Iraq, Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, is believed to be receiving treatment in Iran.

The Mullahs feel they can keep taking the free world for a ride. One day they reassure that they will stop their nuclear activities and the next day they announce that they will not halt uranium enrichment. This is because they know that double-game works and they get a lot of reinforcement from European leaders and the "realists" in the State Department.

How the Mullahs must have celebrated when they learned they can start talks on membership in the World Trade Organization.

This self-destructive and absurd initiative is nothing new on the part of the Europeans, given their policy of appeasing dictators and putting their mercantilist and economic interests before such important issues such as human rights, democracy and the dangerousness of letting terrorist regimes possess an atomic bomb.

What is more baffling is that this initiative is being endorsed by Washington - or at least the State Department. Yet, it is still more disturbing that President Bush is not doing enough to put an end to this idiocy. Sometimes silence means assent. READ MORE

The Iranian people - 80 percent of whom asks for moral and economic support by the free world and the United States in particular - considers America as a guiding light for their aspirations and their struggle. They trust the President's commitment to help all those who seek freedom. They appreciate and applaud Bush's recent speeches in which he affirmed that "whenever you stand for your freedom, America stands with you".

But now the Iranian people see the US endorsing the Europeans' appeasement and self-destructive policies. All this only strengthens the Islamic republic, which feels that whatever crime and deception it commits goes unpunished and their double game is rewarded.

According to a report by an Iranian pro-democracy group, the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI), officials of the Islamic Regime are planning to put ballot boxes on US soil and in the Los Angeles area in particular. Millions of Iranians, as in recent years, are preparing to massively boycott the Islamist "elections" so turning this regime's show of deception into another fiasco.

Millions will likely stay at home not because of the disqualification of some so-called "reformists"". The Iranian people over the recent years have come to realize that there are no "reformists" or "hard-liners", but only a regime made up of Islamic fundamentalists who believe in the "divinity" of their theocratic system and for this there is no reform.

The presence, on US soil, of ballot boxes organized by a regime which belongs to the Axis of Evil, raises some important questions: are we sincere when we affirm our willingness to defeat terror and the regimes that support it? Are we really sincere when we say that we'll stand with those who stand for their freedom?

The Iranian people will liberate their country themselves but they need the moral, political and economic support of the Free World in order to overthrow the Islamic regime in its entirety and then hold an internationally-monitored referendum which will determine if the new political system will be a democratic constitutional monarchy or a secular republic.

It's up to the leaders of the Free World not to betray the hopes of 70 million people.

Stefania Lapenna is an Italian activist and author of the weblog Free Thoughts.