The United States and the E.U. have made it a foreign policy objective to promote democracy in the Middle East. A policy that has failed time and again but somehow the U.S. and the E.U firmly believe that if you keep repeating the same thing, you will eventually get a different result.
In 1978, Iran was ruled by a brutal and corrupt dictatorship which did not tolerate any dissent or criticism. No free press, no debates, no free elections, no political parties and as one would expect plenty of political prisoners. But it was a secular dictatorship, Western orientated but not to the complete exclusion of the Soviet Union. People were free to pretty well do as they pleased within the bounds of the Civil laws which for most parts did not follow the Islamic laws. Women were not relegated to second class status unless they wanted to be due to their Muslim traditions. Unemployment was zero such that foreign workers had to be imported to supplement the domestic workforce. Economy was growing at a fair rate and income per capita increasing year over year. Iran’s currency, Rial, was accepted and exchanged at any bank in the Western world. Iranians did not need a visa to travel to a great many countries in Western Europe, Asia and Africa.
Iranian Dictatorship bothered the West because it was also doing business with the Soviet Union. The Shah had acquired a life of his own. His criticism of the West on a number of issues did not sit well with the powers to be. West’s fear of communism necessitated a new strategy which called for creating an “Islamic Belt” along the southern border of the Soviet Union. Totally unaware of the Soviet’s internal problems and the imminent crumbling of the Soviet Empire, the West proceeded with “Islamization” of the region. Sounding the bugle of Democracy and Freedom, the U.S. and its allies, started a movement to promote Iran’s most famous dissident Mullah, Ayatollah Khomeini, who lived in exile in Iraq. The Opposition groups inside the country were encouraged and Shah’s indecisiveness in dealing with the upheaval led to the Revolution of 1979 which toppled the dictatorship. The Ayatollah was hurled into the position of absolute power. And absolute power corrupted him absolutely. The people of Iran, blinded by their faith on the one hand and the Ayatollah’s promises of all sorts of social and economic benefits from free electricity and telephone to free public transportation and food rations not to mention fair and just distribution of the oil wealth in the form of a monthly check, voted to establish an Islamic Republic, A.K.A., a Theocracy. The Ayatollah assumed the position of the Absolute Leader and all secular groups that were instrumental in the success of the Revolution were labeled as “Counter Revolutionaries”. By then the people were completely captured by the reverence of the Ayatollah so much so that he was elevated to the holy status of “Imam”. Nothing helps the power of religion more than ignorance. Unfortunately, the same is also true about the power of a dictator. So, once you put a religious nation under a dictator that deprives the masses from acquiring political awareness, you have created a nation of serfs which can easily be manipulated by a Leader particularly if that Leader is also regarded as divine. Upon ascending the thrown of absolute leader, the Ayatollah reneged on all the promises that he had made. Indeed, he did not even remember what promises he had made. But criticism was not allowed because an Imam is always right, an Islamic tenets that is probably the main reason for the demise of the Muslim World. However, to keep a democratic façade, elections were held to elect a President and the members of the Parliament. Finally, free and fair elections were held in Iran and people elected their leaders. Thanks to the West, democracy was ushered in, right? Well, let’s see what free and fair elections have meant to Iran after some 33 years:
SUBJECT PREVIOUS REGIME ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
Dissent Tolerance NO NO
