According to a number of news reporters including one from the Sunday Telegraph, several guerrilla groups within Iran that have been involved in terrorist type actions against the Iranian government are receiving funding directly from the CIA.
Many of these guerilla organizations consist of ethnic minority groups such as the Kurds, the Ahwazi and the Baluchis who oppose the current Iranian government. Some of the actions carried out by these groups include kidnappings, executions and bombings. Most of the attacks have been directed towards Iranian soldiers and government officials, but of course civilians that happen to be in the way are often injured or killed as well. A Baluchi group calling itself Jundallah (Army of God) recently claimed responsibility for the bombing of a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards in Zahedan, Iran which killed 11 people and injured many more.At the same time, over 3000 members of a guerilla group calling itself Mujahedin-e Khalq (The People's Freedom Fighters) or MEK who are responsible for numerous attacks against Iranian officials (and some Americans), enjoy safe haven in Iraq, courtesy of the US military.
Despite repeated requests from the Iranian government for the handing over of MEK members to stand trial in Iran for their actions, the US government has yet to comply. Declared a terrorist organization by the US State Department in 1997, the MEK appear to have more recently become useful allies of Washington in its "cold war" against Iran—particularly since the MEK were the first ones to claim that the current Iranian governments' nuclear ambitions were anything but peaceful.Now while I have to admit I'm no great lover of the current repressive government of Iran, nor the ultra conservative Ayatollahs, nor the brutal, fanatical Revolutionary Guards and while I do have some sympathy for some of the stated goals of the MEK, I do find this double standard on the part of the Bush administration to be just a tad hypocritical. You can't be truly against terrorism and be supporting it at the same time. But of course, as a true study of history will show, neither Bush nor previous US administrations have actually been against terrorism (state terrorism or otherwise). Despite what they say, they're just against terrorism that is against them or runs counter to their interests. And it's precisely this double standard that successive US administrations feel perfectly comfortable in engaging in, that is one of the main reasons why so many people around the world are fucking furious with the US.
Besides being blatantly hypocritical, this policy of supporting "good" terrorists is dangerous as well; it's backfired on the US more than once in the past with all sorts of nasty consequences for a lot of people. One of the more recent and memorable instances of this is when the Reagan administration provided funds and armaments to a bunch of hardened, Islamist warriors (also calling themselves "Mujahedin") in Afghanistan who were fighting against the Najibullah government and its Soviet backers. The Soviets finally gave up and left the country and the Najibullah government eventually fell. Victory for the USA? Hardly; newly emboldened and armed, many of those same Mujahedin fighters went on to form an extremely conservative, repressive, militant Islamic government in Afghanistan. This same government provided safe haven and moral support to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda while they prepared for the September 11th, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The name of this government in Afghanistan?
You got it; the Taliban! In other words, the Reagan administration, employing the same type of brilliant foreign policy back then against Afghanistan as the Bush administration is now employing against Iran, inadvertently helped to lay the groundwork for the 9/11 attacks. As well, they helped to create the mess in Afghanistan that NATO countries (including Canada) are now expected to help cleanup at great cost and loss of life.
It's time the Bush administration (and all US administrations to come) stop supporting violent opposition groups (terrorists) in other countries as proxies to destabilize governments they don't like. It's time they start showing real respect (instead of mere lip service) for concepts like sovereignty, multilateralism and democracy. Otherwise they can't expect their enemies (imagined or real) to show respect for such concepts either. The rules have to apply to everyone, otherwise they can't possibly work and the violence will only escalate. Countries that claim to have the moral high ground need to set a good example. Because, as everyone the world over knows (outside of Washington that is), "what's good for the goose is good for the gander".
It's time the Bush administration (and all US administrations to come) stop supporting violent opposition groups (terrorists) in other countries as proxies to destabilize governments they don't like. It's time they start showing real respect (instead of mere lip service) for concepts like sovereignty, multilateralism and democracy. Otherwise they can't expect their enemies (imagined or real) to show respect for such concepts either. The rules have to apply to everyone, otherwise they can't possibly work and the violence will only escalate. Countries that claim to have the moral high ground need to set a good example. Because, as everyone the world over knows (outside of Washington that is), "what's good for the goose is good for the gander".
(For a sort of musical version of this posting, check out the Subhumans song, "Moving Forward" from our new album, New Dark Age Parade. You can hear it at our Myspace site at www.myspace.com/subhumanscanaduh.)
