By Yuram Abdullah Weiler*
“We’re neither xenophilic nor xenophobic. We are Iranian, Muslim, and revolutionary, and will use constructive engagement with the world for the benefit of our people and national interests.”
—President Hassan Rouhani[1]
The Islamic Revolution in Iran began 38 years ago, and today the revolutionary spirit behind the triumph is stronger than ever. While western-induced instability reigns in much of the Islamic world, Iran stands alone as a pillar of Islamic resistance and a paradigm of economic progress. Revised and refined within Iran in the grueling trials by fire of U.S.-imposed war and punishing economic sanctions, the Islamic Revolution has been gathering strength for 38 years.
In his inaugural address, Trump said, “We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.”[2] For the leader of a country that maintains nearly 600 military sites outside of its borders around the globe[3] and regularly engages in covert activity against sovereign governments to make such a statement is beyond preposterous. Clearly, this colossal military presence is a sign of a nation racked by fear and weakness; an empire that is terrified of any alternative ideology, such as Islam, gaining a foothold against its hegemony, and certainly not a shining example for others to follow willingly.
The Pentagon has had plans since the 9/11 terror attacks for regime change in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the same seven nations included in Trump’s controversial immigration ban.[4] Regime change operations have been executed by the U.S. in Iraq and Libya, are currently in progress in Syria and Yemen, and destabilizing shadow wars have been underway in Somalia,[5] while Sudan has been broken in two, with chaos reigning in the U.S.-created client state of South Sudan.[6] Out of the seven, Iran alone, safeguarded by the strength of the Islamic Revolution, has resisted the U.S. juggernaut.
According to University of North Carolina sociologist Charles Kurzman, out of some 240,000 murders in the United States since the 9/11 terror attacks, only 123 have been committed by extremists professing some link to Islam.[7]
With the probability of an extremist attack so low in the U.S. what is lurking behind the manufactured anti-Muslim immigration paranoia? Behind the facade of “radical Islamic terrorism” are the U.S. regime’s fears of the possible spread of the Islamic Revolution, especially since Iran is the only Muslim nation that has refused to kowtow to Washington’s demands. Thus, by barring Muslim immigration from Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries, the U.S. may have deluded itself into believing that the imminent spread of the Islamic Revolution can be contained.
Actually, the U.S. and the western world are all desperately grasping at political straws. Nothing that Washington and the western powers have done so far has succeeded in achieving the longed-for goal of snuffing out the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The U.S. began with economic sanctions against the fledgling Islamic Republic in 1979, then supported the Iraqi dictator Saddam in his imposed war on Iran, and lately tried to gather support from the “international community” to launch military strikes based on a bogus case accusing Iran’s peaceful nuclear program of being a front for acquiring nuclear weapons.
None of the above stratagems succeeded, however, and in the end, the U.S. and its western allies were forced to negotiate with Iran and conclude an agreement, which recognized the inalienable right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to acquire nuclear fuel cycle technology. Nevertheless, the Washington regime has not given up on its long sought-after goal of regime change in Iran. As Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has written, “To focus solely on the nuclear question is a serious failure of strategic vision; the issue is the regime in Tehran and their radical version of Islam, whatever its progress may be toward atomic bombs”[8]
But is the eventual spread of the Islamic Revolution really a concern in the west? Indeed it is, for even security adviser Flynn admitted he is worried about this. “I’m totally convinced that, without a proper sense of urgency, we will be eventually defeated, dominated, and very likely destroyed,” he warned in reference to the U.S. emerging victorious against “radical Islam.” He even has speculated about the lives of Americans living under an Islamic government, which, he says, would be like how “the oppressed citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran live today.”[9]
If we accept Flynn’s proposition that the citizens of the Islamic Republic are oppressed, then the U.S. must be their oppressor. For based on America’s long record of oppressing Iranians by supporting dictator Mohammad Reza, training his detested SAVAK secret police, imposing decades of punitive economic sanctions, aiding Saddam and turning a blind eye to his use of chemical WMD, not to mention creating regional chaos and refugee crises by invading neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as delisting and fortifying the bloodstained Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK) terrorist cult, who else could it be?
Granted, the U.S. appears to be heading towards perdition, but can we expect the Islamic Revolution to eventually spread? Looking back on the course of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, we note that Imam Khomeini made his first open public denunciation of the shah in 1963 on Ashura. This was followed by imprisonment and exile to Turkey then Najaf, Iraq in 1964 where Imam taught and developed the principles of Islamic government and the strategy for the Islamic Revolution. Cassette tapes, the state-of-the-art technology of the times, were used to spread Imam’s communications in Iran.
With the victory of the Islamic Revolution on February 11, 1979, we see about 17 years elapsed between the Imam’s exile and victorious return to Iran. This was accomplished with the “social media” of the time. Nowadays, with the advent of computers, the internet and smart phones allowing virtually instant communication, news of injustices committed anywhere on earth can easily be disseminated by members of the Islamic Ummah and confronted in 17 hours or less. As we saw with the U.S.’s immigration ban, news of this grave injustice was transmitted around the globe within minutes, and within about 17 hours, Muslims had already taken action.
Politically, economically, socially and technologically, conditions are ripe for the rapid spread of the Islamic Revolution, which has been gathering strength within the borders of Iran for 38 years. Therefore, we should not be surprised by a sudden expansion of the Islamic Revolution beyond the borders of Iran. After all, the gross injustices of the immigration ban by the U.S. regime just may provide the long-awaited impetus to unite Muslims worldwide.
Endnotes
[1] “Rouhani says sovereignty not the same as isolation,” Tehran Times, January 31, 2017, accessed January 30, 2017, http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/410613/Rouhani-says-sovereignty-not-the-same-as-isolation.
[2] Donald Trump, “The Inaugural Address,” The White House, January 20, 2017, accessed January 30, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural-address.
[3] “Base Structure Report - 2015 Fiscal Year Baseline,” U.S. Department of Defense, DoD - 18, September 30, 2014, accessed January 30, 2017, http://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/Downloads/BSI/Base%20Structure%20Report%20FY15.pdf.
[4] Darius Shahtahmasebi, “The U.S. Plan To Topple All 7 Countries On Trump’s Refugee Ban List,” MintPress News, January 27, 2017, accessed January 30, 2017, http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-u-s-plan-to-topple-all-7-countries-on-trumps-refugee-ban-list/224475/.
[5] Jethro Mullen, “The U.S. and Somalia: From 'Black Hawk Down' to John Kerry's visit,” CNN, May 5, 2015, accessed January 30, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/05/politics/us-somalia-key-moments/.
[6] Max Bearak, “The U.S. midwifed South Sudan five years ago. Now it is on the brink of falling apart,” The Washington Post, July 11, 2016, accessed January 30, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/07/11/the-u-s-midwifed-south-sudan-five-years-ago-now-it-is-on-the-brink-of-falling-apart/.
[7] Charles Kurzman, “Muslim-American Involvement with Violent Extremism,” Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, January 26, 2017, accessed January 30, 2017, https://sites.duke.edu/tcths/files/2017/01/Kurzman_Muslim-American_Involvement_in_Violent_Extremism_2016.pdf.
[8] Michael Flynn and Michael Ledeen, The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2016), 88.
[9] Flynn and Ledeen, ibid., 158-159.
*Yuram Abdullah Weiler is a former engineer educated in mathematics turned writer and political critic who has written over 130 articles on Islam, social justice, economics, and politics focusing mainly on the Middle East and U.S. policies. His work has appeared on Tehran Times, Mehr News, Press TV, Iran Daily, IRIB, Fars News, Palestine Chronicle, Salem-News, Khabar Online, Imam Reza Network, Habilian Association, Shiite News, Countercurrents, Uruknet, Turkish Weekly, American Herald Tribune and Hezbollah. In addition, he has frequently appeared as a guest commentator on Press TV, Al Etejah, and Alalam. A dissenting voice from the “Belly of the Beast”, he currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico USA.
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