Pacific News Service > News > Rumblings in Azerbaijan -- Bush's Hawks Eye Northern Iran

Pacific News Service > News > Rumblings in Azerbaijan -- Bush's Hawks Eye Northern Iran: "Rumblings in Azerbaijan -- Bush's Hawks Eye Northern Iran
Commentary/Analysis, William O. Beeman,
Pacific News Service, Jun 06, 2003
Editor's Note: Bush administration meetings with a charismatic leader from one of Iran's most fiercely independent regions suggest the White House is plotting its next regime change.

Washington officials continue to look for a way to dislodge the clerical leadership of Iran's Islamic Republic. The latest ploy may be to inflame passions in the most politically active part of Iran -- Azerbaijan.

According to the Washington Times, Pentagon officials have been meeting quietly with Mahmud Ali Chehregani, who heads the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakeness Movement (SANAM, also known by the acronym GAMOH). SANAM operates inside Iran, in the Iranian province of Azerbaijan -- a region separate from the country of Azerbaijan, the former Soviet republic on Iran's northern border. Defense officials emphasized their meetings were not aimed at supporting or encouraging a change in Iran's government, according to the Times. It is hard to believe such an assertion.

It is now no secret that the Bush administration would like to see regime change in Iran. However, military planners know that an Iraq-style invasion could not win in a military conflict with Iranian troops. Therefore the most satisfactory strategy for the White House hawks will be to try to find an indigenous resistance movement, provide it with financial and possibly logistical support, and hope for the best.

Chehregani seems ideal. He is an academic (a linguist), and a charismatic figure. He was a popular Majlis (parliament) representative from Azerbaijan, elected with 60"