Beeman--Mojaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) Can Never Rule Iran

Foreign Policy Analysts Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett reported in a recent blog post:

. . .one of the more noteworthy developments is an accelerating campaign to remove the mojahedin-e khalq, or MEK, from the U.S. Government's list of foreign terrorist organizations.  Over the last few months, a number of prominent Republicans-including John Bolton, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former White House homeland security and counterterrorism coordinator Fran Townsend, and new House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen-have been publicly agitating to delist the MEK.  But this effort has now gone bipartisan and big time, including engaging the services of a Washington, DC consulting firm.

To document this last point, we link here to the video of an event held in Washington last week, clearly designed to build public support for delisting the MEK as part of a U.S.-led campaign for regime change in Tehran.  The event was organized by Executive Action, LLC, which describes itself as "a McKinsey & Company with muscle, a private CIA and Defense Department available to address your most intractable problems and difficult challenges".  (Exactly who engaged Executive Action's services for this event is not clear.)  Featured speakers included not only Republican figures like Mukasey, but also retired U.S. Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni; former New Mexico Governor, Clinton Administration cabinet officer, and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson; former Democratic New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli; and retired Marine Corps General James Jones-who just stepped down, in November 2010, as President Obama's first national security adviser.  All of the speakers argued for bringing down the Islamic Republic and forging a new political order in Iran-and for embracing the MEK as the foundation of a new Iranian "opposition" capable of bringing about both of these objectives. 

http://www.raceforiran.com/with-%e2%80%9cengagement%e2%80%9d-failing-washington-voices-urge-obama-to-embrace-the-mek-and-remove-its-terrorist-designation

I really don't know what to say to the fans of the MEK in Washington. They apparently have no ability to look at this situation from the viewpoint of the Iranian people. The MEK was a rival for power during and after the Iranian Revolution. They fully expected to take over the government from the "mullahs" and the secular nationalists. They were ousted and purged during the hostage crisis. They went to Iraq where Saddam Hussein gave them support, and a place to mount their attacks against the Islamic Republic. The fact that they stayed in Iraq under Saddam's protection during the Iran-Iraq war caused widespread expressions of hate for them in Iran.  Of course they are completely guilty of terrorist operations in the pre-Revolutionary days, and they continue to take credit for bombings and civil unrest in Iran--which I guess doesn't count as terrorism since it is directed at Iranian citizens.

But the most important fact that Bolton, Ros-Lehtinin and others fail to comprehend is that the MEK could never, never in a million years form an alternative government in Iran. The Iranian people mistrust them at best, and most thoroughly despise them and think them to be traitors. Their supporters are largely cynical "get rid of the Mullahs at any price" types who also don't believe in their "cause" whatever that is.

Not only that, but they are aging, and not recruiting new supporters. This is a bankrupt group that is not going to do what the Right Wing neo-con dead-enders in Washington hope they will do. It is sad and pitiful for anyone to be hitching their horse to this group. I only wonder who is paying the lobbyists and others trying to gin up their empty cause.

It is also sad that Washington politicians waste their energy on cockamamie schemes such as getting this group off the terrorist list so that we can throw millions of taxpayer dollars down their rat hole in the utterly vain hope that they will bring about regime change in Iran rather than seriously trying to engage Iran ourselves.


Bill Beeman
University of Minnesota

William O. Beeman--Stuxnet Worm Attack Against Iran—An Exercise in Overkill

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/01/the-stuxnet-worm-attack-against-iranan-exercise-in-overkill.php 

Stuxnet Worm Attack Against Iran—An Exercise in Overkill

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New America Media, Commentary, 

William O. Beeman, Posted: Jan 18, 2011

The New York Times, in a remarkable effort of reportage has demonstrated with virtual conclusiveness that the Stuxnet computer worm that created damage to Iran’s uranium enrichment equipment last year was an effort by the United States and Israel. No one knows exactly how much damage this destructive program caused to the Iranian equipment, but Israeli officials were evidently convinced that the worm had set the Iranian program back “at least a year.” 

What is pitiful about the Stuxnet offensive is that it is a classic case of overkill. The Iranian nuclear program was already low-level, faltering and nowhere close to producing fuel for electric generation much less for weapons. It was a weak target for this kind of cyber-attack, all the weaker because the attack from this quarter was unexpected. 

Moreover, it is unlikely to have achieved anything. Hasn't the United States learned that Iran can't be beaten into submission? In all of history it hasn't worked. Iranians turn resentful and bitter in situations like this and eventually strike back--sometimes behind the facade of quietude. This is the eventual result we can expect. For those who know Persian, think of mokaafaat, "retribution." It is an active force in Iranian life--especially as a reaction to an unjust assault--and applicable here. It is widely believed to be God-driven when there is injustice present, and this action is definitely perceived as unjust and unwarranted. 

It is sobering to note that since the Iranian Revolution, Iran has not made even one significant attack against the United States, or for that matter Israel--despite all the attempts to link "proxy" groups to Tehran. Thus, when actions like Stuxnet, or the economic sanctions leveled against Iran spearheaded by the United States are launched, ordinary Iranians naturally become resentful. The pronouncements of firebrand politicians such as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begin to have the ring of truth. 

Iranians who point fingers at the United States (and Israel) for its bullying tactics certainly will have sympathetic listeners, not only in Iran but in the developing world where there is overwhelming sympathy and support for Iran's nuclear program. Nations like Brazil and Turkey already wonder whether they are going to be targeted if they advance technologically, and this questioning is now going to spread. 

The United States and Israel are likely to reap the whirlwind in the form of blowback from the Stuxnet caper. The worm spread beyond Iran, and is out there doing its damage elsewhere as well. How long before clever hackers retool it for use against whomever? It may well return to American and Israeli shores in another form to bite everyone in the behind. Moreover, Iran will quickly recover from the Stuxnet damage. Iran has some of the most sophisticated computer technologists in the world. It is capable of purging this virus from its systems, and preventing a more sophisticated attack. To give up on the nuclear program because of this is not in question. 

If something as labor intensive as Stuxnet can not be effective in bringing Iran to heel, what might work. Certainly force has proved utterly ineffective. So why not actually try diplomacy? Despite lip service to sitting down with Iran in formal discussions, this has never really taken place. Iran and the United States still do not have any effective diplomatic representation. This makes nuanced communication virtually impossible. As long as the two nations have no platform for dialogue, they will continue to deliver messages through obscure measures such as Stuxnet.

William O. Beeman is professor and chair of the department of anthropology at the University of Minnesota. He has lived and conducted research in Iran and the Middle East for more than 30 years and is the author of The “Great Satan” vs. the “Mad Mullahs”: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other (Chicago, 2008).

Beeman--Stuxnet: In attacking Iran will the U.S. and Israel suffer Blowback?

Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:50:50 -0600


From: William O. Beeman wbeeman@umn.edu

What is pitiful about the Stuxnet offensive is that it is a classic case of overkill. The Iranian nuclear program was already low-level, faltering and nowhere close to producing fuel for electric generation much less for weapons. It was a weak target for this kind of cyber-attack, all the weaker because the attack from this quarter was unexpected.

Moreover, it is unlikely to have achieved anything. Hasn't the United States learned that Iran can't be beaten into submission? In all of history it hasn't worked. Iranians turn resentful and bitter in situations like this and eventually strike back--sometimes behind the facade of quietude. This is the eventual result we can expect. For those who know Persian, think of mokaafaat, "retribution." It is an active force in Iranian life--especially as a reaction to an unjust assault--and applicable here. It is widely believed to be God-driven when there is injustice present, and this action is definitely perceived as unjust and unwarrented.

It is sobering to note that since the Iranian Revolution, Iran has not made even one significant attack against the United States, or for that matter Israel--despite all the attempts to link "proxy" groups to Tehran. Iranians who point fingers at the United States (and Israel) for its bullying tactics certainly will have sympathetic listeners, not only in Iran but in the developing world where there is overwhelming sympathy and support for Iran's nuclear program. Nations like Brazil and Turkey already wonder whether they are going to be targeted if they advance technologically, and this questioning is now going to spread.

The U. S. and Israel are likely to reap the whirlwind in the form of blowback from the Stuxnet caper. The worm spread beyond Iran, and is out there doing its damage elsewhere as well. How long before clever hackers retool it for use against whomever? It may well return to American and Israeli shores in another form to bite everyone in the behind.

William O. Beeman
University of Minnesota