Thursday, August 6, 2009

Where's Jimmy? A past president goes silent on his Iran legacy

"Where is Jimmy?" Has anyone seen or heard from Jimmy Carter while the Islamic Republic regime in Iran and its thugs brutally beat, torture, and murder civilians on a daily basis? After all it was Carter carrying his human rights banner who turned his back on the late Shah when the country was suddenly overrun by Islamic militants in cahoots with the leftists.

A 2004 issue of The New Yorker magazine that ran photographs of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, left, and then Sen. Barack Obama at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on July 8, in San Francisco. AP/Jeff Chiu

So in 1979, without understanding the dynamics of a complex and ancient country such as Iran in a volatile region, Iran's unprecedented social and political achievements in just a few short decades despite overwhelming internal and external obstacles, and the fundamentals of Islamic political philosophy, Carter rejoiced at the coming of "His Holiness" the Ayatollah Khomeini and his Islamic Revolution because he believed the Islamists would bring instant democracy.

Carter confirms he is not trained in religion or theology yet continues to make dangerous conclusions about the very topic in which he admits and has proven himself incompetent. Thirty years has passed since the terror unleashed on Iranians by the clerics, and their most recent indisputably vicious acts against civilians have been recorded live on thousands of cameras for the world to see, and yet Carter still makes statements about what he thinks certain religious founders had in mind with respect to equality and human rights. Carter is responsible for Iran's derailment from its path to greatness and the conditions in which Iranians are living as they are kept hostage by a bunch of backwards mullahs. Carter is responsible for Iranian women losing their civil rights under the same Islamic regime he promoted while he now laments poor treatment of women in Islamic countries. Carter's dangerous foreign policies contributed to the 9/11 tragedy becoming a part of American history. In short, Jimmy's "some student demonstrators" became tens of thousands of Nedas at the hands of Khomeini and his mullahs and millions of displaced Iranians across the globe.

In the midst of the fraudulent elections this past June and military coup, following the footsteps of Jimmy Carter, the Obama Administration first acknowledged Ahmadinejad as the "elected" president and then realizing the political implications lowered his legitimacy to a "fact." President Obama gave Iran until next month to show signs for open dialogue since he seems eager to work with the theocratic dictators rather than the Iranian people, who want a secular democracy. In view of the current butchery in Iran and Obama's plans on improving relations with a rogue and dangerous regime, one may wonder why U.S. policymakers have not learned from the disastrous consequences of Jimmy's human rights policies for Iran.

Sheda Vasseghi obtained a Master's degree in Ancient History with an emphasis on Persia from American Military University.