JTA: “Will Pro-Israel Groups Miss Ahmadinejad?”
Aaron Keyak — June 4, 2009 – 3:49 pm | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel Comments (1) Add a commentWill a new President in Iran change anything? JTA’s Ron Kampeas considers whether getting rid of Ahmadinejad will be for the better or the worse.
From JTA:
“The problem from the perspective of some pro-Israel groups is that saying the right things is meaningless so long as Iran remains committed to acquiring game-changing nuclear weapons capability. More than that, they worry, it could be dangerous if the election of a relative moderate like Mousavi undercuts efforts by Israel to make the case that dealing with Iran’s nuclear program is urgent. Any amount of time the West gives a new president Mousavi to consolidate his moderation in the Iranian establishment, according to this thinking, is time Iran will use to develop the bomb—something that Israel believes could happen within a year.”
Read the full article here.
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While it may appear that the Iranian president has some influence over foreign policy, the truth is the Guardian Council and Ayatollah Khamenei are in total control of all important policy decisions. The president has some control over domestic matters as long as they are in line with the Council’s religious doctrine. Any future president makes important policy decisions unilaterally at his peril. Should he defy or ignore the Council and the Ayatollah on any important matter, we would likely hear that the President died in an unfortunate accident. Since Mr. Mousavi’s candidacy was approved by the Ayatollah, it is most likely that his reform platform is merely a ploy to placate widespread voter disenchantment. Should Mousavi win, he will put a friendlier face on the Iranian regime to neutralize Iranians desiring reform and to give cover to European leaders who have reluctantly condemned Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. Given the opportunity, most European leaders would prefer to ignore the threat of Iranian missiles capable of reaching them.
The election is a sham. Mr. Mousavi has appeared on Iranian TV and publicly attacked Ahmadinejad’s policies…major policies directed or approved by the Ayatollah. Some Iranians have been jailed or even executed for less. The only reasonable explanation is that the election is a sham engineered by the Guardian Council.
With Ahmadinejad, Iranians and the rest of the world have a clear picture of the true nature of the Iranian regime. The Ayatollahs have a firm grip on power and have had 30 years to build a totally subservient military. Reform is a pipe dream. The Ayatollahs want nothing less than Iran to be a major world power and to establish a modern Shiite version of the ancient Caliphate. Sunni Arabs should be just as afraid as Israel is of an increasingly dangerous Iran.