{"id":290,"date":"2007-05-14T09:46:58","date_gmt":"2007-05-14T14:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=290"},"modified":"2007-05-14T09:46:58","modified_gmt":"2007-05-14T14:46:58","slug":"cheney-delivering-justice-to-the-enemies-of-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=290","title":{"rendered":"Cheney: Delivering Justice to the Enemies of Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"
Robin Wright<\/title>Robin Wright’s May 11, 2007<em> Washington Post <\/em>report ahead of Cheney’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia was entitled “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/05\/10\/AR2007051002506_pf.html\">Cheney to Try to Ease Saudi Concerns<\/a>.”<\/p>\n<p>I don’t know what Cheney was trying to do, but there are no indications in Wright’s article that Cheney is prepared to do anything much about “Saudi Concerns” regarding Iraq.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Saudi Concerns about Iraq<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wright characterizes Saudi concerns:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The oil-rich kingdom, which has taken an increasingly tough position on \tIraq, believes Maliki has proven a weak leader during his first year in \tpower and is too tied to Iran and pro-Iranian Shiite parties to bring about \treal reconciliation with Iraq’s Sunni minority, Arab sources said…<\/p>\n<p><strong>The king<\/strong> has balked at recent U.S. overtures to do more to help \tIraq politically, beyond pledges of debt relief and financial aid, and <strong> \thas explored support for alternative leadership, including former Iraqi \tprime minister Ayad Allawi<\/strong>, U.S. and Arab officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The Saudis have been increasingly concerned about reports that Maliki’s \tgovernment favors Shiite officials in government ministries and Shiite \tcommanders in the Iraqi military — at the expense of qualified Sunnis whose \tinclusion would help foster reconciliation, Arab officials said…<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Central Command chief, Adm. William J. Fallon, and the State \tDepartment’s Iraq coordinator, David M. Satterfield, were both rebuffed in \tappeals to the king during trips to Riyadh last month. In testimony to the \tSenate Armed Services Committee last week, Fallon said the king told him \t“several times” during their April 1 discussion that U.S. policies “had not \tbeen correct in his view.”<\/p>\n<p>“He also told me that he had severe misgivings about the Maliki government \tand the reasons for that,” Fallon added. “He felt, in his words, that there \twas a ‘significant linkage to Iran.’ He was concerned about Iranian \tinfluence on the Maliki government and he also made several references to \this unhappiness, uneasiness with Maliki and the background from which he \tcame.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">[An <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/05\/12\/AR2007051200384_pf.html\"> Associated Press<\/a> article on Cheney’s meeting with Abdullah reports that the king asked after George Bush Sr, as if to drive home the point that the alliance between the House of Saud and the House of Bush was secured by the senior Bush when he allowed Saddam to crush the Shiite rebellion in Iraq after Operation Desert Storm.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cheney: Assuaging Saudi Concerns?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wright reports on Cheney’s planned effort to “ease” Saudi concerns:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Assuaging Saudi concerns is the primary reason for the vice president’s \ttrip — and even a key reason he went to Baghdad this week, U.S. and Arab \tofficials say. During his stop in Riyadh on Saturday, Cheney wants to be \table to tell the Sunni world’s most powerful monarch that the Bush \tadministration is leaning hard on the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad \tto implement long-delayed political steps to help end the Sunni insurgency, \tU.S. officials said….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But the real point here, as Wright reports, is that Cheney continues to resist, so far, the real Saudi demand: bring back Iyad Allawi (a secular “Shiite,” but an ex-Baathist sometimes referred to as <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=288\">Saddam without a Mustache<\/a>) and to restore Sunni political supremacy in Iraq:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In a message that U.S. officials said will be underscored by Cheney, \tFallon said he urged the king to show some support for the Iraqi leadership \teven if he does not like Maliki, because it is “unrealistic” to expect a \tchange in the Baghdad government.<\/p>\n<p>“We’re not going to be the puppeteers here,” Fallon told the Senate \tcommittee…<\/p>\n<p>The vice president will make the case that Maliki was elected and that \tAllawi, or any other leader, would not be more effective with the current \tsituation in Iraq, U.S. officials said…<\/p>\n<p>U.S. officials are already skeptical that the visit will produce a \tsignificant breakthrough, beyond underscoring common interests in regional \tstability.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Fallon is quite clear: the US is committed to the Shiite Option in Iraq.\u00c2\u00a0 There will be no rollback of the 2005 elections.\u00c2\u00a0 The US will not back Sunni puppets (these words may haunt Fallon if the US does ever resort to authoritarian rule under Allawi).<\/p>\n<p>This only confirms my sense that Cheney has signed on to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zmag.org\/content\/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10185\">initial Right Zionist plan<\/a> to use Shiite majority rule in Iraq to challenge Sunni supremacy in the Gulf.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cheney on Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If Cheney wanted to ease Saudi concerns about Iraq, he knows what to do: install Allawi as Iraq’s “benign autocrat.”<\/p>\n<p>But Cheney didn’t go to Saudi Arabia to ease concerns about Iraq.\u00c2\u00a0 If anything, he went to try to provoke Saudi concerns about <em>Iran<\/em> (and, perhaps, to ease concerns that Maliki represented a “significant linkage to Iran”).<\/p>\n<p>The Saudis were always destined to oppose “Act I” of the Right Zionist plan for “dual rollback” in Iraq and Iran.\u00c2\u00a0 But Cheney appears to still be hoping to enlist Saudi support for “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zmag.org\/content\/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10601\">Act II<\/a>” of the dual rollback plan which targets the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Robin Wright’s article from May 12, 2007 makes the point: “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/05\/11\/AR2007051100572_pf.html\">In Gulf, Cheney Pointedly Warns Iran<\/a>.”<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>“Throughout the region our country has interests to protect and \tcommitments to honor,” Cheney told Navy staff aboard the USS John C. Stennis. \t“With two carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we’re sending clear messages to \tfriends and adversaries alike. We’ll keep the sea lanes open. We’ll stand \twith our friends in opposing extremism and strategic threats. We’ll disrupt \tattacks on our own forces. <strong>We’ll continue bringing relief to those who \tsuffer and delivering justice to the enemies of freedom<\/strong>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That last line seemed new to me.\u00c2\u00a0 Cheney has been talking about Iran in terms of “strategic threats” for a long time.\u00c2\u00a0 But is that last line a reference to domestic Iranian politics and the prospect of regime change from within?\u00c2\u00a0 Let it sink in… “bringing relief to those who suffer and delivering justice to the enemies of freedom.”\u00c2\u00a0 Who are “those who suffer”?\u00c2\u00a0 Who are the “enemies of freedom”?\u00c2\u00a0 In a paragraph about Iran?<\/p>\n<p>There are at least two ways of thinking about whether that line has any significance: reaction among those who yearn for regime change in Iran and those who fear it most.<\/p>\n<p>Thus far, Cheney’s “freedom” line on Iran has elicited no discernable excited from the Right Zionists most enthusiastic about regime change.\u00c2\u00a0 That tends to make me think I may be reading too much into the line.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ll see… (keep me posted if you spot anything).<\/p>\n<p>Within Iran, however, there seems to be heightened concern that the US is, indeed, supporting some kind of populist “velvet revolution” in Iran.\u00c2\u00a0 The <em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ft.com\/cms\/s\/9678996c-fdc9-11db-8d62-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=fc3334c0-2f7a-11da-8b51-00000e2511c8.html\"> Financial Times<\/a><\/em> explains:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Iranians with close ties to Washington said the Bush administration’s \tdecision to allocate special funding to support pro-democracy activities in \tIran – while keeping the identities of recipients secret – had been a \tmistake that has led to a witch-hunt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Indeed, the Iranians appear to have nabbed a major Iranian-American “witch,” <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/middle_east\/6652533.stm\">Haleh Esfandiari<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/news.haaretz.co.il\/hasen\/spages\/859083.html\">Associate Press<\/a> explains the case:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[T]he hard-line Iranian newspaper Kayhan accused Haleh Esfandiari of \tspying for the U.S. and Israel and for attempting to launch a democratic \trevolution in the country….<\/p>\n<p>“She has been one of the main elements of Mossad in driving a velvet \trevolution strategy in Iran, the paper wrote. She formed two networks, \tincluding Iranian activists, in the U.S and Dubai for toppling down [the \tIslamic government]”.<\/p>\n<p>Esfandiari’s husband, Shaul Bakhash, denied the newspaper’s allegations.<\/p>\n<p>“It is a false and hollow accusation that Haleh Esfandiari is one of the \t‘principle instruments’ of Israel, or a Mossad spy service, in advancing the \tstrategy of a ‘velvet revolution’ in Iran. It is a lie that Haleh Esfandiari \thad ‘undercover assignments’ or that she was one of the ‘media spies’ in \tIran. She had no part in setting up a ‘communications network’ between Dubai \tand America,” Bakhash said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It would be rather remarkable if Shaul Bakhash or Esfandiari constituted the “principle instruments” of those advancing the strategy of a “velvet revolution” in Iran.\u00c2\u00a0 More likely, the Iranians are simply rounding up the “usual suspects.”<\/p>\n<p>Omid Memarian over at “<a href=\"http:\/\/omidmemarian.blogspot.com\/2007\/05\/arrest-of-another-iranian-american.html\">Iranian Prospect<\/a>” has some details from Iranian press reports:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Reja News, a super conservative website which has been active over the \tpast few days in attacks against Hossein Moussavian, a senior Iranian \tdiplomat recently arrested in Tehran, published a report in which Haleh \tEsfandiari was named the Zionists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 agent in Iran…<\/p>\n<p>The report then describes Dr. Esfandiari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s activities in Ayandegan \tNewspaper, saying: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She is an effective member of the pre-Revolution Zionist \tLobby in the Pahlavi court, who along with her husband founded the Zionist \tAyandegan Newspaper in Tehran. The interesting point is that Haleh \tEsfandiari remained in Iran for a time after the Revolution, but with the \tban on Ayandegan Newspaper, she fled Iran in August of 1979 for Israel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Reja News which withholds its source continues: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is said that she was the \tarchitect of AIPAC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conference two years ago, which met under the slogan of \t\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNow Is The Time to Stop Iran,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 suggesting a review of all avenues to \tconfront Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nuclear programs. This conference\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motto, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIran, the Point \tof Understanding Between US and Israel,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tried to review ways for \tcoordinating Israel and US efforts to apply pressure on Islamic Republic of \tIran. George Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Hillary Cinton, John Bolton, Ihud Ulmert \tand Amir Perez were some of the speakers in this conference. It is said that \tthe decision of war with Lebanon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hezbollah was reached in this \tconference.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Esfandiari did <em>participate<\/em> in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scienceblog.com\/community\/older\/archives\/K\/4\/pub4524.html\"> an AIPAC policy conference back in 2004<\/a> where she joined <a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/p\/io\/43518.htm\">Philo Dibble<\/a> on a panel entitled, “Revolution From Within: Can the Iranian People Reclaim the Republic?”\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe somebody who was there could say how Esfandiari (and Dibble) answered the question.<\/p>\n<p>As for Shaul Bakhash, I have <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=174\">previously noted<\/a> that as a member of a Council on Foreign Relations Taskforce on Iran (co-chaired by Robert Gates and Zbigniew Brzezinski), Bakhash formally dissented from the main conclusions of a Council on Foreign Relations Taskforce Report , “<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cfr.org\/publication.html?id=7194\">Iran: Time for a New Approach<\/a>.”\u00c2\u00a0 Bakhash appeared to be speaking, like Cheney, about bringing relief to those who suffer and delivering justice to the enemies of freedom.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I wish to stress that support for dialogue and diplomatic and economic \trelations between Iran and the United States does not imply acquiescence in \tthe violation by the Iranian government of the civil rights and liberties of \tits own citizens. Some Iranians understandably fear that relations with the \tUnited States will reinforce the status quo and therefore regime durability \tin Iran. In fact, any study of Iranian history over the last century and \tmore suggests that interaction with the outside world greatly accelerates, \trather than hinders, the pace of internal political change. I believe \tenmeshing Iran with the international community, expanding trade, and \timproving economic opportunity and the conditions for the growth of the \tmiddle class will strengthen, not weaken, the democratic forces in Iran.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Are the Iranians right to be nervous about a “velvet revolution”?<\/p>\n<p>I’ll believe that the US has adopted a policy of populist regime change when I see the accompanying Right Zionist jubilation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robin WrightRobin Wright’s May 11, 2007 Washington Post report ahead of Cheney’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia was entitled “Cheney to Try to Ease Saudi Concerns.” I don’t know what Cheney was trying to do, but there are no indications in Wright’s article that Cheney is prepared to do anything much about “Saudi Concerns” regarding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,3,11,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}