FDI is a private, non-profit organization for the promotion of democracy and the respect of internationally-recognized standards of human rights in Iran.
Although FDI is a recent creation - we were incorporated just two years ago - it has been a long time in the making.
I have been engaged with the Iranian exile community, and with Iranians living inside Iran, for nearly 15 years, and I have always been astonished by the breadth and depth of their culture, and the breadth and depth of the political divides separating them.
Iran's revolution in 1979 was hijacked; I think the historical record is clear. When Iranians revolted against the Shah, they were seeking freedom and self-determination, not a rigid, aggressive, clerical regime that would wreck Iran's economy and make the name "Iran" synonymous with hostage-taking and international terror.
But the so-called "Islamic" Republic - and I say "so-called" out of respect for the religious credentials of our two speakers today, who believe that title is an insult to Islam - has proven extremely resilient. One by one over the years, they eliminated the various opposition groups. And because Iranians - of all ethnic and religious origins, I might add - are extremely proud, the opposition groups never banded together to fight the regime. Instead, each fought its own battles; and each was eliminated.
Now I believe the time of unity has come. FDI's mission, when we first got started as an organization two years ago, was very clear: in addition to monitoring the human rights situation inside Iran, it was to help the various democratic opposition groups to find common ground, so together they could launch a concerted effort to present a viable democratic alternative to the current regime.
Two recent events have been watersheds for the democratic opposition:
- The Mykonos trial in Germany, which concluded this April, finally stripped away all pretext of the image of "moderation" Iran's leaders have tried to project in the West. This has galvanized the opposition, which until now has been dispirited by Europe's "critical dialogue" with the regime.
- The overwhelming rejection of the regime's hand-picked candidate for president during the recent elections. Despite extroardinary efforts to depict Parliament speaker Nateq-Nouri as an international statesman and competent leader - and despite overwhelming support from the Iranian state-controlled media - the Iranian people rejected him by a 3-to-1 margin. More than a vote for Khatemi, it was a vote against the regime. The significance of this has yet to be fully measured here in Washington.
I hear it said in some circles that the recent elections may have opened a "window of opportunity" for dialogue with the current regime. But we heard the same siren song when Rafsanjani was first elected president in 1989. Instead, there was more terror, greater internal repression, and a significant increase in Iran's quest to build weapons of mass destruction.
Those who would have us lift the current sanctions against Iran - in exchange for the priviledge of building oil pipelines from the Caspian through Iran - are ironically the same policy-makers who also led the United States down the disastrous road of collaboration with Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. If the stakes were not so momenteous, their recommendations would be dismissed as merely silly. But with the Islamic Republic's determined quest to build nuclear weapons, such recommendations are dangerous.
Today, the Islamic Republic is an aggressive regime. In his first press conference after winning the presidency, Mohammad Khatami, again placed the blame for the current state of Iranian-U.S. relations squarely on the U.S. He also called Israel an "illegitimate, racist" regime, and vowed to uphold all the tenets of the Islamic Revolution, including the rule of the Supreme Leader.
What the anti-sanctions lobbyists have never been able to explain is why this regime would be enticed to abandoned policies it has long maintained despite U.S. pressure, just because Washington would offer to ease that pressure. Indeed, easing the pressure, building the pipelines, and allowing U.S. oil companies to modernize Iran's oil and gas industry will only build a stronger regime in Tehran. Five years down the line, that regime will be armed with nuclear weapons; or at the very least, with long-range missiles tipped with biological warheads.
That is why we believe that true multi-party democracy is the only viable future for Iran, and for world peace, and why FDI has dedicated its efforts to helping Iranians to build their own future together.
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The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is a private, non-profit corporation registered in the State of Maryland. Contact: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Executive Director. Tel: (301) 946-2918. Fax: (301) 942-5341. FDI materials, including the FDI Newswire, are available free-of-charge via the Internet at http://www.iran.org FDI is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy and by contributions by private individuals.