Building a More Peaceful and Prosperous Iran - Coalition for Democracy in Iran After the Iraq invasion, CDI principals and the organization itself increasingly began blaming Iran for the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq. CDI stated, “It is clear that Iran's mullahs will not tolerate an emerging democracy on their border. They have reportedly sent millions of dollars and numerous intelligence operatives into Iraq to create chaos and attack Coalition forces. Iran's biggest export continues to be terrorism. If we are to succeed in Iraq, Iran must be reined in. We call upon the administration to react to this clear and present danger to U.S. interests by using all the means at its disposal to deter Iran's activities in Iraq and its development of nuclear weapons.”
See Right Web Profile: Coalition for Democracy in Iran Timmerman's Crusade Iran has been waging war against the United States and Israel since 1979, says Kenneth Timmerman of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, and he urges the U.S. government to get serious about fighting back. Kenneth Timmerman directs the Foundation for Democracy Iran, and he also is associated with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, Committee on the Present Danger, and Center for Security Policy. He is one of the leading neocon advocates for democratization funding for Iranian dissidents and regime change groups like his own. “This regime is not going to change its behavior,” writes Timmerman, “so we must help Iranians to change the regime.”
See Right Web Profile: Kenneth Timmerman Democracy and Regime Change The neoconservative Foundation for Democracy in Iran (run by Timmerman) wants U.S. democratization funds to help make revolution in Iran. The news items about Iran that FDI features on its homepage create the dual impression that 1) there is a vibrant Iranian opposition with which the U.S. government should be working, and 2) that Iran represents an imminent threat to the United States and Israel.
See Right Web Profile: Foundation for Democracy in Iran If Not Americans, Then Israelis and Iranians Founder of the Iran Policy Committee Raymond Tanter says that the U.S. government has sold Israel nuclear bunker-buster bombs that it could use against Iran, and he advocates a regime change policy using the Iraq-based MEK Iranian dissident group as the vanguard. On May 11, 2006 the
Iran Policy Committee released a policy paper, "What Makes Tehran Tick," which concludes that Iran's hostility toward Israel and the United States is less a result of feeling threatened or living in a "tough neighborhood" than of the nature of the regime's revolutionary ideology.” Tanter said that, "Given the Islamist character of the Iranian regime and its nuclear potential, only regime change ends the threat of a nuclear-armed Islamist Iran. Diplomacy and military strikes would only delay the onset of the Iranian regime acquisition of nuclear arms."
See Right Web Profile: Raymond Tanter Friend of Chalabi, Apologist for Torture Danielle Pletka, the
American Enterprise Institute vice president who supports the government's use of torture, continues to trust Ahmad Chalabi, and rejects any negotiation with Iran. A member of the Committee on the Present Danger, Pletka defends the use of torture in the war on terrorism. "If it is absolutely imperative to find something out at that moment, then it is imperative to find something out at that moment, and Club Med is not the place to do it,” said Pletka. Although the neoconservative camp has lost some of its most prominent players inside government—notably Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith—AEI with its team of neoconservatives and fellow travelers like Danielle Pletka has stepped up its pressure on the Bush administration to stay true to a foreign policy that has regime change, preventive war, and U.S. supremacy as core features of U.S. national security doctrine.
See Right Web Profile: Danielle Pletka Adding His Voice to the Chorus Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), regularly adds his voice to the chorus of neoconservatives calling for U.S.-supported revolution and regime change in Iran. “The cost of any military strike on Iran would be high, although not as high as the cost of the Islamic Republic gaining nuclear weapons,” says Rubin. “The Bush administration is paying the price for more than five years without a cogent, coordinated Iran policy. Each passing day limits policy options. Engaging the regime will preserve the problem, not eliminate it."
See Right Web Profile: Michael Rubin Overwhelming, Paralyzing Force “If Washington catches the Iranians in a terrorist act, then the U.S. Navy should retaliate with fury … If we attack, U.S. armed forces must strike with truly devastating effect against the ruling mullahs and the repressive institutions that maintain them. That is, no cruise missiles at midnight to minimize the body count.” Resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA Middle East specialist, is one of the neoconservative camp's foremost Middle East analysts.
See Right Web Profile: Reuel Gerecht Democratic Revolutionary Targets Iran In March 2006, Michael Ledeen, a “freedom scholar” at the American Enterprise Institute, told Congress that the U.S. government needs to get serious about inciting revolution in Iran. Ledeen argued that the U.S. government has “yet to fight back” against the terror masters in Iran. The mullahs “have waged unholy war against us” since 1979, he said. “They created Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad, and they support most all the others, from Hamas and al-Qaida to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command. Iran’s proxies range from Shiites to Sunnis to Marxists, all cannon fodder for the overriding objective to dominate or destroy us.”
See Right Web Profile: Michael Ledeen Pax Americana's Budget Shortfall Thomas Donnelly, military analyst with the American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century, has since 2000 been the neoconservatives' point man on national security and military policy. As the lead author of PNAC's Rebuilding America's Defenses in 2000, Donnelly provided a blueprint for military transformation based on a security doctrine of U.S. military preeminence and global presence. According to Donnelly, the scope of U.S. national security strategy extends beyond the “war against radical Islamist networks” to an “extended commitment to reshape the region’s political order in a liberal and democratic fashion,” says Donnelly. Consequently, “American security strategy requires more than containment or even a ‘rollback’ of enemies in the greater Middle East; it demands that we establish something more lasting in partnership with local allies. The job for our forces is to create the opportunity for these more representative, liberal, and ultimately stable governments to take root.”
See Right Web Profile: Thomas Donnelly Bush Gives Neocon Institute Credit for Iraq: President Bush commends the work of the fastest-growing neoconservative think tank, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which is focused on U.S.-Israeli policy, counterterrorism, and working with "democracy activists" in the Middle East, including Iran.
See Right Web Profile: Foundation for Defense of Democracies Voice of Neocons' Fast-Rising Institute: In mid-March, Clifford May commended President Bush's dedication to protecting the “free world,” and Bush congratulated the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies for “making a difference.”
See Right Web Profile: Clifford May Also see: Iran Freedom and Regime Change Politics By Tom Barry
At a time when the Republican Party is divided on immigration reform and when the Democrats and the Republicans are positioning themselves for the mid-term elections on such issues as gay marriage, Congress is demonstrating alarming bipartisan unity on Iran... The
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is the most prominent lobbying group pressing for congressional approval of the Iran Freedom Support Act.
See entire Right Web analysis at: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/3277 Tom Tancredo—Christian Crusader, Cultural Nationalist, and Iran Freedom Fighter By Tom Barry
Tancredo advocates U.S. support for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a cult-like group that is cultivating a broad base of support among Iranian expatriates around the world. Mujahedin e-Khalq means “people's freedom fighters.” MEK affiliates are the Iraq-based National Liberation Army of Iran and the National Council of Resistance in Iran. MEK calls itself the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The public face of the MEK is Maryam Rajavi, who has been designated by the MEK as the president-elect of Iran's government in exile.
Although identified as a terrorist organization by the State Department and accused of a pattern of human rights abuses, Tancredo says “We should be aiding them, instead of restricting their activities. We can use the MEK, they are in fact warriors. Where we need to use that kind of force, we can use them.”
By publicly supporting the MEK and the Iran Policy Committee, Tancredo has positioned himself with the most radical wing in the intensifying debate about how the U.S. government should pursue an Iran “regime change” strategy. All sides that favor such a strategy agree that the U.S. government should be working more closely with Iranian dissidents both inside and outside Iran.
See entire Right Web analysis at: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/3281.
Tom Barry is policy director of the International Relations Center, online at www.irc-online.org, and author or editor of several books on U.S. foreign policy. 
