New Front Sets Sights On Toppling Iran Regime

By MARC PERELMAN
FORWARD STAFF

05/17/03: (The Forward) A budding coalition of conservative hawks, 
Jewish organizations and Iranian monarchists is pressing the White 
House to step up American efforts to bring about regime change in Iran.  

For now, President Bush's official stance is to encourage the 
Iranian people to push the mullah regime aside themselves, but 
observers believe that the policy is not yet firm, and that has 
created an opportunity for activists. Neoconservatives advocating 
regime change in Tehran through diplomatic pressure u and even 
covert action - appear to be winning the debate within the 
administration, several knowledgeable observers said.  

"There is a pact emerging between hawks in the administration, Jewish 
groups and Iranian supporters of Reza Pahlavi [the exiled son of the 
former shah of Iran] to push for regime change," said Pooya Dayanim, 
president of the Iranian-Jewish Public Affairs Committee in Los Angeles 
and a hawk on Iran.  

The emerging coalition is reminiscent of the buildup to the invasion 
of Iraq, with Pahlavi possibly assuming the role of Iraqi exile opposition 
leader Ahmed Chalabi, a favorite of neoconservatives. Like Chalabi, 
Pahlavi has good relations with several Jewish groups. He has 
addressed the board of the hawkish Jewish Institute for National 
Security Affairs and gave a public speech at the Simon Wiesenthal 
Center's Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and met with Jewish 
communal leaders.  

Pahlavi also has had quiet contacts with top Israeli officials. During 
the last two years, according to a knowledgeable source, he has met 
privately with Prime Minister Sharon and former prime minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu, as well as Israel's Iranian-born president, Moshe Katsav.  

In another parallel to the pre-invasion debate over Iraq, an intense 
policy battle is heating up between the State and Defense departments 
over what to do in Iran.  

"The president, the vice president and, even more so, the Pentagon 
support regime change," said a source who follows the internal debate 
closely. "But State does not want to meddle in Iran, so you have a big 
fight right now within the administration."  

As was the case during the Iraq debate, Weekly Standard editor 
William Kristol is leading the charge for a more aggressive policy 
on Iran. In the magazine's May 12 issue, he wrote an editorial pushing 
for covert action and other steps to trigger regime change in Tehran.  

Advocates of a more restrained policy note that American and Iranian 
officials meet regularly, but say that the disappointing performance 
of the reformist camp in Iran has undercut their efforts to promote 
American engagement with Iran.  

"Some people at the Pentagon have concluded that the reformists are 
just mullahs with smiling faces and that regime change is the only 
way," said Gary Sick, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia 
University and an advocate of engaging Iran. "They believe that Iran is 
ripe for revolution, but I think this is highly questionable."  

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputies Paul Wolfowitz 
and Douglas Feith are known to support regime change, although they 
have been much less vocal about Iran than Iraq.  

At a lower level, two sources said, Iran expert Michael Rubin is now 
working for the Pentagon's "special plans" office, a small unit set up 
to gather intelligence on Iraq, but apparently also working on Iran. 
Previously a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East 
policy, Rubin has vocally advocated regime change in Tehran. He did 
respond to e-mails seeking comment.  

Intelligence sources have complained about what they describe as the 
tendency of the secretive office to color intelligence on Iraq according 
to its hard line. "The office of special plans has been interviewing people 
and gathering intelligence on Iran in order to be ready to support 
democracy," a hawkish source said. "They have spent much more time 
doing that than the State experts on Iran."  

Meanwhile, in Congress, Democrat Rep. Tom Lantos of California is 
sponsoring a resolution supporting the people of Iran against the 
regime. Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas has introduced an 
amendment that would set aside $50 million to fund Iranian opposition 
television and radio stations in Los Angeles u most of which promote 
a restoration of the shah's monarchy u as well as human rights and 
pro-democracy groups.  

Supporters of the shah's son, Pahlavi, have been supporting 
Brownback's amendment, know as the Iran Democracy Act. So has 
the main pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs 
Committee.  

"We support efforts to encourage the people of Iran to cut the 
regime's ties to terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons," 
said Rebecca Dinar, a spokeswoman for the American Israel Public 
Affairs Committee. While Morris Amitay, a former Aipac director 
and active hawk on Iran, told the Forward that it would only be 
natural for Jewish groups to openly back regime change in Iran, 
most prefer to keep a low profile on this issue.  

For example, Pahlavi was slated to meet Iranian Jewish members of 
Aipac at the group's annual conference this spring. But Aipac officials, 
worried that it could be seen as inappropriate, scuttled the plan, two 
sources said.  

"The Jewish groups are telling Reza that they will give him private 
support and help arrange meetings with U.S. officials," one of the 
sources said.  

Iranian Jewish groups are playing a key role in forging the relationship. 
The Iranian Jewish Public Affairs Committee's Dayanim, a regular 
contributor to the National Review Online, has been one of the most 
active hawks. He argued that support for Pahlavi among Iranian 
Americans may have less to do with deep pro-monarchist feelings than 
with his status as the most recognizable opposition figure among 
immigrants.  

Still, Dayanim acknowledged that many Iranian Jews were "in love with 
Pahlavi" because they see his father's reign as a golden era for Jews. 
Pahlavi has expressed support for democracy while calling for a 
referendum restoring the monarchy.  

One key Pahlavi supporter who has become popular in Iranian American 
circles is former Reagan administration official Michael Ledeen, now 
a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.  

In numerous addresses and articles, Ledeen has been arguing that the 
mullah regime is on the brink of collapse and that the time has come 
for Washington to push it over the edge. He has joined with Amitay, 
ex-CIA head James Woolsey, former Reagan administration official Frank 
Gaffney, former Senator Paul Simon and oil consultant Rob Sobhani to 
set up a group called the Coalition for Democracy in Iran. Several of 
them took part May 6 in a one-day American Enterprise Institute 
conference titled "The Future of Iran." During the event, Ledeen argued 
that help from outside actors was needed to help ignite revolutionary 
changes in Iran.  

While Ledeen has not called for military action, some of his declarations 
appear to suggest that aggressive action could be taken.  

Last month, Ledeen gave a speech to a pro-monarchist crowd in Los 
Angeles. In the question-and-answer session, he reportedly said that 
with $20 million, there could be a "free Iran" u and that he knew how 
best to use the money.  

Ledeen, who was involved in the Iran-contra scandal but never charged, 
declined comment.  

Asked about the possibility of covert action, a member of the 
Pentagon-linked Defense Policy Board answered with one word: 
"maybe." He refused to elaborate.

                         -==-

Source: Information Clearinghouse
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3422.htm


Cheers, Steve..

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