Dealing with Iran

* A need for change in the Western mindset

In his book “Orientalism”, the late Edward Said wrote that the idea of an "Orient" is a crucial aspect of attempts to define "the West": the former being seen as cruel and despotic, antithetical to the civilized and democratic nature of the latter.

From the time of the crusades to the colonial period, orientalist perceptions have reflected a measure of bigotry and insecurity now assumed by extremist Muslims who see the opposing West as being purely malevolent.

The hugely successful movie “300”, which recalls a notable period in ancient history when the two civilizations clashed, depicts the Persians led by King Xerxes, literally, as monsters. This is indicative of an engrained and condescending disposition towards the East in the Western mind.

For many in intellectual and political circles, the best the East can do is simply to adopt the values, culture and achievements of the West.

It is with this preponderant attitude that the United States and its European allies proceed to engage with Iran, regarding it as a “rogue” and a “pariah” - the Middle East’s problem child that refuses to tow the line and be the obsequious lackey it once was in the region during the Shah’s time.

Indeed, the very name of Iran in the West has become almost synonymous with the export of terror, political repression and egregious abuses of human rights.

Unsurprisingly, Iran sees itself in a different light - namely that of a 7,000-year-old civilization, home to numerous and powerful empires, a land of poets such as the prolific Hafez, and polymaths like Avicenna.

Whereas its enemies draw attention to many of its internal failings and none of its successes, Iran prides itself on its rich heritage, its independence and its enormous and still growing geostrategic importance.

While any reports of violations of human rights in Iran, irrespective of their veracity, are seized upon by the media as examples of a “vile regime”, the West’s own appalling record in the region over the last decade, witnessed in the horrors of Abu Ghraib or the massacres of innocent civilians at Fallujah and Haditha, is seen merely as being incidental and unfortunate, in no way reflective of Western values.

The Muslim world, however, would beg to differ: In his June 19th Friday prayers sermon, Ayatollah Khamenei asked Western leaders a pertinent question: “Do you even believe in human rights?”

Certainly, Iran’s handling of the summer demonstrations and riots was a far less brutal affair than what which was meted out during the 1968 Paris uprising against the Gaullist government.

Iran at least closed down the Kahrizak prison and opened an investigation immediately after reports of torture and the deaths of inmates became known – not so with internment at the Maze prison during the troubles in Northern Ireland.

Moreover, the outrage and vitriol in the West over the “stolen” election in Iran, where not one shred of evidence of fraud was ever uncovered, was followed by a more tempered criticism of the massive cheating involved in the election in Afghanistan, all under the supervision of UN watchdogs.

The West, it seems, cannot countenance perceiving the Islamic Republic of Iran as anything other than a dangerous menace to be firmly dealt with, and not that of a resurgent nation determined to be afforded the respect it believes it deserves.

Indeed, Iran can claim to have earned such respect by cooperating with the international community in trying to stabilise Iraq and Afghanistan, combating drug trafficking, hosting refugees, brokering peace in the Caucasus and many other regional issues, including offering a measure of transparency over its nuclear program.

But for Western supremacists and orientalists alike, it is Iran’s rejection of neo-imperalism in the region together with its implacable anti-Zionism that rankles them the most. President Ahmadinejad may well call Israel a “cancerous entity” that must “vanish from the pages of time”, but let us not forget that Ronald Reagan was equally abrasive when he urged the collapse of the “evil empire” of Soviet communism.

On the issue, Iran has set out a clear vision for a post-Zionist, binational and democratic “state for citizens” in the holy land and not the “state for Jews” that the secular West, ironically, insists on preserving.

Moreover, unfounded and scurrilous accusations that Iran is planning a “second holocaust” against the Jewish people, only serve to illustrate just how deeply the West misunderstands the intentions of Tehran.

More than most other countries, Iran knows the horrors of war and genocide firsthand having lost hundreds of thousands in Saddam’s imposed war that included the extensive use of poison gas against soldiers and civilians alike.

For those of you who cry “Never again!” I would like to know where your voice was when Iranians and Kurds were being gassed to death in the 1980s. And as the recent bombing in Iranian Baluchestan shows, Iran is also a primary victim, and not a perpetrator, of barbaric terrorism. More people died in that blast than in all the summer’s rioting.

As the framework for a possible interim deal on Iran’s enrichment of uranium is prepared, the West has to recognise the reality of Iran’s Islamic civilization, together with its vital interests and security concerns, and not just hope that “regime change” is around the corner and inevitable if enough pressure is applied.

The complete and utter failure of the neoconservative project to reshape the Middle East in America’s image demonstrated a complete ignorance of the realties of the region and Iran’s ethnic and religious ties to both Iraq and Afghanistan

Had the United States accepted Iran’s proposed offer in 2003 for cooperation following the ousting of the Baathist regime in Baghdad, things might have been much less costly. This was a fundamental miscalculation and arrogant misjudgement.

Dealing with Iran in the short and longer terms is going to require mutual respect and understanding. As with China, improved relations with the Middle East’s powerhouse can also offer real benefits for the average American and Westerner.

It can create jobs along with cheaper and more reliable supplies of energy, help realise the prospect of NATO troops coming back from Afghanistan sooner rather than later, and improve measures to fight the war against drugs and narco-terrorism.

Therefore it is imperative that the West furthers its actual, rather than its perceived, interests in Iran for the betterment of its own citizens. If it does, Iran is bound to reciprocate.

-- Reza Esfandiari can be reached at: esfandiarireza@ymail.com.
Source: Middle East Online