The Ayatollah Wolfowitz
WSJ - REVIEW & OUTLOOK
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Sayyid Hussein Khomeini is the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. Earlier this year, the liberal 46-year-old cleric left Iran for the Shiite spiritual centers of Karbala and Najaf, where he has been exploiting Iraq's newfound freedom of speech and thought to advocate democratic change at home. Mr. Khomeini visited our offices last week as he wrapped up a U.S. tour that included stops on Capitol Hill. He painted a far different picture of Middle East developments than President Bush's critics in Congress and the media.
"We consider [the U.S. invasion] as the arrival of goodness, and I hope the American people understand this," Mr. Khomeini emphasized from the start. It is important for Americans to keep their eyes on the big picture, and "to make the [democratizing] mission possible" by not getting discouraged by the day-to-day difficulties.
Mr. Khomeini offered no assurances that the path ahead would be easy. "All of our neighbors are dictatorships. . . . They do not like a democracy in the heart of the Mideast." He said Iran and Saudi Arabia, in particular, were working to undermine the U.S. mission. Nor does he consider the Europeans helpful: "Europe is now calling for democracy, but it is helping 100% the dictatorships in the area."
But Mr. Khomeini, who advocates separation of mosque and state, said Americans shouldn't worry that Iraqis themselves want to trade dictatorship for Islamic theocracy. As long as security and basic services can be provided, he said, "Iraqis want the Americans to stay."
What's more, Mr. Khomeini says an aggressive U.S. posture is the best chance of bringing change to Iran, where the hopes of freedom that animated the 1979 revolution were "diverted," in part because of the "personality of Khomeini," his grandfather. "Iranians -- and I know this culture -- want American military intervention in Iran," he says. Absent that, it is important for America to support Iranian dissidents: "The Iranian government must be under pressure at all times."
It was in part to free the voices of Islamic reformers that the President deposed Saddam Hussein. If America can foster a space in the Middle East where such things can continue to be thought and said, that fact alone will have been worth the fight.
Updated October 10, 2003 |
