Did you happen to see that amazing Iranian parade last March
on Madison Avenue? The smiling women were beautifully made up and
garbed in colorful silks. The men wore blue headdresses and
robes. Marchers carried a sign that read, "Good Thoughts,
Good Words, Good Deeds." The music was engaging, the floats
were filled with flowers, and happy marchers were chanting
joyfully about Iran.
It's not likely that you did see the parade, because these
Iranians are Persians, and we don't hear much about them. We
should: They may end up being America's best allies in the war
against Islamic jihadists.
There are, in fact, two Irans, and the lesser known one to most
Americans is undergoing a renaissance that the ruling Iranian
mullahs fear the most. If the Persians are awakened to their
identity as children of Cyrus the Great, who wrote mankind's
first charter of human rights, these oppressive regimes will
topple domino-style. Besides Iran, the Persian heritage is
embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and were it to be rekindled, a
revolution unheard of in scope could occur. Does this sound like
a pipe dream?
Not according to an Iranian dissident and former Muslim I met
recently who told me that Korans are being burned in Iran, and
that there is a strong movement toward the philosophy of
Zoroastrianism. This man showed me the pendant he now wears, a
symbol of the ancient religion (it is older than Judaism). This
symbol, carried by many of the parade marchers, can be seen at
persianparade.org.
I had to travel outside New York to meet with this individual,
who still has relatives living in Iran. The trip was worth it, as
I was able to learn more about what's happening behind the
headlines.
"Immediately after September 11," my new friend said,
"I knew we must go to Iraq." That the war option was
apparent to this and other Iranians has eluded most of the
liberal elite.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat
it," George Santayana said, and I think of this quotation
every time I read the speeches at the anti-war rallies and marvel
at the ignorance displayed there. Sad to say, Americans aren't
big on history, and that goes for our diplomatic representatives
as well. The truth is, Americans have been fighting jihadists
since Colonial times, when Muslim pirates were seizing American
ships. I thought James Baker, a former secretary of state, was a
smart man, and yet he and the Iraq Study Group came up with the
naïve notion that we can negotiate with jihadists.
This is absolutely senseless. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
reported why after their failed peace mission in Paris: "It
was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have
acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their
right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be
found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners,
and that every Musselman [Muslim] who should be slain in battle
was sure to go to Paradise."
Gee, that sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? Well, as it turned
out, the only thing that stopped the jihadists was war, and so
Jefferson led us into the First Barbary War. James Madison led us
into the second Barbary War.
The Persian Renaissance, known as Anjomane Padeshahi Iran, is
being spearheaded by a charismatic leader, Dr. Froud Fouladvand.
He has offered Iranian people the reason to fight by awakening
their semidormant national identity, an identity that was
overshadowed by radical Islam. In fact, my friend said, "the
API draws on centuries of experience handed down by those who
have battled this enemy from its virtual inception. We slew the
first three rulers of Islam as Persians - and many of their
military governors. Few people - even our own - are taught that
even Imam Ali, father of the Shiites, was sent to hell by a
Persian."
There are more than 7 million Persians living outside Iran, and
many are connected through online communications, meaning theirs
may end up being the first revolution fueled by Internet
technology. According to API's English-language Web site, at
iransara.info, Dr. Fouladvand is nearing Iran, and the overthrow
of Islamic rule is scheduled to take place before the Iranian New
Year, March 21. My Iranian contact says America should leave Iran
to the Iranians, and that may be what is happening. Liberal
pundits are continually criticizing the administration for not
going after Iran because of its support of the Iraqi insurgency.
Maybe President Bush has read his history and knows the Persians
are coming, the Persians are coming.