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HomeEditorial - National Council of Resistance of IranOnce burned, twice shy - Paris Crime

Once burned, twice shy – Paris Crime

The crime occurred on January 7 in Paris has had huge political and social reverberations. It has brought into focus the social ailments and old festering wounds that affect Paris and much of the modern world. And it has made clear the urgency of finding a solution for these problems.

But one has to keep in mind, when a person is affected by the sudden manifestation of an ailment, it is not enough to treat the symptoms and alleviate the pain. One must diagnose the source of the problem and work to cure the disease itself. Failing that, it is all but certain that the symptoms will return, and with greater strength. Worse still, the wrong diagnosis and the wrong treatment can create new problems altogether. Assume that a wounded person to receive transfusion of once burned, twice shy blood contaminated with Hepatitis C. This could lead the wounded person’s contracting cancer.

The international community is unfortunately prone to the hasty diagnoses in the face of things like the savage attacks by ISIS and Al Qaeda in Paris.

The wrong treatment in this case involves feeding one source of terrorism in the interest of confronting another. The gravity of ISIS crimes does not diminish the threat posed by others, especially those backed by the economically powerful, nuclear threshold state that is the Iranian regime. As the leading state sponsor of terrorism, that regime is explicitly pursuing an ‘Islamic Caliphate’ of Velayat-e-faqih, or the absolute rule of clergy.

Western powers should have learned from having employed the wrong treatment in the past. The US-led coalition perceived the Iranian regime as a practical ally during the invasion and overthrow of the Saddam Hussein government in Iraq, as well as in the management of the new government. That only led to Iraq being effectively handed over to Iran via the sectarian premiership of Nouri al-Maliki.

The ISIS epidemic has even begun to spread among some youth in the West. And the success of the group’s recruitment is attributable to its ability to point to crimes previously perpetrated by Iran’s proxies in the region, including Bashar-al Assad, Lebanese Hezbollah, Nouri al-Maliki, and various Shiite militias fighting on Iran’s behalf in Iraq. Would not crimes committed by Houthis in Yemen provide impetus to Al-Qaeda in Yemen?

For a moment, let’s release our minds from the effects of the ISIS and Al-Qaeda attacks, and think rationally. ISIS may be destroyed by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Ghassem Soleimani and his militias in Iraq, but in that case the West would be facing much more savage beasts than ISIS on its own soil.

After all, it was the mullahs in Tehran and their caliph, Ruhollah Khomeini who took the Islamist cause for the very first time when they issued a fatwa to kill Salman Rushdi, , wherever he could be found. Furthermore, Khomeini condemned the book’s publishers and translators to death.

It was also the mullahs in Tehran who initiated a wave of hostage-taking in Tehran and Lebanon, and orchestrated a series of bombings and terrorist attacks in various European and Arabic countries to pursue their political objectives. Indeed, some of these objectives specifically set their sights on France.
And the mullahs in Tehran actually carried out terrorist activities in France beginning in 1986? Which other state in the world has such a record of terror?

It is no coincidence that shortly after the crime on the 7th of January in Paris, when, to borrow a Farsi expression, their blood was still on the floor, the statewide media in Iran and the nation’s Friday prayer Imams expressed their satisfaction regarding the episode even while warning against the repeat of such crimes, and blamed the French government for the crimes that had been perpetrated against its people.
It is crucial that we be aware of both history and the broader context of these recent events, and to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. It is a mistake to try the tried one or, as the old Iranian saying goes, don’t jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.